Cost analyses of predation involving free circulation subsidiaries of paid newspapers

The complexities of cost allocation in predatory pricing lawsuits involving pricing of free circulation subsidiaries are examined in this article. The author discusses three methods for allocating costs to find evidence of below‐cost sales and argues that proportional cost allocation provides the most balanced treatment of the interests of plaintiffs and defendants.     

Emergent Agents: The Forgotten Publics in Crisis Communication and Issues Management Research

Crisis communication research rarely highlights the voices of marginalized publics or their advocates whose interests are affected by crisis situations. We take a different approach by using a response to a natural disaster to expand our theorizing about crisis situations beyond those that hurt the bottom line. Using official statements from Senators Landrieu and Obama about events surrounding Hurricane Katrina as texts for analysis, we demonstrate how they used transcendence, rhetorically, and appropriated the Bush administration's key term—security—to garner more support for their positions, Katrina sufferers, and relief efforts. Implications of this strategy serve to broaden crisis communication theorizing, and to provide insights into ways to strengthen the quality of crisis emergency response planning and response protocols.     

Best Practices in Crisis Communication: Evolution of Practice through Research

The stories of four practitioners are presented regarding their involvement with the Aspen conference and their reflections on the essays in this forum. Their stories suggest that the ability for academics and practitioners to co-create engaged scholarship depends on articulating common values and interests, creating a shared language that allows them to develop and execute a project and to disseminate their findings in useful ways, and constructing a space for reflection on organizational processes. This suggests that academic and practitioners need to negotiate their differences in values, language, and approach in ways that co-create a mutually satisfying project.     

An Open Source ILS Glossary: Version 2

This article is a glossary of terms one finds in open source integrated library systems (ILSs). The focus of this glossary is on the two major open source ILSs—Evergreen and Koha. These are being used in an increasing number of U.S. and Canadian public libraries as well as other types of libraries. The glossary is an introduction to the terms that those working with these open source library systems use on a day-to-day basis, with links to sources with more information for those new to open source projects.     

Google Book Search and Metadata

This article summarizes published documents on metadata provided by Google for books scanned as part of the Google Book Search (GBS) project and provides suggestions for improvement. The faulty, misleading, and confusing metadata in current Google records can pose potentially serious problems for users of GBS. Google admits that it took data, which proved to be inaccurate, from many sources and is attempting to correct errors. Some argue that metadata is not needed with keyword searching; but optical character recognition (OCR) errors, synonym control, and materials in foreign languages make reliable metadata a requirement for academic researchers. The authors recommend that users should be able to submit error reports to Google to correct faulty metadata.     

Exploring “STEM-Readiness” in Public Libraries

Abstract

Many public libraries are offering Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programing to their patrons. Using data from a national survey of public library professionals, the current study examined the growing STEM movement by measuring “STEM-readiness” and through the lens of Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Results indicate that most libraries are ready to implement STEM programing. Characteristics of STEM-ready libraries included serving more patrons, having more space, and engaging more often with STEM programing. Such findings suggest that public libraries that have access to resources are more likely to be STEM-ready; whereas, those with fewer resources may need additional support.     

From Google Print to Google Book Search: The Controversial Initiative and Its Impact on Other Remarkable Digitization Projects

Google's initiative to scan and add book content into its search engine has resulted in much praise and protest. Changing its digitization project's name from Google Print to Google Book Search and adding information to its site did not keep Google out of copyright court. However, publicity surrounding this project has spawned renewed interest in book digitization projects, with collaborative efforts quickly growing. This article will look at Book Search's history, highlight how it has been altered along with its name, and point out other interesting book digitization projects that Book Search has spawned or recently brought into the limelight, such as those associated with the Internet Archive.     

Positioning in Market Space: The Evaluation of Swedish Universities' Online Brand Personalities

The paper extends Aaker's previous empirical work on brand personality by exploring whether Swedish Universities communicate distinctive brand personalities in cyberspace. Employing a multistage methodology, data are drawn from the English Web sites of 17 Swedish universities and analyzed by using a combination of computerized content and correspondence analyses. Results indicate that some universities appear to have clear brand personalities, others take on a new face with regard to the obvious personality one would have initially associated them with, while others fail to communicate their brand personalities in any distinct manner. While illustrating a powerful but simple and relatively inexpensive way for institutions for higher education and brand researchers to study communicated brand personalities, this study also highlights the growing importance of brand positioning issues in internationalization and globalization of higher educational institutions.