Make it so! Jean-Luc Picard, Bart Simpson and the design of e-public services

In this paper, we report on a project applying participatory design methods to include people who have experience of social exclusion (in one form or another) in designing possible technologies for e-(local)-government services. The work was part of a project for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the UK, and was concerned with ‘access tokens’ that can provide personal identification for individuals accessing public services, based on technologies such as multi-functional smartcards, flash memory sticks, mobile phone SIMs or similar devices. In particular we report on our experience using the ‘pastiche scenarios’ technique recently developed by Mark Blythe. Our findings indicate that the technique can be effective and engaging in helping people to create realistic scenarios of future technology use and highlight some possible pitfalls to consider when using this technique.</p

Fine Efficacy: An Experimental Study of the Effect of Daily Fines on Borrower Return Habits

Fines have long been seen as a method to ensure items are returned on time. Recently the need to charge patrons for not returning items has come into question. Many libraries have gone fine free to gain good will with their patrons and reallocate staff. To better determine the impact incremental fines have on patron behavior, we conducted an experimental study, charging one group fines and not charging the other. We found that there was not a statistically significant change in either fines accumulated or amount of material borrowed. The data suggests patrons keep the item for as long as they need it and return it when they are done

Leeds Beckett University Library: Our Response to the DSA Changes and Support for Students with Disabilities

Leeds Beckett University has over three thousand students with disabilities. This amounts to around 15% of our student population and the number who have a disability is increasing. Many have a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) such as dyslexia, and there has been a recent increase in students with mental health conditions and those on the Autistic spectrum. This article discusses the support mechanisms in place within the library

‘The real rape of York’ - Dr. Rosenbach’s acquisition of books from York Minster Library: a reconsideration

In 1931 the British press expressed outrage at the sale, during the previous year, of rare books from York Minster Library to the American book dealer, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach. The sale of ‘national treasures’ to an overseas agent was met with fury and indignation by the public, who considered the sale a breach of trust: the Minster should be preserving such books for posterity, not selling them off to foreigners. Much of the anger was directed towards Rosenbach; his dealings with the cash-strapped diocese were seen as predatory: he took advantage of them and, so the press claimed, essentially committed a ‘rape’ of the magnificent Library. This article considers evidence for the sale negotiations alongside hitherto undisclosed ‘private and confidential’ files kept by the Dean and Chapter. It assesses why books held in trust by the Library came to be sold in such dubious circumstances and argues that blame, if any is to be apportioned, should lie with the custodians of those texts, rather than with the businessman from Philadelphia. The ‘rape of York’ still resonates today, in a climate of unease and public outrage at recent attempts to sell off and disperse yet more of Britain’s national treasures

Edges of Identity: The Production of Neoliberal Subjectivities

In recent decades neoliberalism has emerged as the ruling economic, political and cultural ideology of our time. Originally construed as an economic philosophy, neoliberalism is better understood today as a broad world view that emphasises free-market policies, deregulation, individualism, self-management and personal resilience at the expense of more collective, social-democratic policies and principles. Neoliberalism is a pervasive ideology that has shaped our lives for more than 40 years, from the wide-ranging organisational structures of our global economy to our most intimate bodily practices. In this engaging and accessible volume, Jonathon Louth and Martin Potter bring together researchers working in and across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America to elucidate on the manifold ways in which neoliberalism produces our subjectivities. Taking in nations and citizenship, urban transformation, gender, work, (dis)ability, sexual performance and cognitive function, this volume demonstrates the astonishing scope of neoliberalism to inform and delimit our identities on both macro and micro levels of social and personal life. Combining thoughtful theoretical accounts with fascinating fieldwork and spanning areas of inquiry including the UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pakistan, Cambodia, Japan and Australia, Edges of Identity provides a remarkable collection of global perspectives on the impact of neoliberalism in contemporary international contexts. This tenth volume in the Issues in the Social Sciences series is an absorbing introduction to the practical affects and lived realities of neoliberal ideology that will appeal both to readers encountering neoliberalism for the first time and expert scholars in the Social Sciences and Humanities

Teaching and Professional Fellowship Report 2007-2008 : Make the Numbers Count, Improving students' learning experiences through an analysis of Library and Learning Resources data

Feedback on Library and Learning Resources (LLR) services and support at the University of the Arts London (UAL) is received from a very extensive range of sources. However, although a considerable quantity of information is available for analysis, it remains very difficult for LLR staff to extract meaningful data from these numerous sources, which can reveal, in depth, the true, individual student experience of LLR services. LLR is aware that there is a lot that is not known, or is not being asked of our students, about their individual experience, which could prove extremely helpful for effective decision-making and service design and delivery. In particular, LLR is interested in identifying and resolving issues of access and support for students currently studying at UAL who are from under represented groups in higher education. Make the numbers counts has enabled the Fellowship Team to move beyond looking at usage figures, gate counts, numbers of issue and renewal transactions, borrower numbers and percentage satisfaction levels, and to extend and add to our knowledge-base of what students at UAL really think and feel about academic libraries. It has enabled us to explore how individual students make use of the services and support provided by LLR. The qualitative data collected through this project has been compared to existing sources of information and to staff experience and understanding of the issues raised, to see if the findings of our research challenge or correlate with other evidence which relates to LLR use and non-use. The focus of the Fellowship has been to explore the particular experience of students who are the first in their family to go to university and who are currently studying at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon (CCW) and the London College of Communication. Research has shown that this group of students is important amongst the range of students who are now entering higher education through the expansion of participation in university and tertiary-level study. Talking to first generation students was a key element of the project and the greatest source of learning for the Project Team

\u3cem\u3eReflections\u3c/em\u3e - Spring 2005

Contents: Thomas Cooper Library Special Collections Wings Project Expands..... p.1 USC Libraries Choose New Integrated Library Service..... p.1 New Music Library Special Collections Room..... p.2 Library 100: A New Information Literacy Course..... p.2 Exhibits at Thomas Cooper Library..... p.2 Joyce Carol Oates Is Thomas Cooper Society Speaker..... p.3 USC Libraries Acquire New Databases..... p.3 Libraries Launch New Digital Activities Department..... p.3 South Caroliniana Library Receives Ball-Gilchrist Family Papers..... p.4 In Memoriam: Alexander MacGregor (Sandy) Gilchrist..... p.4 “An Afternoon with Donald Russell”..... p.5 Bilderback Named Archivist of the Year..... p.5 New Faces: Jeffrey Makala, Douglas King, and Greg Wilsbacher..... p.5 “Two Hundred Years of Student Life at USC”..... p.6 Gift from Deward and Sloan Brittain to Benefit South Caroliniana Library..... p.6 Newsfilm Library Receives Federal Funding..... p.6 John Kenneth Adams Presents Lecture at Music Library..... p.7 Watercolor Portrait of the Late Dr. George D. Terry..... p.

British Jewish history within the framework of British history 1840 - 1995

This essay is a context statement in critical defence of my submission for the degree of Ph.D by Published Works in keeping with the requirements of MIddlesex University as laid down in the Guidance Notes dated April 1996. The underlying theme of the submission is that my published works serve to illustrate my belief that it is imperative to locate British Jewish history within the broader framework of British history. Thus, I have not limited my research and writing to one issue, event or section of British Jewish society, rather I have sought to develop a historiographical style which exemplifies the way in which individuals, groups and events, within and beyond the framework of Anglo-Jewry, interface and interact. Historical phenomena do not occur in a vacuum and it is imperative to understand what is taking place beyond the perimeters of ethinicity in order to fully comprehend both immigrant and receiving societies' actions and responses. In my most recent works I have taken this one stage further with the recognition that, in what is increasingly a multi-ethnic society, it is vital both to locate British Jewish history within that of the wider British immigrant/settler experience and to see it as a constituent of specific communities in order that comparisons and contrasts can be made and, where possible, lessons learnt