Pensar como una empresa emergente. Un libro blanco para inspirar el espíritu empresarial en la biblioteca

L’autor planteja que els bibliotecaris i les biblioteques acadèmiques, per tal de sobreviure, han de començar a pensar i actuar com les empreses emergents (startup), que són aquelles que es dediquen a crear quelcom nou en condicions d’extrema inseguretat. Les biblioteques, com aquestes empreses, no s’han de limitar a fer més del mateix, a milllorar els serveis i activitats que han ofert fins ara, sinó que han de crear coses noves, han de tenir idees disruptives, innovadores, transformadores, necessiten un canvi de paradigma. S’ha de redefinir la professió. Per tal d’aconseguir-ho proposa el mè-tode Lean Startup o les seves variants, que es basen en un procés per fases que es repeteixen constantment: construir, mesurar, aprendre. Els conceptes d’innovar i treballar amb les idees són bàsics per l’autor. Pensar coses noves, fer crèixer les idees, no entre-tenir-se en les que no funcionen, provar-les i aprendre dels resultats i tornar a començar.The author proposes that libraries and librarians, in order to survive, should begin to think and act as a startup, which are those organizations devoted to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. Libraries, as startup, can-not limit themselves to do more of the same, to improve the services and activities they have offered until now, but they have to create something new, they need disruptive, breakthrough, transformative, paradigm-shifting ideas. Profession has to be redefined. To achieve it he poses the exemple of Lean Startup methodology or any of its variations, based on a phased process that iterate forever: build, measure, learn.Innovation and working with ideas are core concepts for the autor. Think new things, grow ideas, give up new ideas if they just don’t work, probe and learn from outcomes and begin again.El autor plantea que los bibliotecarios y las bibliotecas, si quieren sobrevivir, tienen que empezar a pensar y actuar como las empresas emergentes (startup), que son las que se dedican a crear algo nuevo en condiciones de extrema inseguridad. Las bibliotecas, como estas empresas, no tienen que limitarse a hacer más de lo mismo, a mejorar los servicios y actividades que han ofrecido hasta ahora, sino que tienen que crear cosas nuevas, han de tener ideas disruptivas, innovadoras, trans-formadoras, necesitan un cambio de paradigma. Se tiene que redefinir la profesión. Para conseguirlo pone como ejemplo el método Lean Startup o una de sus variantes, que se basan en un proceso por fases que se repiten constantemente: construir, medir, aprender.Los conceptos de innovar y trabajar con las ideas son básicos para el autor. Pensar cosas nuevas, hacer crecer las ideas, no entretenerse con las que no funcionan, probarlas y aprender de los resultados y volver a empezar

HUBS AND CENTERS AS TRANSITIONAL CHANGE STRATEGY FOR LIBRARY COLLABORATION

Libraries of science and technology universities worldwide are adapting to a changing environment where cyberinfrastructure, eResearch, and new technology-intensive approaches to teaching and learning are transforming the very nature of universities. While many have adopted new technologies and the resources and expertise to manage them, this is only an initial step. Libraries are experimenting with organizational models that will transform their work capacity and expertise. The goal of these libraries is being an entity that feeds and produces collaborative synergies between faculty, students, information professionals, and technologists. Virginia Tech, among the top research universities in the United States, and its constituent libraries are adopting a unique organizational change strategy that implements eScience and cyberlearning roles. This two-part strategy begins with establishing ‘hubs’. The hubs are collaborative, cross-departmental groups in which library employees of varying backgrounds and skills come together on common themes of strategic importance. The hubs act in one sense as a ‘research & development lab’ to explore, imagine, and brainstorm new library initiatives as well as engender deeper understandings of the university’s core academic enterprise. They also are a ‘strike force’ that implements, supports, and assesses emerging library roles in relation to the institution’s academic mission. In these ways, hubs also create learning and scholarship opportunities for their participants beyond the individual task-oriented projects. The second part of this strategy involves the establishment of research and service centers. At Virginia Tech, these are the Center for Innovation in Learning (CIL) and the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship (CDRS). These centers are designed to incubate and sustain new collaborative synergies between libraries, researchers, instructors, and learners by providing expertise, resources, and new infrastructures to address specific academic research-based needs. The centers become focal points for library action, focused on learning and research activities within other university entities. Benefits to library employees come in the form of scholarship and research with potential for collaboration and new initiatives as relationships grow among project participants. The authors will discuss transformational aspects of the change management model, with lessons from their early experiences. They also will discuss how the model can be adapted by other libraries of science and technology-centered universities

Social Bookmarking: What are the Implications for Teaching and Learning

Presented at the ACRL/CNI/Educasue Virtural Conference, April 200

ME Design Approach for HMA Overlaid PCC Pavements

Highway pavements of portland cement concrete (PCC) type usually deteriorate due to distresses caused by a combination of traffic loads and weather conditions. The need for repair or rehabilitation depends on the type and level of distress. Repair and rehabilitation activities are carried out to extend the service life of the existing pavements. As total reconstruction is very expensive and time-consuming, rehabilitation is frequently considered to be a better alternative

Rehabilitation of Concrete Pavements Utilizing Rubblization and Crack and Seat Methods

Deterioration in portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements can occur due to distresses caused by a combination of traffic loads and weather conditions. Hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay is the most commonly used rehabilitation technique for such deteriorated PCC pavements.However, the performance of these HMA overlaid pavements is hindered due to the occurrence of reflective cracking, resulting in significant reduction of pavement serviceability. Various fractured slab techniques, including rubblization, crack and seat, and break and seat are used to minimize reflective cracking by reducing the slab action. However, the design of structural overlay thickness for cracked and seated and rubblized pavements is difficult as the resulting structure is neither a “true” rigid pavement nor a “true” flexible pavement. Existing design methodologies use the empirical procedures based on the AASHO Road Test conducted in 1961. But, the AASHO Road Test did not employ any fractured slab technique, and there are numerous limitations associated with extrapolating its results to HMA overlay thickness design for fractured PCC pavements. The main objective of this project is to develop a mechanistic-empirical (ME) design approach for the HMA overlay thickness design for fractured PCC pavements. In this design procedure, failure criteria such as the tensile strain at the bottom of HMA layer and the vertical compressive strain on the surface of subgrade are used to consider HMA fatigue and subgrade rutting, respectively. The developed ME design system is also implemented in a Visual Basic computer program. A partial validation of the design method with reference to an instrumented trial project (IA-141, Polk County) in Iowa is provided in this report. Tensile strain values at the bottom of the HMA layer collected from the FWD testing at this project site are in agreement with the results obtained from the developed computer program

Global Monthly Water Scarcity: Blue Water Footprints versus Blue Water Availability

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996–2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing degrees of water scarcity – as evidenced by the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo), Indus, and Murray-Darling River Basins – can include complete desiccation during dry seasons, decimation of aquatic biodiversity, and substantial economic disruption