“One of You Can Cut the Cake; The Other Picks the First Slice,” Routes to Consider How to Selfishly Improve Academic Library Delivery Through Shared Services

This article seeks to explore the sharing relationships and behaviors in academic library and information services—reflecting on some of the practical considerations for internal and external Shared Services. The title reflects an observation made when sharing cake among children: if one child cuts the cake and the other takes the first slice, the first child will take special care to ensure that the slices are equal. In this sharing management technique, “fairness” is perceptible and transparent. The technique addresses the inherent weakness in the trust relationship among the children.

The article attempts to differentiate between service “sharing” and “Shared Services” in order to clarify the underlying factors in some of the sectors’ greatest successes in sharing, as well as some of the more uneven outcomes of Shared Service delivery. In particular, it seeks to explore the propensity, capacity, and appetite for sharing, as derived from the relationships academic library services have developed in the first two decades of convergence.     

The Incidence of and Returns to ‘Overeducation’: PIAAC Evidence on the G7

Minerva - PIAAC data are used to evaluate the extent of overeducation in G7 countries. Incidence of overeducation is seen to vary systematically with a number of demographic characteristics. The...     

“Good” organisational reasons for “ineffectual” research: Evaluating summative evaluation of museums and galleries

New displays, galleries and exhibitions in museums and galleries are increasingly subject to summative evaluations, wide-ranging investigations that examine how visitors respond to and engage with particular initiatives. These evaluations provide insights into the behaviour and attitudes of visitors and the ways in which particular exhibitions, exhibits and information resources facilitate engagement, participation and learning. Unfortunately, however, summative evaluation has relatively little impact either on the particular initiative or more generally in contributing to our knowledge of visitor behaviour and understanding of best practice. In this paper, we suggest that the relative lack of impact of summative evaluation is not primarily due to any methodological shortcomings or the idiosyncrasies of some of the approaches that are used. Rather, the organisational and institutional context in which summative evaluation is commissioned, undertaken and received can impose contradictory demands and undermine the opportunity of learning from and applying the findings of evaluation.