Proclaiming Library Worth in a Program Prioritization Process at a Mid-Sized Public University

Abstract

In an economic climate when colleges can no longer presume that legislators see institutions of higher learning as tacit public goods, institutions around the country are facing budget cuts. This article presents a case study of the experience of a mid-sized public state university and its Library in a budget crisis undergoing a university-wide program prioritization process. The authors review the process of writing three reports on the Library’s value, along with the approach to engaging staff in the process including a retreat. This article raises questions about what every library should consider assessing and provide tools for libraries navigating similar terrain.     

The University's Uncommon Community

In the UK, as elsewhere in the world, the global financial crisis has focused attention on the cost of public services and the need to reduce expenditure, not least in respect of higher education. This, however, raises a set of prior questions: What kind of society do we want? What is important to democratic society? What kind of higher education is desirable? The article takes Alasdair MacIntyre's critique of what he calls liberal capitalist society as a starting point for considering questions concerning the kind of higher education that would be valuable and relevant to a healthy democratic society. His thesis is outlined and the implications of this for the university set out. The article examines MacIntyre's notion of community, which he elaborates in relation to medieval religious worldviews, and argues that whilst his conceptualisation is more intellectually and educationally coherent than some others, it is ultimately too restrictive. The article argues instead for a recognition, within education, of what is uncommon. This may open greater possibilities for keeping alive the serious questions that we must constantly attend to, beyond and within our communities, secular or religious.     

Asymptotic behavior of solutions of some semilinear functional differential and integro-differential equations with infinite delay in Banach spaces

We prove in this paper the existence and uniqueness of mild solutions to some functional differential and functional integro-differential equations with infinite delay in Banach spaces which approach almost automorphic functions at infinity. We also discuss the existence of S-asymptotically $\omega \text{-}\mathrm{periodic}$ mild solutions. The results are new.     

我国联合型SKL自主创新的SWOT分析

作为我国基础研究"国家队"的重要组成部分,联合型SKL已经成为我国开展高水平基础研究的重要基地,但其原始创新和集成创新能力有限,且不同类型的联合型SKL自主创新绩效差异显著。首次运用SWOT法对我国联合型SKL自主创新进行了比较全面系统的分析。研究表明,我国联合型SKL在自主创新方面具有各自的优势和劣势,面临不同的威胁和发展的机遇。因此,发挥多种策略的协同功能,就成为提升我国联合型SKL自主创新能力的应对之策。