Movers’ advantages: The effect of mobility on scientists’ productivity and collaboration

With the rapid globalization of science, mobility is perceived as an important driver of scientific progress and innovation success. However, we have little knowledge about whether and how scientists’ mobility influences their career development, especially scientists’ productivity and collaboration. In this case study, using the data on 62,330 scientists, the Chinese computer scientists who published at least one computer science paper and published no fewer than 10 papers in total from 2000 to 2012, we apply difference in differences models in conjunction with PSM methods to show the effect of domestic mobility (i.e., moving inside China) on scientists’ research quantity and quality by distinguishing the direction of mobility. In contrast to the existing literature that documents a short-term negative effect due to adaption costs or disruption of routines and social capital, we do not observe an initial detrimental impact of following moves on productivity and collaboration, even for non-upward moves. We further find that mobility leads to increased collaboration with new partners without dampening scientists’ collaboration with previous collaborators. However, scientists have a higher probability of collaborating with new collaborators, as evidenced by the decreased share of previous collaborators to the total co-authors after they move. The findings of this case study imply that the benefits of mobility might outweigh its costs and that mobility improves scientists’ productivity and collaboration for prolific scientists in emerging countries.     

Understanding librarians’ knowledge sharing behavior: The role of organizational climate,motivational drives and leadership empowerment

Library managers in Iran have always been concerned with a low level of knowledge sharing among librarians. Identifying effective factors on librarians' knowledge sharing behavior helps us to understand and improve the situation. Organizational factors are one group of these factors. The effect of organizational climate, employees' motivational drives, and leadership empowerment on the subjective norms, attitude, intention, and knowledge sharing behavior among librarians in public libraries in Iran was studied. A conceptual model was designed in light of the Theory of Reasoned Action. Ten hypotheses were formulated. Data were collected by using a questionnaire and were analyzed using structural equations models. The findings showed that constructive organizational climate and positive motivational drives in public libraries, as well as personal and organizational knowledge sources strengthened by the librarians' ability of leadership have a positive and significant effect on subjective norms, attitude, intention, and knowledge sharing behavior. Such conditions facilitate the process of knowledge sharing in public library environments. Moreover, the study highlights the effect of the librarians' leadership empowerment on their attitude to knowledge sharing behavior by motivational drives.     

The Constables and the ‘Garage Girl’

In the summer of 1928, the arrest on a disorder charge of a young woman in north London who gave her name as Helene Adele led to a press sensation after she claimed that the officers had falsely accused her in order to discredit her claim that one of them had sexually assaulted her. The constables were ultimately prosecuted, convicted and discharged from the Metropolitan Police. This article considers the Adele case in the context of intense concerns about the possible abuse of police powers—particularly in cases involving women—in the late 1920s. Adele was catapulted onto the front pages of Britain's sensationalist press: her serialised memoir appeared in a newspaper and was reprinted in a women's magazine. However, her case was more than just a tabloid spectacle. Contributing to historians' reconsideration of the sensationalist inter-war press, this article shows how the coverage of the case fit into the press's interest in young working-class women's lifestyles and sexuality, highlighting how ‘human interest’ journalism could be intermixed with social critique.     

The BBC,Group Listening,and ‘The Changing World’

This article examines the content and impact of a series of BBC lecture courses broadcast in the early 1930s. The Group Listening Scheme was established in 1928: experts working in a variety of fields were invited to broadcasts a series of evening lectures. Adults across the country were encouraged to gather for the lectures and stay on afterwards to discuss them. ‘The Changing World’ consisted of half-hour talks over six evenings a week during a six-month period. The broadcasts amounted to a two-term syllabus, with 24 talks devoted to each of the six themes (the modern dilemma, industry and trade, literature and art, science, the modern state, and education and leisure). This article will sample some of these broadcasts and explore the listener response to the series in order to reach an understanding of the BBC’s achievements in adult education during the interwar period.     

The good,the bad,and the unexpected: Violating audience expectations in Clint Eastwood’s speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention

Courses: Communication Theory, Nonverbal Communication, Public Speaking

Objective: At the end of this activity, students should be able to define key components of expectancy violations theory and apply the theory to analyze violations that occurred in Clint Eastwood’s speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention.     

Inappropriate Parental Divorce Disclosures,the Factors that Prompt them,and their Impact on Parents’ and Adolescents’ Well-Being

Recent research has shown that parents’ inappropriate disclosures about the divorce process can be stressful for adolescents. However, little is known about the conditions that prompt parents to disclose inappropriate information about the divorce to them. The current study examines factors (a lack of social support, a lack of control over divorce stressors, and the severity of the divorce stressors) that potentially influence parents to reveal inappropriate information about the divorce to their adolescents. It also explores the impact that these inappropriate disclosures have on parents’ and adolescents’ well-being. Surveys were gathered from 118 custodial parent–adolescent dyads. The results suggest that a lack of social support and the severity of the stressors did not influence parents’ inappropriate disclosures. Custodial parents’ lack of control over their divorce-related stressors was the only factor associated with their inappropriate disclosures. When a lack of control over divorced-related stressors was considered, parents with less stressful interparental conflict were likely to be distressed by their inappropriate disclosures, whereas parents who had a strained relationship with their former spouse were not. Adolescents’ perceptions of the inappropriate disclosures were also a stronger predictor of adolescents’ well-being than the parents’ perceptions of their own disclosures.     

The Stubborn Pervasiveness of Television News in the Digital Age and the Field’s Attention to the Medium, 2010–2014

A secondary analysis of 2010–2014 World Values Survey (WVS) data (N = 81,229) is performed across 56 countries to assess frequency of exposure to television news versus the Internet and mobile phone as information sources. A large majority of the comparisons (105/112; 93.75%) reveal television to be used more frequently than Internet or mobile phones (p < 1.0E-09). A content analysis of works published in 9 communication journals from 2010 to 2014 indicates a precipitous decline in the attention political communication scholars are giving to television. Meanwhile, there is substantial growth in the focus on new media.     

Prevalence of methodological transparency in the use of mixed methods research in library and information science research in South Africa and Nigeria, 2009–2015

Methodological transparency facilitates rigorous, trustworthy, and reliable mixed methods research (MMR). Because divergent views on the conceptualization of mixed methods can create confusion for researchers, methodological transparency can help researchers to replicate methods in other studies and attract them to mixed methods research. Many studies have been conducted to assess the utilization of mixed methods research in several disciplines, but few in library and information science (LIS) have studied how authors describe the methods used. This study investigated the clarity and detail provided about methodology in mixed methods research articles in LIS, focusing on South Africa and Nigeria. Content analysis was used to assess 104 doctoral theses, of which 10 used mixed methods. Results suggest that methodological transparency in MMR research is underrepresented in LIS. This study contributes to the discussion on how LIS can enhance the quality of mixed methods research studies by underscoring the importance of methodological transparency in such studies. Researchers and LIS educators can use the gaps identified by this study to use and report mixed methods appropriately in future research.     

Reflections and distortions: Canadian folklore as portrayed in children’s literature

Abstract

In Great Britain and the United States common developmental issues have resulted in the evolution of two very different models of school library provision. In the United States, school libraries are integrated media centers, separate from public library influence, staffed by specialists with dual training in teaching and librarianship, and dedicated to an educational mission. British school libraries are contested terrain with two patterns of staffing, support by Public Library Services, and incomplete formulation of mission and rationale. This article discusses five factors which have facilitated or retarded school library development in the two countries (standards, staffing and certification, government support, rationale, professionalization) and generalizes about development factors and the successful promotion of school libraries.