Final report of work-with-IT: the JISC study into evolution of working practices

Technology is increasingly being used to underpin business processes across teaching and learning, research, knowledge exchange and business support activities in both HE and FE. The introduction of technology has a significant impact on the working practices of staff, often requiring them to work in a radically different way. Change in any situation can be unsettling and problematic and, where not effectively managed, can lead to poor service or functionality and disenfranchised staff. These issues can have a direct impact on institutional effectiveness, reputation and the resulting student experience. The Work-with-IT project, based at the University of Strathclyde, sought to examine changes to working practices across HE and FE, the impact on staff roles and relationships and the new skills sets that are required to meet these changes

Flexible futures: the academic librarian

Australian academic libraries are highly adaptive to the changing needs of learning and teaching and research and the demands of the changing information environment. Liaison Librarians are absolutely central to the academic library's ability to manage change and anticipate and prepare for the future. However little is shared in conference papers and journal publications about how Liaison is organised, developed and supported by academic libraries. Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and University of Tasmania (UTAS) Libraries have explicit, well established and long-running Liaison programs. UTAS recently embarked on a change process to move from an individual, school-focussed model to a faculty-focused, team approach to Liaison organisation. The process led to the organisation of teams, with team-member leadership roles in collection development, learning and teaching, and research support. The new organisation also established a learning environment in which librarians continue to change in a rapidly changing environment. At QUT Library the Workforce Plan has set the framework for the re-examination of the highly Faculty-integrated Liaison model to improve support for the University's research agenda, to respond to the changes in scholarly communication and to work collaboratively with the University's Teaching and Learning Support (TALSS) to embed information and academic literacies into the University's curriculum. This paper examines recent literature on Liaison, discusses two case studies of Liaison organisation at QUT and UTAS Libraries and how these changing models prepare libraries and librarians for the future of university learning and teaching and research and the changing information environment

Competency Implications of Changing Human Resource Roles

[Excerpt] The present study examines which competencies will be necessary to perform key human resource roles over the next decade at Eastman Kodak Company. This project was a critical component of an ongoing quality process to improve organizational capability. The results establish a platform that will enable Kodak to better assess, plan, develop, and measure the capability of human resource staff

A Report on the Chicago Region's Health and Human Services Sector

Looks at how major demographic shifts, policy changes, and funding trends are affecting the performance of individual agencies and Chicago's health and human services sector as a whole, and makes recommendations for improving the sector

Adaptive development and maintenance of user-centric software systems

A software system cannot be developed without considering the various facets of its environment. Stakeholders – including the users that play a central role – have their needs, expectations, and perceptions of a system. Organisational and technical aspects of the environment are constantly changing. The ability to adapt a software system and its requirements to its environment throughout its full lifecycle is of paramount importance in a constantly changing environment. The continuous involvement of users is as important as the constant evaluation of the system and the observation of evolving environments. We present a methodology for adaptive software systems development and maintenance. We draw upon a diverse range of accepted methods including participatory design, software architecture, and evolutionary design. Our focus is on user-centred software systems

Electronic Resources and Academic Libraries, 1980-2000: A Historical Perspective

published or submitted for publicatio

Measuring the 'success' of telehealth interventions

Despite substantial investment over recent years in telehealth there appears to be little consensus regarding what a successful implementation should achieve. However, defining success is often controversial and complex due to differing views from the large number of stakeholders involved, the local environment where telehealth is deployed and the scope, or size, of any planned initiative. Nevertheless, a number of generic measures are proposed in this paper which then provides a framework for the measurement of success. The local context can then be applied to determine the exact emphasis on specific measures, but it is proposed that all of the measures should be included in the holistic measurement of success. Having considered what constitutes success attention is then given to how success should be quantified. Robust evaluation is fundamental and there is much debate as to whether the �gold standard� Randomised Control Trial (RCT) is the most appropriate methodology for telehealth. If the intervention, technology and system, can be maintained in a stable state then the RCT may well provide the most authoritative evidence for decision makers. However, ensuring such stability, in what is still a novel combination of technology and service, is difficult and consequently other approaches may be more appropriate when stability is unlikely to be maintained