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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.

  • Workplace Safety

    Establishing an Effective Violence Prevention Program
    • 1st Edition
    • Randall W. Ferris + 1 more
    • English
    Workplace Safety: Establishing an Effective Violence Prevention Program includes a powerful model on how to overcome organizational rationalization, objection, and denial when confronted with proposing a workplace violence protection program. The book offers real-life cases studies on how violence was successfully avoided using the book’s program, and also shows how to recognize and report precursor behaviors that precede violence. In addition, the book demonstrates proven methods for properly, and effectively, responding to violence should it occur, and tactfully managing the aftermath.
  • Widening Higher Education Participation

    A Global Perspective
    • 1st Edition
    • Mahsood Shah + 2 more
    • English
    Governments have introduced policies to widen the participation of disadvantaged students in higher education. Widening participation policies are also introduced to ensure that higher education contributes to social and economic outcomes. This book includes important insights from 23 leading scholars across 11 countries on a wide range of topics that focus on government policies, institutional structures and the social and economic impacts of widening participation. While widening participation policies and outcomes in developed countries are more widely documented, the policies, achievements, and challenges in other countries such as Brazil, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Palestine are not so widely disseminated. Therefore, the ‘untold stories’ of policies and outcomes of widening participation are a key part of this book. The chapters are organised according to three overarching themes, which include national and transnational studies of the history of widening participation and current policies; inclusive learning and academic outcomes; and socioeconomic structures, concepts and theories.
  • Firearm and Toolmark Examination and Identification

    • 1st Edition
    • Max M. Houck
    • English
    The Advanced Forensic Science Series grew out of the recommendations from the 2009 NAS Report: "Strengthening Forensic Science: A Path Forward." This volume, Firearm and Toolmark Examination and Identification, will serve as a graduate-level text for those studying and teaching firearm and toolmark examination and identification. It will also prove an excellent reference for forensic practitioner’s libraries or use in their casework. Coverage includes a wide variety of tools and toolmarks, analysis of gunshots, ammunition, gunshot wounds and professional issues they may encounter.
  • Selecting and Implementing an Integrated Library System

    The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard M Jost
    • English
    Selecting and Implementing an Integrated Library System: The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make focuses on the intersection of technology and management in the library information world. As information professionals, many librarians will be involved in automation projects and the management of technological changes that are necessary to best meet patron and organizational needs. As professionals, they will need to develop numerous skills, both technological and managerial, to successfully meet these challenges. This book provides a foundation for this skillset that will develop and acquaint the reader with a broad understanding of the issues involved in library technology systems. Although a major topic of the book is integrated library systems (a fundamental cornerstone of most library technology), the book also explores new library technologies (such as open source systems) that are an increasingly important component in the library technology world. Users will find a resource that is geared to the thinking and planning processes for library technology that emphasizes the development of good project management skills.
  • Becoming a Global Chief Security Executive Officer

    A How to Guide for Next Generation Security Leaders
    • 1st Edition
    • Roland Cloutier
    • English
    Becoming a Global Chief Security Executive Officer provides tangible, proven, and practical approaches to optimizing the security leader’s ability to lead both today’s, and tomorrow’s, multidisciplined security, risk, and privacy function. The need for well-trained and effective executives who focus on business security, risk, and privacy has exponentially increased as the critical underpinnings of today’s businesses rely more and more on their ability to ensure the effective operation and availability of business processes and technology. Cyberattacks, e-crime, intellectual property theft, and operating globally requires sustainable security programs and operations led by executives who cannot only adapt to today’s requirements, but also focus on the future. The book provides foundational and practical methods for creating teams, organizations, services, and operations for today’s—and tomorrow’s—physical and information converged security program, also teaching the principles for alignment to the business, risk management and mitigation strategies, and how to create momentum in business operations protection.
  • The Copyright Librarian

    A Practical Handbook
    • 1st Edition
    • Linda Frederiksen
    • English
    Within most libraries in the United States today there is an information professional who has become the ‘go-to’ person for grasping and grappling with copyright questions. While not an attorney, this librarian has developed an awareness and understanding of copyright law, legislation and practice as they relate to a wide variety of library activities. This practical handbook provides a broad overview of copyright librarianship. It is written for information professionals whose area of expertise, specialization or job it is to inform and educate others about the ethical use and best practices surrounding copyrighted materials It is written about the person with solid analytical skills and the ability to adapt and adjust in a rapidly changing environment; someone who can serve as an intermediary between information producers and consumers; someone who is knowledgeable about the law and providing access to information; someone who is well positioned within an organization to answer questions about copyright and provide reliable, accurate, and relevant answers, information, assistance, and guidance when needed. In short: a copyright librarian.
  • Security Litigation

    Best Practices for Managing and Preventing Security-Related Lawsuits
    • 1st Edition
    • Eddie Sorrells
    • English
    Security Litigation: Best Practices for Managing and Preventing Security-Related Lawsuits provides practical guidance and examples on how to deal with the most difficult legal issues that security executives face every day, also exploring the key issues that occur before, during, and after a lawsuit. The book demonstrates scenarios that have actually played out in courtrooms, depositions, and contractual negotiations, and provides answers to challenging security litigation questions such as, What does this contractual provision mean if we get sued? Am I in legal trouble if I assign unarmed vs. armed officers and a crime occurs? How do I defend my company without blaming my customer? Increasingly, issues such as security surveys, contractual indemnification, and even marketing language are at the center of lawsuits concerning security practices. Many organizations face security-related lawsuits on an increasing basis, and this book provides a much needed resource to help security professionals successfully navigate the unique nature of security-related lawsuits. Accessibly written for those without a law background, the book assists readers through education, awareness, sample contract language, and assessment templates, offering meaningful recommendations and solutions.
  • Emotions, Technology, Design, and Learning

    • 1st Edition
    • Sharon Y. Tettegah + 1 more
    • English
    Emotions, Technology, Design, and Learning provides an update to the topic of emotional responses and how technology can alter what is being learned and how the content is learned. The design of that technology is inherently linked to those emotional responses. This text addresses emotional design and pedagogical agents, and the emotions they generate. Topics include design features such as emoticons, speech recognition, virtual avatars, robotics, and adaptive computer technologies, all as relating to the emotional responses from virtual learning.
  • Succession Planning in Canadian Academic Libraries

    • 1st Edition
    • Janneka Guise
    • English
    Succession Planning in Canadian Academic Libraries explores the current Canadian academic library environment, and the need for succession planning in that environment. The literature review demonstrates the lack of reported succession planning activities in Canadian academic libraries. Site visits and in-depth interviews with professional librarians at six libraries across Canada highlight best practices and barriers to succession planning. These best practices and barriers are addressed in individual chapters, with tips and strategies for library leaders.
  • Customer Service in Academic Libraries

    Tales from the Front Line
    • 1st Edition
    • Stephen Mossop
    • English
    The term 'customer service' is not new to the academic library community. Academic libraries exist to serve the needs of their community, and hence customer service is essential. However, the term can be applied in a variety of ways, from a thin veneer of politeness, to an all-encompassing ethic focussing organisational and individual attention on understanding and meeting the needs of the customer. For customers, the library’s Front Line team is the ‘human face’ of the library. How well they do their job can have a massive impact on the quality of the learning experience for many students, and can directly impact upon their success. The importance of their role, and the quality of the services they offer, should not be underestimated – but in an increasingly digital world, and with potentially several thousand individuals visiting every day (whether in person or online), each with their own agendas and requirements, how can the library’s Front Line team deliver the personal service that each of these individuals need? Customer Service in Academic Libraries contributes to what academic libraries, as a community, do really well - the sharing of best practice. It brings together, in one place, examples of how Front Line teams from libraries across a wide geographical area - Hong Kong, Australia, Turkey and the United Kingdom – work to ‘get it right for their customers’. Between them, they cover a range of institutions including research-intensive, mixed HE/FE, private establishments and shared campuses. All have their own tales to tell, their own emphases, their own ways of doing things – and all bring their own examples of best practice, which it is hoped readers will find useful in their own context.