The Merging of the PCFC and the UFC: Probable,Desirable or Inevitable?

Post-war growth of higher education has attracted the interest of national governments. They are properly concerned with higher education's contribution to economic success and equity, and the efficient and effective use of public funds. They can intervene by means of legislation (which is unwieldy), exhortation (which is ineffective), or funding incentives. Funding councils must operate within a social and political context which determines the balance between planning and the market, central and local direction, public and private funding. They have only four strategies to choose from: deficiency-, formula-, contract-, and core-funding. The first was nearly fatal; the last is the preferred option for the future.
There are two issues: the merging of the two funding councils (PCFC and UFC), and the ending of the binary system. The first could produce a welcome single guiding intelligence for UK higher education, and economies of scale. The second raises the question of the funding of fundamental research. The merging of PCFC and UFC and the reorganisation of research-funding is a two-headed nettle. It must be grasped soon.     

Academic health sciences library Website navigation: an analysis of forty-one Websites and their navigation tools.

BACKGROUND: The analysis included forty-one academic health sciences library (HSL) Websites as captured in the first two weeks of January 2001. Home pages and persistent navigational tools (PNTs) were analyzed for layout, technology, and links, and other general site metrics were taken. METHODS: Websites were selected based on rank in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, with regional and resource libraries given preference on the basis that these libraries are recognized as leaders in their regions and would be the most reasonable source of standards for best practice. A three-page evaluation tool was developed based on previous similar studies. All forty-one sites were evaluated in four specific areas: library general information, Website aids and tools, library services, and electronic resources. Metrics taken for electronic resources included orientation of bibliographic databases alphabetically by title or by subject area and with links to specifically named databases. RESULTS: Based on the results, a formula for determining obligatory links was developed, listing items that should appear on all academic HSL Web home pages and PNTs. CONCLUSIONS: These obligatory links demonstrate a series of best practices that may be followed in the design and construction of academic HSL Websites.     

Crowdfunding for Academic Libraries: Indiana Jones Meets Polka

Crowdfunding – or creatively presenting a case for funding to like-minded individuals – is becoming an effective development strategy for academic libraries. The crowdfunding projects described offer multiple approaches to consider, from an adventure-themed video to embracing polka music to entice donors to give. Social media, used in conjunction with the web and well-established email communication formed the basis of successful project promotion. Developing a robust communication plan ahead of campaign launch is critical for success. Thanking donors for their transformational gifts and follow up communication describing the impact of their participation six months later raises friends for the library potentially for many years to come. With proper planning, an active and enthusiastic committee and effective donor stewardship, crowdfunding campaigns will help libraries raise funds to support strategic initiatives.     

Build It and They Will Come? Patron Engagement Via Twitter at Historically Black College and University Libraries

This study is a social media analysis on the use of Twitter at Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) libraries. While information science researchers have begun examining how libraries use social media, the vast majority of these studies are situated at large flagship research-intensive universities. Additionally, there currently exist deficiencies in research on social media deployment at HBCU libraries. We leverage, the IBM Watson's analytic engine, to systemically examine over 23,000, tweets over an eighteen-month period, around a set of objective measures including propagation of retweets and sentiment to assess follower engagement. The analysis found little evidence of follower engagement with library generated content. However, we observed a substantial volume of library tweets coalesced around institutional boosterism, rather than library related phenomena. This non-library related content represented the vast majority of retweets, but paradoxically was propagated by non-followers. Additionally, tweets relating to institutional boosterism produced the most positive sentiment within the data.     

How Persuasive Are Health Advertisements in First-Person Shooter Games? Exploring Knowledge-Activation and Thought-Disruption Mechanisms

This study examined whether persuasive health messages embedded in shooter games have broad or targeted effects on players’ willingness to engage in risk behaviors (N = 145). Participants presented with in-game health messages discouraging alcohol-impaired driving of motor vehicles showed reduced willingness to drink alcohol and to operate both motor and nonmotor vehicles, compared to those in a no-message gaming control condition. There were no spillover effects on willingness to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, thus implying targeted persuasive effects. In addition, players experiencing high instead of low cognitive load showed decreased postexperiment willingness to drink and operate nonmotor vehicles, thus suggesting that playing a game under high cognitive load can influence players’ attitudes. The findings replicate previous research and further expand on knowledge-activation and thought-disruption mechanisms underlying the persuasiveness of health messages.