Accessing Library Space: Spatial Rhetorics From the U.S. to France and Back Again

The exterior environments of libraries are sites rich for study, as they often hold histories of inequality that affect present-day access and use in complex, layered ways. The particularities of the environment through which community members pass before entering a library have an impact on the experience within the library. If libraries wish to remain public spaces dedicated to the strengthening of democracy, they should extend their focus beyond their walls to the surrounding neighborhood. This study puts into conversation the fields of spatial rhetorics, accessibility, and critical geography. Four topoi were developed to assess the accessibility of exterior library spaces. These topoi are wayfinding signage, building signage, wheelchair accessibility, and cultural landscape. These topoi are applied to the examination of library sites in a French city and a rural library district in Michigan. The recommendations resulting from this study include an examination of spatial rhetorics and a geo-spatial survey

The Relationship Between Adolescent Depression and Social Skills in Young Adulthood

This study investigated the relationships between a history of adolescent depression and social skills in young adulthood. Participants between the ages of 22 and 30 reported past and present experiences with depression and completed assessments of three aspects of social skills: emotional understanding, strength of social relationships, and interpersonal competence. Results indicated an association between current depression and social skills deficits but no main effect of adolescent depression on overall social skills. However, greater emotional understanding was associated with a history of adolescent depression. An earlier age of onset predicted stronger social relationships while length of depressive episode and time since episode showed no significant relationships with social skills. Male participants showed significantly weaker social skills than female participants overall and within depressed participants. Together, these findings suggest that past depression plays a limited role in social skills after recovery and point towards further research on the specific role of emotional understanding during and after depression

Increasing Innovation in Legal Process: The Contribution of Collaborative Law

This dissertation examines the role of innovation in resolving complex disputes, using Collaborative Law as its case study. Innovation, for the purposes of this research, can be defined as applied creativity that leads to optimal resolution for clients. The process of innovation is required to resolve complex problems, which are increasingly prevalent in legal, economic and social spheres. Collaborative Law indeed has the capacity to resolve such issues in the legal realm. Collaborative Law is a process by which parties and their lawyers enter into a binding contract that limits the representation to a facilitative problem-solving process with the intent to reach a negotiated settlement. Through an interdisciplinary team approach that employs a sequenced negotiation process, complex problems can be aptly and innovatively resolved through Collaborative Law. This research examines the capacity of Collaborative Law to resolve complex problems using methods of ethnographic study, specifically participant observation and key informant interviews. Attendance at conferences and practice group meetings provided the researcher with insight through observation. The researcher subsequently interviewed 31 lawyers who practise Collaborative Law in four Canadian research sites, namely, Halifax, Simcoe County, Toronto and Vancouver. Through these interviews and observations, common themes were generated. When superimposed atop of innovation theory, this research demonstrates that Collaborative Law supports innovation on both a macro and micro level. Collaborative Law itself is an example of an innovative process and individual innovations are possible in executing the Collaborative Law process, where used and executed appropriately. These results have implications for Collaborative Law practice, for the practice of law, and for legal education that will be explored through this study. Such implications will be examined, along with suggestions for future research

Increasing Innovation in Legal Process: The Contribution of Collaborative Law

This dissertation examines the role of innovation in resolving complex disputes, using Collaborative Law as its case study. Innovation, for the purposes of this research, can be defined as applied creativity that leads to optimal resolution for clients. The process of innovation is required to resolve complex problems, which are increasingly prevalent in legal, economic and social spheres. Collaborative Law indeed has the capacity to resolve such issues in the legal realm. Collaborative Law is a process by which parties and their lawyers enter into a binding contract that limits the representation to a facilitative problem-solving process with the intent to reach a negotiated settlement. Through an interdisciplinary team approach that employs a sequenced negotiation process, complex problems can be aptly and innovatively resolved through Collaborative Law. This research examines the capacity of Collaborative Law to resolve complex problems using methods of ethnographic study, specifically participant observation and key informant interviews. Attendance at conferences and practice group meetings provided the researcher with insight through observation. The researcher subsequently interviewed 31 lawyers who practise Collaborative Law in four Canadian research sites, namely, Halifax, Simcoe County, Toronto and Vancouver. Through these interviews and observations, common themes were generated. When superimposed atop of innovation theory, this research demonstrates that Collaborative Law supports innovation on both a macro and micro level. Collaborative Law itself is an example of an innovative process and individual innovations are possible in executing the Collaborative Law process, where used and executed appropriately. These results have implications for Collaborative Law practice, for the practice of law, and for legal education that will be explored through this study. Such implications will be examined, along with suggestions for future research

An Evidence Based Protocol for the User of Mindfulness for Young Adults with Eating Disorders

The student researchers used evidence based literature as well as a professional opinion from a practicing CTRS to summarize how to run a successful mindfulness program for young adults with eating disorders

A Sense of Belonging: New Technologies\u27 Effect on Recruitment Practices of Graduate Programs

College recruiting has changed drastically as a result of new technology such as interactive Web sites, blogs, social media, and on-line videos. This study surveyed 144 college undergraduates about their attitudes and interests in enrolling in their institution’s graduate program as well as different types of recruitment technology. Video, printed handouts, and Web sites, were explored to assess their effectiveness as recruitment tools and discover how views of effectiveness are constructed. The study found video is perceived as the most interactive and influential recruitment tool and Web sites are the most credible, trustworthy, and user-friendly recruitment tool. This study allowed for making note of possible new ideas for recruiting which may be used by various universities and recruiters in the future including the incorporation of video to current social media plans and conveying a sense of belonging to potential students

A Content Analysis of Elective Diversity Programs in Library and Information Science Higher Education

This study explores the phenomenon of elective diversity programs in LIS education. It examines the language used to describe the purposes, expected outcomes, and requirements of such programs. The method used was a qualitative content analysis grounded in critical theory. This research aims to provide a depiction of elective diversity programs that are currently offered as supplemental to the formal LIS curriculum. The intended impact of this study is to draw critical attention to diversity initiatives in LIS education.Master of Science in Library Scienc

Employment Assistance and Offender Desistance: An Evaluation of Recidivism in a Faith-based Re-entry Program

Recently released criminal offenders are generally subjected to heavy stigma as they reenter society which is compounded by the general isolation that many feel upon release. Because of these difficulties, re-entry programs can be an effective and prosocial way for ex-offenders to reintegrate back into the community and workforce. This project was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a local faith-based, non-profit re-entry program in Duval County between the years 2015 and 2019. Prisoners of Christ (POC) services both low and high-risk offenders through their employment assistance and residential housing programs. We conducted quantitative research on POC participants utilizing rearrest data from the Florida Department of Corrections and Duval County Jail databases (N = 546). Our quantitative methods included a Chi-Square Test of Independence to determine if there was a significant difference between the employed and unemployed groups on the outcome of rearrest. Our findings supported a statistically significant difference between groups (p = 0.0496), therefore we continued to evaluate the strength of the correlation between employment and rearrest through the Phi test. Our results indicated a weak correlation ( supporting our theoretical framework of employment as a desistance signal. Subsequently, we conducted qualitative interviews with “successful desisters” to better understand the phenomenology of the desistance process through Prisoners of Christ participants. Results indicated an importance of internal change, prosocial ties, and stable employment. Future research is recommended to determine if there are specific aspects of employment that increase a person\u27s likelihood of desisting from crime such as type of work and pay scale