Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Web 2.0 Technologies Application In Teaching And Learning By Makerere University Academic Staff, Constant Okello-Obura, Francis Ssekitto

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has become a general trend in virtually all professions including the academia. Professionals in the academia are adopting ICTs with a view of offering the services that they have traditionally provided without these technologies so as to attain their strategic academic objectives. Since 2004, the Makerere University has taken up ICTs as a strategic enabler to fulfill the Makerere University’s strategic objectives (Makerere University, 2014). One of the key features of this movement was the adoption of Internet in academic and administrative work of the University. It should be noted that Internet …

Kashmiri Marsiya (Elegy) Manuscripts: The Valuable Sources For The Dissemination, Reconstruction And Safeguarding The History And Culture-Iii, Tawfeeq Nazir

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Manuscripts are the links to the historical facts that will otherwise remain unknown to the world. They contain authentic information and facts about the social, political and cultural aspects of a nation. Therefore their intellectual value cannot be over emphasized. Many countries and nations are joining hands towards preserving such cultural assets by way of taking conservation and preservation measures including digitization and documentation.

Marsiya or Elegy has gained more importance after the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s) and his companions and household in Karbala. Marsiya has been since written and recited in order to mourning the tragic events of …

Reviving The Reading Culture: School Library Programmes In Promoting Voluntary Reading Amongst Students: The Case Of Imo State, Nigeria., Justina Ogbonna Ph.D, Jacintha U. Eze (Ph.D)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Considering the poor state of the Nigerian reading culture, this paper went to look into the how school library programmes could be used to promote free voluntary reading thereby reviving the dilapidated reading culture. The main objectives of the study were to find out the school library reading programmes employed in promoting free voluntary reading of secondary school students and examine the influence of school library reading programmes on free voluntary reading. The study was a survey; the population comprised of 36 secondary schools from where 27 were sampled with about 1000 student users of the school libraries. Questionnaires and …

An Audit Of Records And Information Management Practices And Icts Utilisation Among Smes In Northern Uganda, Constant Okello-Obura Dr., Faridah Muzaki

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Good management practices for records and information are now becoming key norms in organisations due to the value attached to records and information. This is because records and information is considered the life blood of business transactions. However, with the advancement in technologies, the business enterprises need to rethink the ways they manage records and information (RIM). This study was carried out in northern Uganda among the SMEs to make an audit of RIM with special focus on the life cycle of RIM and application of ICTs in RIM functions. It also investigated the management of e-mail as valuable records …

A Study Of Using Informal Learning Spaces At Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi, Amit Kumar, R K. Bhatt

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract:

Purpose- Present paper is an attempt to explore the students’ opinion of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, regarding the use of Informal Learning Spaces.

Design/methodology/approach- A survey was conducted through a well structured and precise questionnaire and circulated personally among 180 students studying at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Findings- The study reveals the fact that majority of the students’ use informal learning spaces for academic purpose and feels that library plays an important role in making them to use of informal learning spaces for academic purpose.

Research limitations/implications- The geographical area of study was confined to the students …

Managing Special Collections In A Small Academic Library: A Case Study Of Preservation And Access To The Sailors’ Snug Harbor Collection, Shafeek Fazal, Gregory Murphy

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This article presents a case study of how a small academic library managed one of its special collections that has rich significance to the history of New York City and the maritime industry. With the acquisition of the valuable Sailors’ Snug Harbor research collection and faced with limited financial and personnel resources, the librarians at SUNY Maritime College set forth to aggressively pursue external funding, creatively generate personnel resources, and developed in-house expertise to successfully preserve, promote, and enhance access. Digitization and creating open access technology tools were key components of improving access to the collection. As a result, there …

Information Outlook July/August 2015, Special Libraries Association

Information Outlook, 2015

Volume 19, Issue 4

Conveniently Located Disaster: Socio‐Spatial Inequality In Hurricane Sandy And Its Implications For The Urban Sociology Of Climate Change, Gordon Douglas, Liz Koslov, Eric Klinenberg

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Hurricane Sandy was a major event with major implications for how sociologists think about the relationship between climate change and crisis in urban areas. The storm’s impact on New York provides a valuable case for considering how to study the impacts of climate change on large, densely settled cities with vulnerable hard infrastructure and highly complex social conditions that produce differentiated experiences across many different communities. This working paper considers data at several levels of analysis with the aim of assessing neighborhood inequalities in the impacts of such extreme weather. Drawn from the authors’ ongoing research project on unequal vulnerability …

Classed Conceptions Of Academic Self-Efficacy At An Elite University, Megan Thiele, Amy Leisenring

Faculty Publications, Sociology

Using the classic triadic model of class (lower, middle and upper), this paper explores how a students’ class-based cultural capital relates to their conceptualization and development of academic efficacy. Academic efficacy refers to the ability, not only of a student to think positively about their academic selves, but also to have and carry out plans that support their academic selves. Academic efficacy is positively associated with a myriad of student outcomes (Zajacova, Lynch and Espenshade 2005; Lent, Brown and Hackett 2000; Alfaro, Umaña-Taylor and Bámaca 2006). The findings, based on in-depth interviews with 44 students at a highly selective private …

Electoral Democracy And Human Development, John Gerring, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Jan Teorell, Matthew Maguire, Michael Coppedge, Staffan Lindberg

Faculty Publications, School of Management

This study reconciles competing positions in the debate over whether democracy improves human development. We argue that electoral competition incentivizes politicians to provide public goods and services, and these, in turn, save lives. Hence, the electoral aspect of democracy should have a substantial impact on human development while other aspects, e.g. related to citizen empowerment or civil liberties, should be less consequential. Extant measures of democracy do not allow for the disambiguation of various components of democracy, which may help to account for the mixed results reported by various studies (contrast Ross 2006 and Gerring et al. 2012). We draw …

Neighborhood Crime And Transit Station Access Mode Choice - Phase Iii Of Neighborhood Crime And Travel Behavior, Christopher E. Ferrell, Shishir Mathur, Bruce S. Appleyard

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report provides the findings from the third phase of a three-part study about the influences of neighborhood crimes on travel mode choice. While previous phases found evidence that high levels of neighborhood crime discourage people from choosing to walk, bicycle and ride transit, consistent with the authors’ hypothesis, they also produced counterintuitive findings suggesting that in some cases, high crime neighborhoods encourage transit ridership at the expense of driving—the opposite of what common sense would suggest. Phase 3 tested possible explanations for these counterintuitive findings with a series of methodological improvements. These improvements were:

• Improvement 1: Used the Bay …

Advanced Low-Floor Vehicle (Alfv) Specification Research, Suresh Iyer, Partha Mishra, David Klinikowski, Boyd Thompson, Myra Strange, Wanda Boggs, Carl Thornblad

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report details the results of research on market comparison, operational cost efficiencies, and prototype tests conducted on a novel design for an Advanced Low Floor Vehicle (ALFV), flex-route transit bus. Section I describes how the need for such a bus arises from a combination of diminishing transit funding from the federal government and demographic and transportation factors. Section II describes the unique features of this bus design that render it suitable for rural and urban operation, including improved transit passenger and wheelchair accessibility, reduced maintenance, structural design features, safety provisions, and the technical specifications of this design. Section III …

Development Of Bus-Stop Time Models In Dense Urban Areas: A Case Study In Washington Dc, Stephen Arhin, Errol Noel

Mineta Transportation Institute

Bus transit reliability depends on several factors including the route of travel, traffic conditions, time of day, and conditions at the bus stops along the route. The number of passengers alighting or boarding, fare payment method, dwell time (DT), and the location of the bus stop also affect the overall reliability of bus transit service. This study defines a new variable, Total Bus Stop Time (TBST) which includes DT and the time it takes a bus to safely maneuver into a bus stop and the re-entering the main traffic stream. It is thought that, if the TBST is minimized at …

Managing Disasters In University Libraries In South East Nigeria: Preventive, Technological And Coping Measures, Richard N. C. Ugwuanyi Dr., Mercy Ebere Ugwu, Kelechi Chukwunonso Ezema

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

This study examined the types of disasters that occur in university libraries and the extent of application of preventive, technological and coping measures in managing these disasters. The study adopted descriptive survey design and the major instrument for data collection was questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The results showed that university libraries in South East, Nigeria had experienced disasters which resulted in adoption of some preventive measures. It was however found that no significant technological and coping measures were applied in managing disasters in the university libraries. The study recommended that policy framework or …

Law Journal Collections: Accreditation Issues And Imperatives For Law Libraries., Oliver Theophine Onwudinjo Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated the collections and development of law journals in the South East Universities in relation to the Council of Legal Education standards. The scope consisted of 119 titles of local and foreign law journals listed by Council of Legal Education as accreditation bench mark. It involves seven law faculty libraries in the universities South East Geopolitical zone of Nigeria that offer law programme. The standard check list which is the benchmark released by Council of Legal Education serves as the instrument for data collection. This check list was found appropriate and was adopted for this study. Two research …

Bibliometric Study Of Literature On Leptospirosis For The Period 2006-2013, Kotti Thavamani

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper attempts to assess the literary output in the field of Leptospirosis productivity for the period 2006-2013. Statistical analysis has been carried out using SPSS and other relevant measures. It shows that the year wise distributions of Leptospirosis records are increasing year after year except the years 2008, 2009 and 2011. It shows that 88.76% articles are of English language and followed by Spanish and French languages. It is observed that USA has contributed the highest number of records in the study period. Next major contribution belongs to England, Netherlands and India. India has the 4th position among the …

Analysis Of Information And Communication Technology Roles In Poverty Reduction Among Small And Medium Scale Farmers In Imo State, Nigeria, Jonadab Ubochioma Chikaire Mr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

This study examines the role ICTs play in poverty reduction among small and medium scale (SMS) farmers in Imo State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 170 (SMS) farmers in Imo State using well structured questionnaire. Analysis of data collected was done using percentages and mean presented in tabular forms. It was seen from results that 38.2% of the respondents are within the age bracket of 51-60 years. Majority (43.5%) attended secondary school, 48% have put in 11-20 years in farming, while 71.7% have a farm size 0.25-1.5 hectares. ICT devices used include radio, mobile phones, television, among others. On …

Library Display 2.0: Evolving From Monologue To Dialogue, Ilishe Mikos, Brandy R. Horne, Kari D. Weaver

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Generally created by individual librarians and anchored to a physical space, library displays are often static, limited, and fleeting. However, these displays can evolve into wider, more affective, multi-dimensional, 21^st century, virtual spaces by incorporating collaborative discourse between multiple librarians, by reaching out to the community for content, and by using technological tools, such as email, Google Drive, Google Images, QR codes, and social media. This paper presents a case study of the life of a library display from inception through execution. By pooling the skills, experiences, and stakeholder networks of two librarians and an MLIS intern, the library’s …

Academic Librarians Perception And Attitude Towards Marketing Of Library Services In Delta State, Nigeria, Azuka O. Chegwe, Sebastian E. Anaehobi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

This study examined academic librarian’s perception and attitude towards marketing of library services in Delta State, Nigeria. The design of the study is descriptive survey. The population consists of 146 academic librarians in Delta State, Nigeria. Four research questions guided the study. The research instrument for the study was questionnaire. Out of 146 questionnaires administered, 138 were retrieved and analyzed using arithmetic mean, simple percentage. The major findings of the study were as follows: Academic librarians have positive perception and positive attitude towards marketing of library services; academic librarians are faced with some challenges such as casual approach of …

Mobile Health-Care Information For All: A Global Challenge, Geoff Royston, Christine Hagar, Lesley-Anne Long, Dennis Mcmahon, Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Nand Wadhwani

Faculty Publications

Access to health-care information for citizens is a key determinant to reach both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the emerging post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, but this challenge has repeatedly been relegated to the sidelines.1 What might kickstart progress? An obvious candidate is the mobile phone, which is becoming ubiquitous in low-income and middle-income countries.

What Do Americans Think About Public Transit? A Review Of U.S. Public Opinion Polling Survey Questions, Asha W. Agrawal

Mineta Transportation Institute

This “seed grant” research project compiled a set of 56 US public opinion polls that asked respondents their opinions about public transit. The first and primary goal of the project was to assemble a large set of transit-related survey questions that can be used to inspire the design of future surveys on the topic of public transit. The report presents the specific wording of every relevant question identified.

A second objective of the project was to identify general patterns in public opinion about transit that emerge across multiple surveys. Reviewing the entire set of polling questions related to public transit …

Promoting Intermodal Connectivity At California’S High-Speed Rail Stations, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Deike Peters, Wenbin Wei

Mineta Transportation Institute

High-speed rail (HSR) has emerged as one of the most revolutionary and transformative transportation technologies, having a profound impact on urban-regional accessibility and inter-city travel across Europe, Japan, and more recently China and other Asian countries. One of HSR’s biggest advantages over air travel is that it offers passengers a one-seat ride into the center of major cities, eliminating time-consuming airport transfers and wait times, and providing ample opportunities for intermodal transfers at these locales. Thus, HSR passengers are typically able to arrive at stations that are only a short walk away from central business districts and major tourist attractions, …

The Benefits Of Transit In The United States: A Review And Analysis Of Benefit-Cost Studies, Christopher E. Ferrell

Mineta Transportation Institute

This white paper presents the findings from a review and analysis of the available literature on benefit-cost (b-c) estimates of existing U.S. transit systems. Following an inventory of the literature, the b-c estimates from each study were organized according to the type of study area (e.g., rural, small urban, urban, etc.). Through this process, categories of monetary transit benefits were identified. The estimated dollar value for each benefit category was divided by the total estimated costs of providing the transit services, thus creating a benefit-specific b-c ratio for each category and allowing benefits from each study to be compared on …

User’S Perception Of Services Quality Of The Central Public Library Bahawalpur, Shakeel Ahmad Khan

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study aimed at investigating the user’s perception of services quality provided by the Central Public Library of Bahawalpur. Survey among library users was administered and data was collected with the help of questionnaire. Findings of the study revealed that the Central Public Library of Bahawalpur is offering good quality of services for its users. Respondents were satisfied with different library services including, library books, journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, Internet services, special collection, periodical collections, reference service, adult education program, reading room facility, library environment, opening hours and attitude of library staff with the library users. Respondents demanded e-resources of information …

Are Ebooks For Everyone? Evaluating The Accessibility Of Academic Ebook Platforms, Ann Agee, Christina Mune, Jeanine Gonzalez

Faculty and Staff Publications

Does ebrary work with screen readers? Can Wiley ebooks be downloaded? What ebook publishers allow printing? This poster offers a comparative evaluation of 16 major academic ebook platforms using criteria key to accessibility such as: text-to-speech options, text enlargement, full text searching, print capability and more. Results can be used to support and inform the decisions of acquisition departments and librarians when choosing what ebook packages to buy or promote to users. The poster will include a discussion of the evaluation process, a summary of the results, and information on the online guide created to make this information accessible to …

Effective Library Provision In Ghanaian Communities: Case Study Of Dunkwa–On–Offin Branch Library, Emmanuel Kobina Dadzie, Raphael Kwame Kavi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Public library is an integral part of the community. It has the social obligation to serve the whole community. This study examined the effective library provision in Ghanaian communities, in order to ascertain the problem of low patronage of community libraries in Ghana. The population for the study comprises registered and non-registered patrons of the facility. From the total population of 300, a sample of 100 respondents were drawn and used for the study. Out of the 100 questionnaires administered, 96 were completed and returned. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data using frequency counts, tables and percentages. The findings …

Influence Of Computer Literacy On Postgraduates' Use Of E-Resources In Nigerian University Libraries, Daniel Abubakar, Airen Adetimirin

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigated how computer literacy predisposes postgraduate students to use e-resources. The survey research design and multi-stage sampling technique were used to select 2726 postgraduate students from 16 Nigerian universities. A questionnaire and computer test was used to collect data and data was analysed using percentages and Pearson’s product moment correlation. The postgraduates’ computer literacy level was average (56.3%). They used only few of the e-resources in their libraries and the frequency of usage was low (weighted average X = 2.45). Computer literacy had positive relationship with postgraduates’ usage of e-resources that was positive, very strong and significant (r= …

Collaboration In The Iberoamerican Journals In The Category Information Science & Library Science In Wos, Alexander Maz-Machado, Noelia Jiménez-Fanjul, Maria José Madrid

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This article presents a bibliometric study about collaboration in the Iberoamerican journals indexed in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) within the category Information Science & Library Science. It has been found that the rate of authors per article is 2, 24, it has been calculated the collaborative index (CI) and the degree of collaboration (DC) from 2006 to 2014 and even though both CI and DC have increased, this rise has been small. Furthermore, international collaboration in the articles is minimum and almost all of it revolves around Spain.

The New Panama Canal In A Global Context, Herman L. Boschken

Faculty Publications, School of Management

Without the "container revolution" (1970-present) and its redesign of seaport and maritime-trade infrastructures, globalization as we know it would not exist. With the recent enlargements of the Panama and Suez Canals, many new implications for U.S. economic trade are unfolding. This presentation at the Commonwealth Club of California, outlines recent changes in world trade and infrastructure development, and poses five factors that will likely determine winners and losers in the unfolding developments of this highly competitive world trade-route system.

Relationship Between Library Resources And Research Productivity In Five Nigerian Health-Based Research Facilities, Chigozie Simeon Ugwuona Dr., Virginia Winsell Dike Professor

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study of the relationship between library resources and research productivity in five Nigerian health research facilities was conceived majorly to investigate the relationship existing between these two variables. The study employed a descriptive survey design to undertake a population of 198 research staff in the five research centres (out of this number, 166 were actually used). Questionnaire and observation check list were used to collect data which were presented in tables and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient (r) was applied to determine the relationship while hypothesis was tested with t-statistics at 0.05 probability level. …