Communicating with deaf people:deaf awareness for librarians

Recent legislation in Britain and elsewhere has implications for librarians and othersserving people with disabilities. This paper considers one type of disability: the communicationand information needs of deaf people. A review of the literature indicates that the professionaldevelopment of both health professionals and librarians is not preparing them forcommunication with deaf people. A growing recognition of the need for deaf awarenesstraining among library staff is discussed. A number of training resources are mentioned with achecklist of good communication skills.     

Sleeping giants: towards an understanding of the needs of deaf people

^* Fictitious names have been used to protect these individuals.
was pre-lingually deaf, from three generations of deaf people. Today she is outgoing and successful in her job, and a ready communicator with everyone, deaf and hearing alike. Her communicating idioms, with both groups, are rich. She benefited from the twin forces in her childhood of family (all her family were highly attuned to the non-verbal idioms of communication) and one grandmother (who was hearning, and who provided what came to be seen as teh key intervening role at that time in Joan's development of a second language, the idiom of spoken English). Her own intellectual drive was the final component in a combination of motivating influences which led her to respond to both the financial and social necessities to gain verbal codes, leading to an ability to read and to understand what she read. She remains totally deaf and she knows that her speaking voice is not understood by strangers. Frank ^{* *} Fictitious names have been used to protect these individuals.
is a regular reader of newspapers, at least, that's what you would think if you saw him regularly. He does know certain words (or rather parts of words) and he constructs a story from his understanding of whatever catches his eye. At his job, which he does with skill, he is confident and earns the trust of colleagues and superiors. He is, however, illiterate. He knows that if he is seen to be ‘reading’ he will sustain the image he has created that he can read: he acts like a literate person. He is confident and competent in what he knows, which is enough for the regular and recurring nature of the tasks he is asked to perform in his job. He is knowledgeable and defensive about that knowledge but as a accepted at work, but any change or new demand, print-based, would sweep away his precarious confidence and, probably along with that, his job.

     

Occupational Stereotypes,Perceived Status Differences,and Intercultural Communication in Global Organizations

This paper offers a novel perspective on why individuals in global organizations make culturally based attributions of their colleagues that impede effective working relations. Drawing on observational and interview data from an ethnographic study of product development work at a global automaker's engineering centers in Mexico, the United States, and India, we show the important role that occupational stereotypes and perceived status differentials play in global workplace interaction. The findings demonstrate that individuals who consider themselves to be “low-status” attempt to increase their status by leading high-status individuals to believe that they work in ways that reflect dominant occupational stereotypes. However, because these stereotypes are often inaccurate, members of the high-status culture assume that the stereotype-imitating behaviors of low-status individuals represent deficiencies in how they work. These findings have important implications for intercultural interaction in the global workplace and for theories of communication in multinational organizations.     

Work socialization through part-time work: cultivating self-efficacy and engagement through care

This study provides insight into how work socialization occurs through part-time work in a Youth Employment Program. Drawing on in-depth interviews with youth employees and supervisors, we consider how the young people’s meanings of work were shaped through their early employment experiences. Participants report significant transformations in both their views of work – from seeing it primarily in terms of extrinsic rewards like a paycheck to developing more robust interpretations of work – and their level of self-efficacy. We argue that the organizational culture and supervisor relationships were crucial for the positive outcomes the youth experienced. This study demonstrates the formative impact that part-time work has on young people and the promise of studying work socialization in part-time work. Practically, our findings point to the importance of approaching the employment of young people as more than just an economic exchange. We suggest that those who employ young people should provide a work context marked by routine, supportive interactions with supervisors who provide and uphold clear expectations.     

Negotiating Language in Transnational Health Care: Exploring Translingual Literacy through Grounded Practical Theory

An increased interest in studying the nature of communication in health care and the use of interpreters has revealed the need for more collaboration and understanding of multilingual health-care practices. Theory and practice concerning cross-cultural health-care communication can benefit from examining the intersections between translingual literacy and transnational programs through hybrid interpretive strategies. In this study, I argue that these strategies move across, between, and among different languages, dialects, and nonverbal gestures to develop mutual understanding. To account for literacy practices that might engage this hybridity in health care, I use grounded practical theory to analyze a case study of participants who ran temporary medical and dental clinics in the Dominican Republic. This analysis finds that hybrid strategies with English–Spanish and Spanish–Spanish interpretation are used to overcome problems with balancing efficiency and rapport-building. By integrating ethnographic methods and grounded practical theory, this study's practical implications emerge in the negotiations of language employed by participants to connect translingual theory and practice in health-care communication.     

Contradictions in surgical work teams

Teamwork and communication are essential to effective work groups in health care. This project investigated how an impending technology change spurred the staff in an ophthalmological surgical department to improve their teamwork and communication processes. Data were gathered using focus groups, key informant interviews, and workplace observations involving 56 employees. Qualitative, interpretive analysis indicated that lack of communication impacted team processes and job satisfaction. Participants indicated that sharing knowledge and developing policy knowledge were problematic, especially as those processes concerned job duties. Results were interpreted using structurating activity theory. Analysis identified system-level and structural-level contradictions that hindered activity accomplishment. Several practical implications of findings are offered, including using the experience of work team contradictions as opportunities to transform practices, implementing ongoing inter-professional training for work teams, and providing opportunities for work team members to be reflective about their team experiences. Future research suggestions are offered for extending findings.     

Periodical Resources on Deafness and Hearing Impairment

The article discusses magazines and other periodical publications such as journals, newsletters and newspapers that deal with deafness and hearing impairment. The one magazine that focuses on disabilities, including deafness and hearing impairment, is included because of the importance of international sports to people who are deaf. Each magazine is described with an annotation that includes the characteristics of the publication and the audience it will attract. Its worth to a library collection is also commented on. Sources are provided that will enable readers to find other publications that deal with deafness and hearing impairment. These sources will also enable the readers to follow the changes in the future in the publications described in the article.     

Compassionate Communication in the Workplace: Exploring Processes of Noticing,Connecting, and Responding

This research contributes to the growing body of literature exploring emotion and communication in the workplace by considering the workers in a variety of jobs that require “compassionate communication.” Compassion is conceptualized as one form of emotional work and is theoretically developed through a model that highlights the subprocesses of noticing, feeling, and responding. Analyses of interviews with 23 workers in a wide range of human service jobs indicated a number of complexities in the communication of compassion in the workplace. Processes of “noticing” included both noticing the need for compassion and noticing details of clients’ lives in order to communicate more successfully in compassionate ways. Processes of “connecting” included both emotional processes (empathy) and cognitive processes (perspective taking). Processes of “responding” included both nonverbal strategies, such as immediacy behaviors and environmental structuring, and verbal strategies for balancing the informational and emotional content of messages. These results are interpreted in the light of both contemporary and traditional communication theory, and practical implications are presented for human service workers and others involved in compassionate communication in the workplace.     

Compassionate Communication in the Workplace: Exploring Processes of Noticing, Connecting, and Responding

This research contributes to the growing body of literature exploring emotion and communication in the workplace by considering the workers in a variety of jobs that require “compassionate communication.” Compassion is conceptualized as one form of emotional work and is theoretically developed through a model that highlights the subprocesses of noticing, feeling, and responding. Analyses of interviews with 23 workers in a wide range of human service jobs indicated a number of complexities in the communication of compassion in the workplace. Processes of “noticing” included both noticing the need for compassion and noticing details of clients' lives in order to communicate more successfully in compassionate ways. Processes of “connecting” included both emotional processes (empathy) and cognitive processes (perspective taking). Processes of “responding” included both nonverbal strategies, such as immediacy behaviors and environmental structuring, and verbal strategies for balancing the informational and emotional content of messages. These results are interpreted in the light of both contemporary and traditional communication theory, and practical implications are presented for human service workers and others involved in compassionate communication in the workplace.     

Reexamining Diversity: A Look at the Deaf Community in Museums

In accordance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, museums serve their deaf visitors by offering assistance through accessibility programs designed specifically to provide access to the museum, its collections, and/or information in an exhibition or program that would otherwise be unattainable by a person with a disability. Accessibility provisions such as signed tours, TTYs, and subtitled audio information have helped deaf people experience and enjoy museums. While these programs and provisions are necessary museum services, they do not acknowledge the view of many Deaf people—that they are not disabled but rather members of a community that does not hear. Nor do accessibility programs generally include programs on the shared traditions, values, and language that make up the culture of the Deaf community. This paper seeks to introduce museum professionals to the Deaf cultural community and Deaf cultural exhibitions that celebrate the history, achievements, and tradition of Deaf people; it offers steps to follow in planning such exhibitions and provides some examples.     

Democracy in the workplace: Theory and practice from the perspective of communication

This essay considers a range of issues related to workplace democracy in the contemporary industrialized world. Although drawing from a broad multi‐disciplinary literature, the essay emphasizes topics that can be usefully explored from the perspective of communication and sound contributions that can be made to theory and practice from such an engagement of the field. The essay essentially argues for the widespread democratization of work but not without considering realistic limitations to that ideal. The case of the Mondragon worker cooperatives, in the Basque region of Spain, is offered to demonstrate both the promise and problems of workplace democracy.     

Information behavior of people in the fourth age: Implications for the conceptualization of information literacy

The information literacy (IL) needs of people in the fourth age, a stage of increasing dependence and disability, have not been considered in the research literature. Based on the premise that there are relationships between information seeking and IL, this article begins to bridge this gap by focusing on the information-seeking behavior of the group in an attempt to identify IL needs. It does this through a literature review, particularly drawing on two pieces of human information behavior research, one a new study focused specifically on the group in question. It also examines existing definitions of IL in order to gauge how relevant they appear to be. The reasons for studying this group include that all stages of a person's lifespan deserve to be studied and that the population size of this group increases dramatically in the developed world. Although information needs and sources used are fewer in the fourth age, they are still important to the people involved, thus making IL a relevant concept. The researchers draw implications for IL from the particularities of the information context where disability and frailty impede purposeful information seeking. The resulting emphasis on incidental information acquisition increases the role for social networks and communication, again with implications for IL. Information grounds, where people congregate for purposes other than information sharing, including artificially created ones, will also be important for information dissemination. The role of the Internet, including assistive technology for its use, is also relevant. The conclusion is that IL is crucial to the well-being of people in the fourth age but that existing definitions need to be adjusted to the specific informational context.     

Quantitative analysis of workplace morale in academic librarians and the impact of direct supervisors on workplace morale

Many studies have attempted to measure the workplace morale of academic librarians through related variables such as job satisfaction. Other studies have taken a qualitative or phenomenological approach to understanding workplace morale. This exploratory study has two objectives: (1) to quantitatively measure the workplace morale of academic librarians to set an initial baseline measure for future research and (2) to analyze the variables that impact academic librarian morale with an emphasis on the variables that academic library supervisors directly influence. Findings suggest the workplace morale of academic librarians is predicted by several variables within a supervisor's influence including feedback, work autonomy, and supervisor qualities such as communication, transparency, and empowering subordinates. Outside of a small negative relationship to age and work experience, demographics were largely found to not be a predictor of workplace morale. This study also evaluated workplace morale as a predictor of turnover intention in academic librarians. There was a strong statistically significant negative correlation between workplace morale and the turnover intention of academic librarians.     

How does patient-centered communication improve emotional health? An exploratory study in China

In China, people’s emotional health is concerning. The patient-centered communication during medical consultations may play an important role in improving people’s emotional well-being. However, the relationship between communication and health is one of the least developed areas in communication research. This study empirically tested a pathway linking communication to health. Based on survey data collected from 483 Chinese patients, the results showed that patient-centered communication directly improved emotional health. Also, patient-centered communication had an indirect effect on emotional health through uncertainty management skill. In addition, patient trust positively moderated the effects of patient-centered communication on uncertainty management skill and emotional health. Also, one’s Internet health information seeking positively moderated the effect of communication on health. The findings have significant theoretical and practical implications for health education and promotion in the context of China.     

Librarians' experiences of the teaching role: A national survey of librarians

A Canadian national survey of 788 library staff doing instructional work revealed that most participants expected to be doing some teaching in their workplaces, and the largest proportion of participants have been teaching for more than 10 years. Most instruction continues to take the form of short presentations to groups of learners. On the whole, preparatory experiences are informal—on-the-job experience, reading professional literature, and attending workshops. The majority of respondents identify instructional work as integral to their professional identity, but nearly one-third see this work as a duty or expectation, and a small proportion view it as an imposition. The study results have implications for design of programs that prepare library staff for the workplace, and for library managers who need to support effective instructional practice.     

Understanding Work/Life Blending: Credibility Implications for Those Who Date at Work

This study examined the credibility implications of employees who date at work. A 2 (status dynamic of the romance) × 2 (sex of the peer) design was used to examine effects of workplace romance on perceptions of credibility. One hundred and forty full-time working adults assessed the credibility of a hypothetical coworker who was involved in a workplace romance. Results indicate that peers who date superiors are viewed as less caring and less trustworthy than are peers who date equal status employees. Sex and status interacted such that women dating superiors versus peers were perceived as less caring and less trustworthy, whereas perceptions of men did not differ based on the status of their relational partners. Limitations and future research are discussed.     

Memory mobilization,generational differences,and communication effects on collective memory about Tiananmen in Hong Kong

People in a society share collective memories about numerous historical events simultaneously, but not every event is equally salient all the time. This study examines the implications of memory mobilization on recall of historical events. Memory mobilization is treated as a process that involves communication activities via a wide range of platforms. Focusing on Hong Kong people's memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Incident in Beijing, this study found that more people recalled the event during the period of memory mobilization, and communication activities involving interpersonal exchanges were related to recall of Tiananmen mainly in that period. In addition, the findings showed that the process of memory mobilization operated differently for different age cohorts. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

A Product of Social Interaction: Tag-Team Reference and Workplace Relationships

SUMMARY

Interacting socially with colleagues creates close workplace relationships. These relationships translate into a dynamic, synergistic environment at the reference desk, also known as tag-team reference. When two people work well together, they can bounce ideas off of one another and serve the users most efficiently. Reference librarians all have strengths and weaknesses and those who work closely together can rely on each other without worrying about the stigma of reference desk boundaries. While traditional training and advice literature do not stress the importance of workplace relationships, there are ways that librarians and libraries can successfully promote social interaction and nurture a collaborative, collegial environment.     

Improving Museum Docents' Communication Skills

This article presents the results of a study evaluating a program to help museum docents improve accessibility for visitors with communication challenges (such as hearing, language and/or speech disorders). This was done by adapting docent presentations. The docents' speech patterns were evaluated before and after a training program, and showed significant improvements in the rate, duration, and use of pauses in their speech. There also was significant improvement in ensuring that view of their faces remained unobstructed—important for people with communication disorders—in order to facilitate the consistent visibility of their facial expressions and visual cues. The training was found to be effective in adjusting the docents' presentations so that the museum experience would be improved for visitors with communication challenges.     

The adaptation of complaints to participation frameworks

Among the strategic uses of various communication media is the practice of addressing and sending messages to multiple participants. The present study was a test of the hypothesis that the participation framework within which a message is sent and the sender's level of message design logic interact to affect message content. Participants sent complaints via email either to a target or to a target and a third‐party peer. Complaints were segmented into thought‐units, with each thought‐unit subsequently categorized according to its junction. The results showed that the two factors interacted to affect complaining, such that persons with conventional and rhetorical design logics often adapted messages to the target‐peer condition, whereas persons with expressive design logics generally did not. Discussion focuses on the implications for research on participation, complaining, and message design logics, as well as for the study of mediated communication.