The customer is always right? Assessing the value of Patron Driven Acquisition at the University of Huddersfield

This article discusses a small scale Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) study at the University of Huddersfield. The authors briefly describe the background to PDA at Huddersfield before discussing data from the 2014 PDA pilot with the e-book supplier EBL. The pilot produced two sets of data, usage reports using COUNTER statistics and a short questionnaire designed by the library. These results led to a major alteration to the collection management and development policy where PDA is now embedded into the library bookfund

Higher education means business: a summary of the economic impact of Scottish higher educaton institutions

This study examined key economic features of the Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs) in the academic and financial year 2004 -2005 together with those aspects of their contribution to the economy that can be readily measured. The Scottish HEIs included in the study are the 20 institutions for which data is provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Major economic characteristics of the HEIs were examined, including their revenue, expenditure and employment. The study also included modelled analysis of the economic activity generated in other sectors of the economy through the secondary or 'knock-on' effects of the expenditure of the institution, its staff and international students. Overall this summary presents an up-to-date examination of the quantifiable contribution of Scottish HEIs to the economy

Finite Products are Biproducts in a Compact Closed Category

If a compact closed category has finite products or finite coproducts then it in fact has finite biproducts, and so is semi-additive.Comment: 9 pages. Introduction further expanded, minor errors correcte

Professionalising the British film industry: the UK Film Council and public support for film production

This article examines the UK Film Council’s objective to reorganise and reallocate public funding for film from 2000 onwards. I argue that the model adopted by the UKFC was innovative on two levels. First, it separated public funds available for film production into three separate streams and then hired industry professionals to head each individual fund. I also examine how the funds developed over the lifetime of the organisation, with each appointed head shaping the principles of their respective funds in accordance with the wider objectives of the UKFC. Drawing on strategy documents, internal papers and interviews with key personnel, I argue that the UKFC worked to position itself as a ‘vanguard organisation’ seeking to shake up an independent sector seemingly reliant on state handouts and introduce a commercial perspective to the industry. This mission met an abrupt end, however, when the incoming Coalition government closed down the organisation in 2010