Breaking Down Barriers for Student Parents and Caregivers with Family-Friendly Library Spaces

Abstract

In 2016, J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte opened a reservable study room where student parents and caregivers can study with their children on campus. In 2018, the library opened a second family-friendly study room to meet the needs of our growing campus community. To inform the room design, the library conducted a mixed methods research study that included a user survey, an examination of room reservation and usage data, and one-on-one user interviews. This paper focuses on the user-centered design process used to inform the development of the second, family-friendly, library study room.     

How much should it cost? An introduction to management use of costing information

With the introduction of the internal marketthe health service is changing rapidly and health libraries must change with it. Many libraries arerequested to cost their services. The demand comes from external customers and from their ownorganizations. This paper discusses the various reasons for costing services and howcosting information can influence our management decision making. The paper challengeslibrarians to move costing processes away from a mechanistic approach, towards a means ofdemonstrating the worth of a library resources unit in cost and qualitative terms. Using costinginformation for cost control purposes, comparison of cost with other providers, setting prices ordetermining future service delivery levels is discussed, as well as considering the question ofexternal provision of library services. Use of information on fixed and variable costs andassessing break-even levels of service provision is illustrated as a helpful guide to library survival.     

The terrible gift: Museums and the possibility of hope without consolation

Public history is turned toward the future no less than the past. Little discussion exists as to how practices of public history might foster new ways to live with the presence of history. Museum exhibitions are one site where such discussions may take place. Particularly generative in this regard are exhibitions that present artifacts and documentation that reference state-sponsored violence. One such exhibition in development is discussed. While this exhibition presents evidence of past events, it also assembles traces of the past and bequeaths them as a testament, “a terrible gift” that places difficult demands on those to whom it has been given. In discussing the practices of inheritance initiated by such a gift implications are drawn for how museums might initiate a reconsideration of the force of history in social life.     

What's for Sale at Canadian Universities? A Mixed‐Methods Analysis of Promotional Strategies

The current fiscal environment has driven Canadian universities to become more entrepreneurial, seeking out and competing over new sources of funding. Despite such intensifying competition, little effort has been made to document the promotional tactics that Canadian universities are using to render themselves appealing to external audiences. This study examines the contents of the home pages of English‐speaking universities in Canada. It finds that, though there are some differences in the tactics that primarily undergraduate and research‐intensive universities employ, both generally strive to emulate the same institutional ‘template’. Moreover, the usage of more unorthodox promotional tactics, drawing on labour market rhetoric or discourses of inclusivity, is limited. These findings are theorised in relation to contemporary work within organisational sociology and strategic management.