Artefactual literacy-related abilities for historians’ effective seeking and use of primary resources

This study explored historians’ archival search behaviour from Yakel and Torres’ User Expertise in Archives (UEA) model. The model contained three types of knowledge that influence archival researchers’ information seeking: domain knowledge, artefactual literacy, and archival intelligence. This paper reported on the artefactual literacy-related abilities and behaviour. A naturalistic inquiry approach was adopted to study twelve history master’s students’ thesis research behaviour. In-depth interviewing was used to collect narratives of archival search experiences. The inductive constant comparisons and open/axial coding were used in the analysis. Artefactual literacy related abilities and behaviour were categorized into external criticism-related and internal criticism-related. The former included three abilities: understanding the production context of primary sources, the ability to differentiate between intentional and unintentional sources, and the ability to cope with language limitations. The latter included two abilities: putting oneself in the shoe of the historical figure understudy, and comparing documents with different perspectives. UEA is a powerful analytic model for studying archive users’ information behaviour. Archivists should care about how domain knowledge and artefactual literacy influenced archival search decisions and actions.Peer Reviewe

Like Father, like Son: Modelling Masculinity for the Ethical Leadership of President Theodore Roosevelt

President Theodore Roosevelt is frequently portrayed as a rugged, hypermasculine cowboy. But this depiction ignores the powerful modelling for masculine leadership provided by his father, Theodore Roosevelt senior. A closer examination of the private and public spheres that framed the latter’s life offers another route into understanding the ethical and rational motivations that characterised his progressive Presidency, not least in the area of natural resource management, where his policy innovations were both unprecedented and sustained over time. What emerges is a more complex portrait than the above stereotype, a leader who used his heart, head and experience to think and act in and on the world in wholes, rather than in self-contained parts. As the systems thinking becomes increasingly recognised by governments as an essential tool for effective leadership, including in environmental problems, the mentoring of Roosevelt junior by Roosevelt senior offers a case study of first principles for learning and leading ethically

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Historic Diet and Foodways: the FoodCult Project

This research note introduces the methodology of the FoodCult Project, with the aim of stimulating discussion regarding the interdisciplinary potential for historical food studies. The project represents the first major attempt to establish both the fundamentals of everyday diet, and the cultural ‘meaning’ of food and drink in early modern Ireland, c 1550-1650. This was a period of major economic development, unprecedented intercultural contact, but also of conquest, colonisation and war, and the study focusses on Ireland as a case-study for understanding the role of food in a complex society. Moving beyond the colonial narrative of Irish social and economic development, it enlarges the study of food and identity to examine neglected themes in Irish historiography, including gender, class and religious identities, as expressed through the consumption of food and drink. Taking advantage of exciting recent archaeological discoveries and the increased accessibility of the archaeological evidence, the project develops a ground-breaking interdisciplinary approach, merging micro-historical analytical techniques with cutting-edge molecular science, experimental archaeology, data modelling and statistical analysis, to examine what was eaten, where, why and by whom, at a level of detail previously deemed impossible for this period in history. This overview provides a framework to facilitate the interpretation of descriptive literary, visual, and other representative historical sources for diet, building a bridge between ideas and practises in the development of early modern foodways. The project will lead to unparalleled collaboration across the sciences and humanities, serving as a model for future comparative interdisciplinary work across diverse chronologies and regions

Australian Economic History

In a time of pandemics, war and climate change, fostering knowledge that transcends disciplinary boundaries is more important than ever. Economic history is one of the world's oldest interdisciplinary fields, with its prosperity dependent on connection and relevance to disciplinary behemoths economics and history. Australian Economic History is the first history of an interdisciplinary field in Australia, and the first to set the field’s progress within the structures of Australian universities. It highlights the lived experience of doing interdisciplinary research, and how scholars have navigated the opportunities and challenges of this form of knowledge. These lessons are vital for those seeking to develop robust interdisciplinary conversations now and in the future

Scientific project, Sciences Po | LIEPP laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'evaluation des politiques publiques or in english, interdisciplinary research center for the evaluation of public policies

Sciences Po develops an interdisciplinary research program for the evaluation of public policies (in French: Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d’évaluation des politiques publiques, LIEPP), based on four founding units: Department of Economics, Centre de Sociologie des Organisations, Centre d’Etudes Européennes and Observatoire Sociologique du Changement. Its aim is to be (1) independent and non-partisan to ensure its credibility, (2) international to learn from experiences in other countries, and finally (3) multidisciplinary in order to achieve thorough and comprehensive knowledge of our environment and its institutional, social, political, legal and economic mechanisms. The project is financed as a through the Excellency Initiative of the French Government (Investissements d'Avenir: LABEX) with a budget of 10 million euros between 2011 to 2020.Public Policy Evaluation, Interdisciplinary Research in Social Sciences

Here, there and everywhere: an analysis of reference services in academic archives

The purpose of this study is to investigate how archivists conduct reference services. The investigators administered two surveys to 19 participants at 15 Canadian academic archives to understand archivists’ behaviour while performing reference. There is no standard approach to reference as many archivists use institution-specific tools coupled with their own knowledge. Finding aids are the most frequently accessed tool and are most often used in conjunction with other tools. Limited resources are the primary barrier to the provision of effective reference services. The tools that are employed by archives are archivist focused, which results in reference services that are not user focused

Information behaviour of humanities PhDs on an information literacy course

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine whether an information literacy course/module is an appropriate intervention during the initial months of a humanities PhD, and if there is more that can be learned from the course participants that might provide a better understanding of their information behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was distributed to new humanities PhD students prior to their attending the course. A second questionnaire was distributed to those who had completed the course in full. Interviews were conducted with six participants to gain a richer understanding of how their information-seeking needs had evolved. Findings – Despite the relatively generic nature of the module, and the diversity of humanities research, the course had clear benefits for the participants. In their first year, scoping their topic and finding quality information can pose a challenge. The participants reported that the most appropriate time to attend the course is during the initial months. Some preferred to attend (or repeat) particular units later as workshops. The most valued elements were those that helped them bridge initial gaps. Face-to-face delivery is preferred. There is some potential for further one-to-one contact with librarians and additional follow-up workshops. Practical implications – This study can inform how librarians can better support PhD researchers in the humanities. Originality/value – The study is based around an established and accredited humanities PhD course that has already been adapted in various ways in terms of content and timing of delivery. Drawing on Kuhlthau's "Information Search Process", the study seeks a deeper understanding of a specific humanities group during the initial months of their PhD research

The Cultural Landscape & Heritage Paradox; Protection and Development of the Dutch Archeological-Historical Landscape and its European Dimension

To what extent can we know past and mainly invisible landscapes, and how we can use this still hidden knowledge for actual sustainable management of landscape’s cultural and historical values. It has also been acknowledged that heritage management is increasingly about ‘the management of future change rather than simply protection’. This presents us with a paradox: to preserve our historic environment, we have to collaborate with those who wish to transform it and, in order to apply our expert knowledge, we have to make it suitable for policy and society. The answer presented by the Protection and Development of the Dutch Archaeological-Historical Landscape programme (pdl/bbo) is an integrative landscape approach which applies inter- and transdisciplinarity, establishing links between archaeological-historical heritage and planning, and between research and policy. This is supported by two unifying concepts: ‘biography of landscape’ and ‘action research’. This approach focuses upon the interaction between knowledge, policy and an imagination centered on the public. The European perspective makes us aware of the resourcefulness of the diversity of landscapes, of social and institutional structures, of various sorts of problems, approaches and ways forward. In addition, two related issues stand out: the management of knowledge creation for landscape research and management, and the prospects for the near future. Underlying them is the imperative that we learn from the past ‘through landscape’

Bishops who live like princes: Bishop Tebartz-van Elst and the challenge of defining corruption

This article contributes to the debate on defining corruption. Rather than attempting to provide a definitive definition, it uses the case of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, a German bishop from the diocese of Limburg who stepped down in 2014, to illustrate that the disciplines of law, political science, economics, and anthropology all make important contributions to understanding what corruption is and how it should be conceptualized. Seen through these different lenses, the article argues, the case of “Bishop Bling” can be understood in strikingly different ways. This has ramifications not just for the case itself but also for how analysts understand corruption more broadly. Adopting an overtly interdisciplinary approach does not represent a way to “solve” the definitional dilemma, but it can help analysts understand more about corruption’s multiplicity