Change Management in Public Libraries: Research-Based Political Strategies

Abstract

This study presents seven change management strategies for public libraries: (1) specify the major issue, (2) map the decision cycle, (3) identify circuits and tessellations, (4) target receptive audiences, (5) mobilize civil society support (6) minimize resistance with win-win issues, and (7) maintain legitimizing processes. These strategies are derived from historical case study of a single US case over a 93-year span. The strategies are elaborated using qualitative data from the case. The findings build on existing literature and contribute new knowledge and new methods to the research area. The strategies have practical import for public library managers.     

Accountability for Quality: One State’s Experience in Improving Practice

South Carolina recently implemented a new initiative to improve the quality of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in primary schools. This article describes the initiative and examines evidence that such an effort can have a positive effect on early childhood program quality. Data from both classroom observations using the ECERS-R scale, and from teacher surveys, are used to examine the effectiveness of the quality improvement effort. Results indicate that training and support coupled with accountability requirements can facilitate positive changes within classrooms. Examples of positive changes teachers report they made as the result of this process are included, along with changes in ECERS-R quality rating scores.     

Comparison of Subjective and Objective Judgments of Children’S Drawings

This paper presents a user-oriented technique to analyze dichotomous data arising from a double repeated measures 2 × 2 design. The design under consideration occurs most frequently in survey research in which two matched samples of subjects are measured at two points in time on a dichotomous dependent measure. Test statistics are presented that test for change on the dependent measure over time for each sample separately, as well as an interaction test statistic that compares the change rates between the two samples. An extension of the technique to higher order two-dimensional tables is also suggested.     

Academic Environments in Detail: Holland’s Theory at the Subdiscipline Level

Studies of change in colleges and universities often consider faculty support a key influence on the success of academic reform efforts. Scholars, however, have given relatively little attention to the role of disciplinary environments (e.g., culture, values, and habits of mind) on educational innovation and change. Using data from 1,272 faculty members in 203 engineering programs on 39 campuses, this study examined whether engineering faculty from different academic environments (defined by Holland’s typology) vary in their responses to changing curricular and pedagogical requirements. Findings suggest that the broad disciplinary groupings often used in higher education research fail to capture the subtleties of within-field variations in faculty values, customs, and dispositions relating to curricular and pedagogical change and provide moderate support for using Holland’s theory for studying organizational change.     

What do Underprepared Students Learn about Measurement from Introductory Laboratory Work?

This study investigates changes in students' understanding of various aspects of measurement before and after participating in two different introductory laboratory courses at two universities in South Africa. Students' ideas were sought using a probe into their understanding of data collection, data processing and data comparison. The responses were analysed using a model which identified subjects as adhering to either a point or set paradigm. Considerable gains were made during instruction with both groups, though some important differences were identified between them. Neither group could be identified after instruction as full adherents to the set paradigm which was a goal of the instruction. Rather, the majority were found to use ad hoc or rote set action, while using point reasoning.