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Books in Social sciences

The Social Sciences collection forms a definitive resource for those entering, researching, or teaching in any of the many disciplines making up this interdisciplinary area of study. Written by experts and researchers from both Academic and Commercial domains, titles offer global scope and perspectives.

Key subject areas include: Library and Information Science; Transportation; Urban Studies; Geography, Planning, and Development; Security; Emergency Management.

  • The Evaluation of Research by Scientometric Indicators

    • 1st Edition
    • Peter Vinkler
    • English
    Aimed at academics, academic managers and administrators, professionals in scientometrics, information scientists and science policy makers at all levels. This book reviews the principles, methods and indicators of scientometric evaluation of information processes in science and assessment of the publication activity of individuals, teams, institutes and countries. It provides scientists, science officers, librarians and students with basic and advanced knowledge on evaluative scientometrics. Especially great stress is laid on the methods applicable in practice and on the clarification of quantitative aspects of impact of scientific publications measured by citation indicators.
  • Practical and Effective Management of Libraries

    Integrating Case Studies, General Management Theory and Self-Understanding
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard Moniz Jr.
    • English
    Aimed at library science students and librarians with newly assigned administrative duties the book is about improving one’s thinking and decision making in a role as a library manager. Most librarians get very little exposure to management issues prior to finding themselves in a management role. Furthermore, most library science students do not expect that they will need to understand management yet they quickly find that there is a need to understand this perspective to be effective at almost any library job. Effective library management is about having some tools to make decisions (such as a basic understanding of management theory and how it applies in the library environment, understanding common traps we all fall into, etc.), knowing yourself, being able to motivate others, fostering a diversity (especially within workgroups), being able to communicate effectively, and having an understanding of one’s organizational culture. The book touches on all of these aspects of library management.
  • Scientific Publishing

    From Vanity to Strategy
    • 1st Edition
    • Hans Roosendaal + 3 more
    • English
    Scientific Publishing addresses the issue of business models in scientific publishing and how these relate to the research process (e.g. support or inhibit this process). The researcher is taken as the starting point for the considerations to arrive at a comprehensive description of the publishing process as an integral part of the research process. The properties of different business models are tested against this description, allowing an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of these models in supporting the research process.
  • Networked Collaborative Learning

    Social interaction and Active Learning
    • 1st Edition
    • Guglielmo Trentin
    • English
    The sustainability of Networked Collaborative Learning (NCL) is a key topic of discussion amongst the institutions where it has been or may potentially be introduced. In order to determine the extent of NCL's sustainability, the added value university education may yield by adopting collaborative learning strategies must be quantified. In turn, an understanding of the implications NCL produces in terms of design and management is gained. After comparing NCL with other Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) approaches and discussing the possible reasons for adopting it, a multidimensional model for the sustainability of NCL is proposed. The model is characterized by four dimensions: pedagogical approaches, e-teacher professional development, instructional design models and valuation/assessment approaches. Each of these dimensions is examined on the basis of the author’s direct experience gained through applying NCL to his university teaching.
  • The Art of People Management in Libraries

    Tips for Managing your Most Vital Resource
    • 1st Edition
    • James McKinlay + 1 more
    • English
    This book explores recent trends in human resource management practices and presents options for their application within the special context of libraries, especially academic and research libraries. It lays out a set of the most pressing HR management issues facing senior library leaders in the context of continuous organisational change in the 21st century and offers library practitioners effective tips for people management.
  • Cataloguing Outside the Box

    A Practical Guide to Cataloguing Special Collections Materials
    • 1st Edition
    • Patricia Falk + 1 more
    • English
    A practical guide to cataloguing and processing the unique special collections formats in the Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL) and the Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives (MLSRA) at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) (e.g. fanzines, popular sound recordings, comic books, motion picture scripts and press kits, popular fiction). Cataloguing Outside the Box provides guidance to professionals in library and information science facing the same cataloguing challenges. Additionally, name authority work for these collections is addressed.
  • Concise Encyclopedia of Brain and Language

    • 1st Edition
    • Harry A. Whitaker
    • English
    This volume descibes, in up-to-date terminology and authoritative interpretation, the field of neurolinguistics, the science concerned with the neural mechanisms underlying the comprehension, production and abstract knowledge of spoken, signed or written language. An edited anthology of 165 articles from the award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition, Encyclopedia of Neuroscience 4th Edition and Encyclopedia of the Neorological Sciences and Neurological Disorders, it provides the most comprehensive one-volume reference solution for scientists working with language and the brain ever published.
  • Open Access and its Practical Impact on the Work of Academic Librarians

    Collection Development, Public Services, and the Library and Information Science Literature
    • 1st Edition
    • Laura Bowering Mullen
    • English
    This book is aimed at the practicing academic librarian, especially those working on the ‘front lines’ of reference, instruction, collection development, and other capacities that involve dealing directly with library patrons in a time of changing scholarly communication paradigms. The book looks at open access from the perspective of a practicing academic librarian and challenges fellow librarians to continue the dialogue about how the movement might be affecting day-to-day library work and the future of academic libraries.
  • Global Research Without Leaving Your Desk

    Travelling the World with your Mouse as Companion
    • 1st Edition
    • Jane Macoustra
    • English
    Provides a broad scope for research to take the frustration out of not being able to locate what you want, not just by country or region, but how to pinpoint and access reliable information on a global scale. Other issues addressed are Know-Your-Customer issues, corruption and terrorism and new Web 2.0 technologies.
  • Freedom of Information and the Developing World

    The Citizen, the State and Models of Openness
    • 1st Edition
    • Colin Darch + 1 more
    • English
    Rather than simply summarising the state of play in African countries and elsewhere, Freedom of Information and the Developing World identifies and makes explicit the assumptions about the citizen’s relationship to the state that lie beneath Freedom of Information (FoI) discourse. The book goes on to test them against the reality of the pervasive politics of patronage that characterise much of African practice.