Vital pathways for hospital librarians: present and future roles

Objectives:

The research objectives were to (1) describe the current and future roles of hospital librarians and the challenges they face and (2) find evidence supporting the hypothesis that librarians are essential to hospitals in achieving the organizations'' mission-critical goals.

Method:

The authors used results from a previous research study that identified the five organizational mission-critical goals important to hospital administrators and then searched the literature and solicited examples from hospital librarians to describe the librarian''s role in helping hospitals achieve these goals.

Results:

The literature supports the hypothesis that hospital librarians play important roles in the success of the hospital. Librarians support quality clinical care, efficient and effective hospital operations, continuing education for staff, research and innovation, and patient, family, and community health information needs.

Conclusion:

Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today''s hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.

Highlights

• A review of the literature supports the hypothesis that services of the professional librarian result in:
  • enhanced staff effectiveness,
  • optimized patient care,
  • improved patient outcomes, and
  • increased patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services.

Implications

• Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.

     

eSport management: Embracing eSport education and research opportunities

Consumer demand for eSport and the growth of organized video game competitions has generated considerable attention from the sport, event, and entertainment industries. eSport therefore represents a novel and popular area for sport management academics to conduct research, educate students, and service industry. However, despite growth and acceptance by consumers and practitioners, academics debate eSport’s position within the domain of sport management, their debates largely concentrated around the question of whether eSport can be classified as sport. In this article, the authors argue for the inclusion of organized eSport events and competitions within sport management vis-à-vis eSport’s meeting certain defining criteria of sport in general. eSport’s connection to traditional sport and defining characteristics are addressed to support eSport’s role as a sport entertainment product recognized by industry as representing a substantial growth opportunity for sport and related organizations. As eSport continues to evolve, practitioners face managerial challenges that are similar to those in traditional sport, particularly in areas of governance and diversity. Sport management academics should embrace the potential of eSport in order to examine this evolution and provide guidance to industry through education and research.     

Dress for fit: An exploration of female activewear consumption

While the female activewear market is growing rapidly, research on activewear consumption and female consumers is lagging. Existing researchers have failed to produce an in-depth understanding of female consumers’ perceptions of activewear, thereby providing limited insights for the activewear industry. Drawing upon brand association theory and the functional, expressive, and aesthetic model, the authors identify important attributes of activewear brands and how attributes lead to benefits pursued by female activewear consumers. Focus groups were conducted with 72 female activewear consumers in Australia. Findings reveal three product-related attributes (functional design, colour, and size and fit) and two non-product-related attributes (price and model imagery) influence the fulfillment of four benefits (mood enhancement, exercise facilitation, healthy and active lifestyle, and physical fit body image). This research contributes theoretical and empirical knowledge about activewear consumption and the vertical structure of brand associations. Findings of this research can help activewear brands deliver benefits to female consumers through improved product designs and marketing strategies.     

JROTC as a Substitute for PE: Really?

Purpose: Even though physical education (PE) is an evidence-based strategy for providing and promoting physical activity, alternative programs such as the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) are commonly substituted for PE in many states. The purpose of this study was to compare student physical activity and lesson contexts during high school PE and JROTC sessions. Method: The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time was used to assess PE and JROTC sessions (N = 38 each) in 4 high schools that provided both programs. Data were analyzed using t tests, negative binomial regression, and logistic regression. Results: Students engaged in significantly more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during PE than during JROTC sessions and they were significantly less sedentary. Significant differences between the 2 program types were also found among lesson contexts. Conclusions: PE and JROTC provide substantially different content and contexts, and students in these programs engage in substantially different amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Students in JROTC, and perhaps other alternative programs, are less likely to accrue health-supporting physical activity and engage in fewer opportunities to be physically fit and motorically skilled. Policies and practices for providing substitutions for PE should be carefully examined.     

Shaping the Agenda of Local Daily Newspapers: A Methodology Merging the Agenda Setting and Community Structure Perspectives

Community structure research investigates the influence of the local community and specific demographic groups in the community on the degree of emphasis that particular public issues receive in a local newspaper. In contrast to this internal source of influence, intermedia agenda setting emphasizes the external influence of other news media and the national journalistic culture on the news decisions of local daily newspapers. To invoke a cliché, the agenda-setting and community structure perspectives are opposite sides of the same coin and should be considered in tandem. The research design and procedure for statistical analysis presented here, which involves the simultaneous investigation of the influence resulting from community structure and intermedia agenda setting, is a path for new research that can present a detailed explication of the balance between local and national influence on the issue agenda of local daily newspapers.     

Components, systems and discontinuities: The case of magnetic recording and playback equipment

Using the history of magnetic recording and playback equipment, this paper explores the relationship between incremental improvements in components and technological discontinuities in systems. It finds that improvements in components have been the major source of all discontinuities in the industry. Focusing just on tape-based systems, all of the basic design approaches had been identified by the late 1950s and thus one of the largest technological challenges for firms has been to modify the design in response to improvements in the magnetic recording density of tape. This paper explores this phenomenon by analyzing data on equipment performance and price, and several design choices for the tape-based equipment. It shows how improvements in the magnetic recording density have changed the tradeoffs that exist between price and different dimensions of performance and between various design choices and thus led to about 10 technological discontinuities in magnetic tape system design.     

She’s Hot,for a Politician: The Impact of Objectifying Commentary on Perceived Credibility of Female Candidates

The way female politicians are discussed in traditional and new media may contribute to the way individuals evaluate those candidates. Objectification theory suggests that framing individuals in a way that reduces them to their physical characteristics is detrimental to perceived agency. To that end, an experiment was designed to determine the impact of objectifying comments on the evaluation of female candidates. Researchers created two Facebook feeds discussing a hypothetical female candidate. For both feeds, the discussion focused on the candidate’s policy credentials, with one feed containing commentary on the female candidate’s body. Aspects of credibility and suitability for office were impacted by objectifying commentary, implying the need for future research directed at the specific impact objectification has on candidate evaluation.     

“I’m Not the Science Type”: Effect of an Inquiry Biology Content Course on Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Intentions About Teaching Science

Inquiry Into Life Science is a content biology course expressly for the fulfillment of the General Education life science laboratory course requirement of elementary education majors at this university. The course is modeled on the Teaching Standards and Content Standards of the National Science Education Standards [National Research Council. (1996). The national science education standards. Washington. DC: National Academy Press]. The change in intentions of 61 Fall 2002 enrollees were studied using triangulated quantitative and qualitative techniques to seek specific changes regarding self-perceived effectiveness as a biology teacher, self-perceived subject matter command, curriculum development competence, and pedagogical skills, all linked to developing intentions. Significant growth in all four domains was observed. These findings contribute to the research-based call for inquiry-oriented college science coursework for preservice teachers.