Juggling competing activities: academic staff as doctoral candidates

ABSTRACT

This article explores the experiences of a group of established academic staff in New Zealand and the UK, as they undertake a doctorate in their home institutions. Our interest is in how individuals negotiate this dual status from a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) stance that explores how rules, tools, community and divisions of labour, and interacting activity systems, shape doctoral experiences. The focus in this article, having analysed their detailed narrative accounts, is on how academics experience three interdependent activity systems: those surrounding the thesis, the institutional context, and the home-life spheres. Issues related to time, workload and supervision issues, variability in collegial support and impact on personal priorities and time emerged. There is a range of particularities – from easy access to resources/supervisors to inflexible institutional regulations – applicable to this group of doctoral candidates. Negotiating life as an academic with concurrent doctoral candidature provides positive outcomes in terms of teaching, research confidence and general personal and professional development. However, a range of difficulties can also be encountered, particularly in relation to personal and professional relationships, and workload management.     

Correlates of staff motivation,satisfaction, and job performance of library staff in selected Nigerian University libraries

Abstract

This study examined staff motivation, satisfaction, and job performance among the librarians and library staff in six selected university libraries in Nigeria. The target population for the study includes the professionals and nonprofessional library staff. A total enumeration sampling technique was used to select 180 respondents, which represent the sample for the study. Data was collected using a self-designed questionnaire titled “Staff Motivation, Satisfaction and Job Performance Questionnaire” (SMSJPQ). Six research questions were developed and answered by the study. The results indicate that librarian and library staff are highly motivated with regular pay while the least motivational factor is frequent interaction with their friends. Library staff are primarily satisfied with their jobs when they are in constant link with their friends. Professional library staff significantly experience better work motivation than their nonprofessional counterparts. Significant correlation exists between staff motivation and job performance and between job satisfaction and job performance. In addition, the two factors (motivation and satisfaction) exert significant contribution to the determinant of librarians and library staff job performance. Based on the findings, the study recommended improvement in the level of motivation of nonprofessionals so that the significant difference with the professional counterpart would not be so much pronounced.     

Press Credentials and Hybrid Boundary Zones: The Case of WorldNetDaily and the Standing Committee of Correspondents

ABSTRACT

Press credentialing practices are a vital, yet understudied site of scholarly research on journalistic norms and practices. Press credentialing not only structures internal professional hierarchies, but they also signify the boundaries of the journalistic field itself. This paper explores the legal and theoretical implications of press credentialing to cover the United States Congress, drawing on the concepts of boundary work and journalistic authority to demonstrate the material impact of the space between fields on professional legitimation in journalism. Using WorldNetDaily (WND) as a case study, I argue that the Standing Committee of Correspondents (SCC) occupies a hybrid boundary zone between the journalistic and political fields, generating a unique tension in First Amendment jurisprudence that places journalists in a paradoxical role as both the professional embodiments of free speech and its constitutional steward. The resulting jurisdictional conflict between the SCC and WND extends the relational model of journalistic authority by articulating how journalist-state relations can fundamentally augment the process of legitimation at its fuzzy boundaries. The relevance and implications for press credentialing practices in the digital age are discussed.     

依法治国背景下的地方法治建设

在阐述依法治国、地方法治建设及其相互关系的基础上，审视地方法治社会建设发展的历史与现状，分析中国目前地方法治社会建设的主要障碍及成因，并提出全面推进依法治国背景下加强地方法治社会建设的对策。     

新时期大学生思想政治教育工作方法研究

针对当前由＂90后＂构成的大学生主体,总结了其相对于＂80后＂所呈现出的新特点,提出了新时期大学生思想政治教育工作,应从完善与学生的沟通途径、构建与家长的全方位沟通机制、营造和谐的集体氛围、打造良好的社会环境四方面进行。     

图书馆文献编目工作浅议

本文重点介绍和分析了现阶段图书馆编目工作环境发生的化,并提出了新形势下的编目工作对策。     

新形势下高职院校宣传思想工作的问题与对策

党的十六大对高职院校的宣传思想工作提出新的要求。审视高职院校的宣传思想工作，还存在着制约教育发展和人才培养的一些问题，必须正视和关注这些问题，以寻求强化高职院校宣传思想工作的对策。     

P-V图与热力学第一定律中的诸量

通过讨论热力学系统在准静态过程ΔE、A、Q诸量与P－V图中过程曲线之间的关系，可直接从P—V图上判断内能的增减、做功正负及热量交换的方向。     

论政府道德

现代民主政治下的政府是责任政府，责任政府存在和发展的条件决定了政府道德的客观存在。政府道德直接来源于政府所负的法律责任和政治责任，对政府的道德评价是政府道德的另一存在方式，政府道德可以分为作为整体的政府的道德和作为个体的官员的道德，二有密切的关系，政府道德在依法治国与以德治国的关系中扮演着举足轻重的角色，是依法治国的内在要求，更是以德治国的关键所在。     

构建民主开放的组织工作新机制初探

面对开放的时代、开放的社会和开放的形势，如何加强和改善党的组织工作，是新时期党的建设工作的一个重大课题。构建民主开放的组织工作新机制，则为这个课题的解决拓展了新的思路。