Building Relationships through a Digital Branch Library: Finding the Community in Community College Library Websites

This study evaluates whether or not community college libraries have in place the characteristics necessary to develop digital branch libraries to meet the expanding and changing needs of their publics. Using Hon and Grunig’s (1999) relationship building criteria as a framework, 98 community college library websites were analyzed to determine if they can be considered digital branch libraries (King, 2009). Digital branches go beyond offering mere functionality to embody relational aspects that are critical to the success of service-based organizations. That is, they provide at least the same level of services as their brick and mortar counterparts through real staff, real collection, real building, and real community. Findings indicate that while aspects of all of King’s criteria were present, representation was inconsistent and often weak; further, the emphasis was on functional features, suggesting a need for greater relationship building practices in order to engage with their publics. Collective results are discussed, and recommendations for improvement and areas of future research are offered.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND PRACTICES IN U.S. COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The staff development goals and activities of United States community colleges were studied. A total of 1,315 questionnaires were mailed to community college academic deans in the spring of 1979. Of the 687 colleges responding, 413 indicated that their college had an organized staff development program or set of activities, and another 241 colleges indicated no such program at this time.

The results showed that the most frequently mentioned staff development goals of the 31 goals studied related to the improvement of the full‐time teaching faculty as opposed to part‐time faculty and other academic and non‐academic support personnel. Second, the most highly rated and used practices were travel and grants programs for faculty. Some of the least effective of 48 practices investigated were programs for the “faculty evaluation of college administrators” and “lighter than normal teaching loads for first‐year faculty.”

It is recommended that colleges offer a variety of staff development programs for each of their staff development groups and that research be conducted to determine participant perceptions of the usefulness of various staff development practices.     

Iowa Lakes Community College: Partnerships for Academic and Economic Success in a Rapidly Evolving Wind-Energy Industry

Iowa Lakes Community College responded to a national need for wind-energy technicians. The Wind-Energy and Turbine Program aligned industry and academic competencies with experiential learning components to foster exploration of additional renewable energy applications. Completers understand both the physical and academic rigor a career in wind energy demands.     

Let’s Stay Together

全球许多传媒实况报道了奥巴马第二任就职大典的过程,包括祷告会、宣誓就职、检阅仪仗队、午餐、就职庆祝游行、晚餐以及舞会。在整个就职大典中,舞会扮演了十分重要的角色。在今年的舞会上,奥巴马夫妇跳了第一支舞,由著名演员、歌唱家詹妮弗·哈德森(Jennifer Hudson)伴唱,歌曲是"让我们在一起"(Let’s Stay Together),这是一首七十年代的当红流行曲,被列入美国五百首最了不起歌曲排行榜的第六十名。春节、情人节,一中一西两个节日,总是让整个虽然还春寒料峭的2月天都洋溢着温暖甜蜜的气氛,这首歌很是应景呢。     

Integration of knowledge management and collaborative learning by technical supported communication processes

To date the development of technical systems to support learning either in schools and universities (CSCL-systems), or in companies (knowledge-management systems) have largely developed separately concurrent, with no or little mutual exchange of experience. The approach presented here seeks to combine the strengths of both lines of development in order that both benefits from each others advantages achieve advantages for each development. Detailed requirements engineering is presented regarding, three research fields: communication theory; learning processes; and a study in companies. The requirements collected led to a sophisticated concept of annotations where annotations serve as communicative contributions, and (segmented) material is used as context. The combination and distinction between communicative contributions, and the material itself is a suitable approach for integrating the advantages of CSCL-systems (communication support) and knowledge management systems (support of content storage). These requirements are combined in a software system, KOLUMBUS, presented with its key features. To gather experience with KOLUMBUS and to convey potential for further improvement, two case studies were conducted. The main results, advantages and further potentials derived from these two case studies are described in this paper. The paper concludes with design recommendations for similar technical systems, as well as organizational hints for CSCL-groups (in schools or universities as well as in companies).     

Sonic Oppression,Echoes of Resistance and the Changing Soundscapes of Rio’s Favelas in the Build-Up to the Olympics

This article aims to explore the ways in which the transformations that Rio de Janeiro experienced prior to hosting the Olympics echo in the soundscapes of Favela da Maré. Here, we draw from an (auto)ethnographic approach, and combine theoretical perspectives from sound studies, auditory culture, and studies of activist media. Our research indicates that some of the authorities’ oppressive impositions on favela residents’ daily lives manifest precisely through the suppression of sounds. We would like to argue that activist media in Latin America can be better understood if situated in a complex set of daily rhythms.     

UAE’s Publishing Industry: A Vision of an Avant-Garde Nation

This article outlines in detail the ten strategic goals that the UAE publishing industry has identified to lead a comprehensive transformation of the industry and to cement its position as a regional leader. The main goals revolve around building regional and global partnerships, developing a global publishing hub, improving legal framework for the all the stakeholders of the industry, building quality Arabic content for local and regional readers, supporting educational publishing, launching initiatives to encourage reading for pleasure, improving distribution networks and retail, transforming libraries, and instilling a sense of pride and understanding of local culture while supporting creative talents and skills. Also, this article will share information about some leading initiatives being implemented in Sharjah and the United Arab Emirates, and future initiatives to be implemented to achieve the ten goals.