‘A kind of exchange’: learning from art and design teaching

This paper analyses pedagogic practices in four fields in art and design higher education. Its purpose is to identify the characteristics that might be called signature pedagogies in these subjects and to identify their role in student centred learning. In a time of growing economic pressure on higher education and in the face of tendencies for normative practices brought about through mechanisms such as quality assurance procedures the authors seek to articulate and recognise the issues relating to spaces and pedagogies from this discipline that might be made to wider debates about learning in the sector.     

Scholarship as intervention: critique,collaboration and the research imagination

Following Scott (this issue), this paper examines how environmental education researchers might intervene to greater effect in the policies and practices of our governments and local and international organizations through individual and collective programmes of research. Suggesting that public scholarship or academic activism can engage a wide spectrum of genres and outcomes of research activity, the paper proposes that what stands out are not the methods employed in seeking to have research ‘be of use’, but instead what can be termed modes of engagement. These can be described as including interpretive critique or ‘speaking truth to power’, public space and collaboration, and the role of research imagination in social life. These three modes are discussed with the hope that researchers will consider their possibilities and implications in working towards more powerful public scholarship in environmental education.     

Understanding leadership experiences: the need for story sharing and feminist literature as a survival manual for leadership

This paper uses an auto‐ethnographic storytelling approach to connect an individual’s experience in leadership with the literature on women in leadership as a way of further exposing and understanding gendered organisational practices. Whilst the paper details only one women’s experience it was through the connection to the literature that most ‘sense making’ occurred and a realisation (on the part of one of the authors) that the experience was not unique or individualised but, rather, systematic of masculine, gendered, organisational cultures. The paper offers some ‘strategies for survival’ for other women who may find themselves in similar situations. It concludes with a call for programmes and strategies to bring about fundamental change. Although the setting is the higher education sector in Australia the paper’s findings and recommendations have much broader applicability.     

The value and impact of information provided through library services for patient care: developing guidance for best practice

Introduction: Previous impact tool‐kits for UK health libraries required updating to reflect recent evidence and changes in library services. The National Knowledge Service funded development of updated guidance. Methods: Survey tools were developed based on previous impact studies and a systematic review. The resulting draft questionnaire survey was tested at four sites, and the interview schedule was investigated in a fifth area. A literature search in assia , Google Scholar, intute , lisa , lista , scirus , Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Knowledge), and the major UK University and National Libraries Catalogue (copac ), identified ways to improve response rates. Other expert advice contributed to the guidance. Results: The resulting guidance contains evidence‐based advice and a planning pathway for conducting an impact survey as a service audit. The survey tools (critical incident questionnaire and interview schedule) are available online. The evidence‐based advice recommends personalizing the request, assuring confidentiality, and using follow‐up reminders. Questionnaires should be brief, and small incentives, such as a lottery draw should be considered. Bias is minimized if the survey is conducted and analysed by independent researchers. Conclusion: The guidance is a starting point for a pragmatic survey to assess the impact of health library services.     

Inviting Conversations? Dialogic difficulties in the corporate university

The paper experiments with, and reflects on, the limited possibilities for collaboration and communication across disparate groups within the university setting. The authors respond to the strong imperative to bring management, academics and support staff together, and so move beyond the entrenched positions and interests that those groups often display. They highlight the implications that this may have for collaborative academic publication. The text of the paper works as a research exercise in which each author's contribution constitutes data as well as providing reflections upon their own distinct identity and its consequences for communication in universities. The authors argue that attempts to enact ‘better communication’ is in many senses a failed project, but that it is this very fact which makes the experiment instructive. They conclude that calls to collaboration must acknowledge the fact that such relationships will always be relations of power, and are therefore not easily negotiated or understood.     

Evidence in seconds? Format and design considerations in the provision of reliable information to support evidence‐based practice

Evidence‐based practice is gaining support amongst health professionals. However, the major barrier remains the lack of time to read the literature. There are also problems with the take‐up and use of evidence‐based information sources such as Cochrane reviews and Effective Health Care bulletins. If such evidence is to be incorporated into local guidelines and used in day‐to‐day practice, practitioners request that these and other reliable publications be further summarized in short packages and available within seconds. The Health Evidence Bulletins Wales offer a model for this approach. The Bulletins have gone through several developmental stages leading to a novel two‐column format. In the first column, brief statements summarize the best available evidence within a topic area. In the second, full details are provided of the supporting publications (and the evidence type, or research design) with links to the full text of documents, where possible from the electronic versions of each Bulletin. Results from a questionnaire study using a random sample and unsolicited feedback suggest that this ‘two‐tier’ approach to information provision is valued by users and has implications for information services currently under development to support clinical governance.     

A first class knowledge service: developing the National electronic Library for Health

With the introduction of clinical governance and the move towards evidence-based practice, there is a growing need to provide health professionals and patients, and the public, with high quality information. Developments in the health service have added weight and urgency to this need. The National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) has a key role to play in providing health professionals with a core knowledge base of accredited and evaluated information. The Pilot NeLH was launched in November and this article outlines the progress and achievements made during this time. The NeLH is based around a central website featuring core resources and links to commissioned specialist collections. Over 70 information resources, including bibliographic databases and full text publications, are accessible via the NeLH, which aims to act as a one-stop shop to support evidence-based decision-making. Much work has been undertaken on national procurement and licensing, particularly in partnership with National Health Service (NHS) libraries. Partnerships as a whole are crucial to ensure true seamless access for health professionals. Key partners include NHS libraries, NHS Direct Online and the electronic Library for Social Care. A short glossary is included for those readers less familiar with current health service developments in the UK.