What is the quality in your quantity?: Library development assessment should look beyond mere numbers

Purpose: To outline the potential hazards of a purely numerical approach to evaluating development professionals and development programs.Design/methodology/approach: Narrative paper outlining various means used to assess a library development program.Findings: Library development assessment that utilizes quantitative analysis alone without substantive analysis of the underlying numbers will likely yield incorrect conclusions.Originality/value: Practical suggestions for utilizing qualitative techniques when assessing a library development program or development professional

Library Development 4.6: Geometric Nonlinearity (How stable are your cables?) [Slides]

Slides from a presentation on academic advancement and library development given at the ALADN 2018 Pre-conference on May 20, 2018 in Ft. Worth, TX

Priorities, Internal Customers, & Marketing [Slides]

Slides from a presentation priority setting for academic libraries, marketing, and working alongside academic advancement presented at ALADN 2017 Conference on May 2017 in Cleveland, OH

Which came first, the project or the fundraising?

One of the harder endeavors faced in a library is maintaining a balance between necessary projects and providing the funds to finance them. Ideally, discussions of funding and projects should go hand-in-hand, as each discussion is relevant to the other. However, this is not always the case. Donors may have preconceived notions about how they would like their generosity used. Similarly, a library's desire to raise capital may tempt it to accept gifts for projects that may not be part of their overall development plan. By including fund-raising at the beginning of a project, a library increases its chances of creating a successful action plan and balancing its financial and project priorities

Women and Wealth: How to Connect Them for Your Campus

Thanks to greater career opportunities, savvy investments and longer lives, women are sitting on a pile of money that has the potential to change the world.The combined net worth of the 1.6 million female top wealth holders is $2.2 trillion. The average net worth of those women is$1.38 million, slightly higher than for the same group of men. A Boston College study found that among married women executives at Fortune 500 companies, 75% actually out-earned their husbands.With much of this wealth potentially available to higher education, it's important to engage women ad donors and advocates for your program, said Debra Engle, VP for development and Karlene Jennings, director of development for the university library, both at Iowa State University. They spoke it at the University of Nebraska conference on Women, in Educational Leadership in September

SPEC Kit 297: Library Development (December 2006)

This SPEC Kit investigates the staffing, reporting relationships, and duties of library development programs in ARL member libraries to provide a baseline for institutions as they work to create, refine, or advocate for library development programs in their institutions.The survey was distributed to the 123 ARL member libraries in March 2006. Ninety libraries (73%) responded to the survey. Eighty-three (92%) reported that they have a formal library development program. Of those institutions, all have a fundraising professional assigned to the program, 76 (92%) use printed giving materials, 71 (86%) use direct mail, 50 (60%) conduct a phonathon, 50 (60%) have a friends organization, and 47 (57%) raise more than $500,000 a year in private support.This SPEC Kit includes documentation from respondents in the form of mission statements, organization charts, job descriptions, budgets, and policies

Development is dysfunctional …

Purpose: This paper aims to assist and offer workarounds for dysfunctional situations in library development situations.Design/methodology/approach: Uses practical solutions gained from experience to avoid or deal with dysfunctional situations.Findings: Development, by its very nature, is anything but straight forward. For a number of reasons, development efforts can get off track.Originality/value: Suggests practical strategies for minimizing dysfunctional elements in library development efforts

A list of words selected from the Horn-Peterson list containing all three letter sequences found in the first seven thousand words

What is the best copy to use for building skill in the learning of typewriting? The question may have no definitive answer. Yet better copy than any now in use might be developed. It is not the purpose of this study to investigate better copy. There is, however, one aspect of letter sequences in words that seems to justify investigation in order to facilitate further research on better typewriting copy. This investigation has to do with a study of three-letter sequences in words and the formation of a list of words containing all three-letter sequences found in a large number of words

Back to the city: the re-emergence of the urban grocery store in mid-sized cities

This paper investigates how an urban grocery store can be tailored to fit into an urban context and adapt to the urban consumer. In approaching this research, the researcher observed two successful urban grocery stores in medium sized cities in North Carolina and compared the visual evidence to previous research of grocery scholars. The investigation looks at the urban grocery store as an essential feature of a successful revitalized downtown. The stores selected for this research are located in Charlotte and Raleigh, NC. These urban stores have clearly set themselves apart from their competitive suburban grocery stores by tailoring their store circulation, department location, display fixtures, lighting, and overall ambiance of the store. The décor and music of the two urban stores were also examined in the visual analysis process. The researcher conducted a visual study by collecting field notes and used photo-documentation of the two urban stores, then analyzed the grocery stores' exterior and interior architecture. The findings were then compared to what previous grocery scholars outlined as the traits of an urban grocery store. A pattern emerged during the analysis process, which confirmed existing theories. The gaps in the research were filled by looking at the visual evidence of these two urban stores. The researcher found that most of the characteristics that make an urban grocery store successful were implemented in the two urban stores. The stores were similar in their location, target clientele, architecture, and store layout. The two stores are both located on desirable urban sites that are convenient to other downtown amenities. They also target the same customers who are usually high-income singles, young professionals and empty nesters. Both stores blend their exterior architectural features with surrounding buildings, and the store layouts fit with the needs of the community. This thesis has clarified what characteristics are desired of the urban grocery store in order to be accepted in an urban environment and how the store's existence could contribute to downtown revitalization efforts

The effects of preformed scour holes on anuran biodiversity in the North Central Piedmont region

Urbanization negatively affects many biotic communities throughout the world. In the southeast United States, cities are expanding into previously rural and forested areas, reducing quality and quantity of habitat which may lead to declines in species diversity. To mitigate the impact that urbanization has on natural systems, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) installed a new stormwater control, the Preformed Scour Hole (PSH). However the impact of PSHs on aquatic and amphibious populations and communties, including anurans (frogs and toads), is unknown. Using the manual calling survey protocol, I surveyed the anuran populations in PSHs in Guilford, Alamance, Caswell, and Randolph counties. I correlated species richness and individual species presence with local factors associated with patch quality and regional factors associated with connectedness. I found that, as predicted, degree of urbanization was negatively associated and PSH surface area and the presence of riparian vegetation was positively associated, with the total number of species present in PSHs. Additionally, I found that the presence of different genera were either positively (in the case of Lithobates) or negatively (in the case of Pseudacris) correlated with increases in urbanization. The results of this study suggest that PSHs may help to mitigate anuran diversity loss due to urbanization. Furthermore, my results suggest that genera-specific models should be created to explain patterns of anuran diversity in urban areas. However, this study was unable to determine PSHs effect on anuran individual fitness or population size