Parenthood and Well-Being: A Decade in Review

Understanding social aspects of parental well-being is vital because parents' welfare has implications not only for the parents themselves but also for child development, fertility, and the overall health of a society. This article provides a critical review of scholarship on parenthood and well-being in advanced economies published from 2010 to 2019. It focuses on the role of social, economic, cultural, and institutional contexts of parenting in influencing adult well-being. The authors identify major themes, achievements, and challenges and organize the review around the demands-rewards perspective and two other theoretical frameworks: the stress process model and the life course perspective. The analysis shows that rising economic insecurities and inequalities and a diffusion of intensive parenting ideology were major social contexts of parenting in the 2010s. Scholarship linking parenting contexts and parental well-being illuminated how stressors related to providing and caring for children could unjustly burden some parents, especially mothers, those with fewer socioeconomic resources, and those with marginalized statuses. In that vein, researchers continued to emphasize how stressors diverged by parents' socioeconomic status, gender, and partnership status, with new attention to strains experienced by racial/ethnic minority, immigrant, and sexual minority parents. Scholars' comparisons of parents' positions in various countries expanded, enhancing knowledge regarding specific policy supports that allow parents to thrive. Articulating future research within a stress process model framework, the authors show vibrant theoretical pathways, including conceptualizing potential parental social supports at multiple levels, attending to the intersection of multiple social locations of parents, and renewing attention to local contextual factors and parenting life stages.     

Textbook Affordability in the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

This article provides a background of the textbook affordability problem affecting students attending United States higher education institutions, both prior to and during the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as potential solutions to the problem. Solutions discussed include the availability of open materials in online repositories, publisher responses like inclusive access, institutional incentive programs, and initiatives by library consortia or other statewide programs. The responses of various stakeholders to make textbooks accessible to students during the pandemic are also covered.     

Effectively Evaluating the Accessibility of Electronic Monographs Using VPATs and Other Resources at the College of Staten Island Library- CUNY

Abstract

This study, building upon previous research work at the College of Staten Island (CSI) library, attempts to evaluate the accessibility of select digital monograph platforms and file formats utilized at the City University of New York (CUNY). The usability of CSI library’s locally developed ER-ACT tool to assist librarians with limited technical knowledge to review VPATs and to perform simple testing was also evaluated with challenges and successes reported. It was determined that the use of color-coded results in this study can help identify serious accessibility issues within ebooks and to communicate the results within libraries to assist with collection development decision-making. The study also includes a review of new court rulings related to accessibility issues in higher education and discusses where accessibility staffing reports in terms of job roles and duties held by university professionals. The testing of the accessibility of library ebooks, with various accessibility tools, are reviewed within the context of Section 508 revisions and new VPAT standards.     

Engaging leader – Engaged employees? A cross-lagged study on employee engagement

The goal of this study is to provide a cross-lagged examination of the relationships between engaging leadership, job resources and employee work engagement. We propose a mediation model and we postulate that engaging leadership can increase perceptions of three specific job resources (i.e. autonomy, support from colleagues and opportunities for learning and development) which theoretically correspond to the three facets of engaging leadership (i.e., inspiring, connecting and strengthening, respectively). Subsequently, in keeping with the extant body of Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) research, we link job resources to employee work engagement. Our hypotheses were tested on data collected at two time-points – T1 (N = 759) and T2 (N = 273) –from employees working for a hotel chain in the Netherlands. In line with our expectations, engaging leadership showed a significant cross-lagged relationship with autonomy and support from colleagues, but did not predict learning opportunities and work engagement across time. While we formulated specific hypotheses, we also tested reversed causation relationships. We found no direct effect from engaging leadership on employee work engagement, however, the reversed effect was significant; employee perceptions of engaging leadership were shaped by their own engagement experiences. Importantly, engaged employees at T1 reported more job resources at T2. By providing a cross-lagged examination of our model, we showed that engaging leaders as well as employees’ positive affective state of being engaged, are essential to shaping a resourceful work context. A comprehensive view on the triggers and outcomes of work engagement and engaging leadership is needed, as the traditional unidirectional cause-effect rationale fails to explain how these concepts relate to one another and to employee experiences of job resources.     

Negotiating Accessibility for Electronic Resources

Abstract

Accessibility of library electronic resources is a must. Its importance derives from professional ethics of librarianship, rising total costs of acquisition, and mounting legal challenges to colleges and universities that fail to provide resources accessible to users with disabilities. Library staff are responsible for ensuring the accessibility of vendor-licensed eresources. This column reviews the accessibility clauses of nine model license agreements for electronic resources. It describes terms that should go into an optimal accessibility clause and creates a composite model clause. It also provides guidance for library staff seeking to negotiate stronger accessibility language into vendor license agreements. Finally, it addresses the impact of accommodation requests on the total cost of acquiring library eresources, concluding with a call to redouble efforts to advocate for greater accessibility and educate both vendors and library staff about its importance.     

Material hardship and 529 college savings plan participation: The mitigating effects of Child Development Accounts

Experience of material hardship can adversely affect a family’s ability to make long-term investments in children’s development. We examine whether material hardship is associated with one indicator of such investments: participation in a tax-advantaged college savings plan (529 plan). Data for this study come from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment, an intervention that offers Child Development Accounts with financial incentives to encourage the accumulation of college savings for children from the time of their birth. Results show that material hardship is negatively associated with 529-plan participation, and this association varies by treatment status. At all levels of material hardship, treatment-group mothers are more likely to hold accounts than control-group mothers. These findings suggest that CDAs can be a useful policy tool to support families’ financial preparation for college.     

国家级新区义务教育资源供需矛盾及消解路径——基于N市J区12345政务热线数据分析

成立国家级新区对迅速改善欠发达地区经济环境、改变落后的民生状态进而促进城市区域发展具有重要意义。国家级新区应努力推动社会公共服务体系与产业发展体系协同共进。义务教育资源是社会公共服务体系的重要组成部分，不容忽视。国家级新区在初创的关键时期需要打好义务教育资源均衡分配的基础，为后续义务教育资源的优化升级提供坚实保障。本文以N市J区为例，通过对12345政务热线服务平台的数据分析和对关键人物的访谈，探讨国家级新区初创期义务教育资源需求特征，同时发现实际存在着义务教育资源供不应求、供需脱节、配置失衡、提质升级乏力等供需矛盾，并依据新区初创阶段的实际需求，从制定规划、资金支持、供需互动、创新升级等方面进一步探讨国家级新区义务教育资源供需矛盾的消解路径。     

一个“成功"游牧民定居工程背后的资源困境

游牧民定居工程被视为改变牧区靠天养牧、加速牧区现代化和城镇化的重要举措而广泛实施。 游牧民定居工程迅速且深刻地改变着草原牧区的自然、社会及经济形态,同时也改变了人与自然资源之间的互动关系及作用时空尺度。 在“成功冶的定居点,牧民生活水平大幅提高,且对天然草场的利用减少;但是,对比相邻的村庄发现,其“成功冶的关键在于有足够的外部资源输入,包括草场、农田和地下水等。 而从区域的生态环境来看,这种“成功冶模式并不符合当地干旱地区的生态特征,有可能造成更大范围内的生态破坏。 因此,游牧民定居工程应该从区域生态特征出发,对类似“成功冶模板的推广更加谨慎。     

数据赋能驱动制造业企业实现敏捷制造案例研究

  世界经济的发展呼唤先进制造理念和制造技术，敏捷制造受到学者的广泛关注。制造业企业通过了解实现敏捷制造的过程机理，可以使其灵活地运用各种先进生产技术促成敏捷制造。然而，已有对制造业企业实现敏捷制造过程的研究缺少契合当前情景的视角以及完整、清晰的探究。         鉴于此，引入赋能概念，从数据驱动的视角对青岛酷特智能公司的研发、生产和营销3个阶段进行深入分析，结合扎根理论的3级编码技术，构建制造业企业通过数据赋能实现敏捷制造的过程模型。在已有研究基础上，构建敏捷制造的开放式概念框架，通过调研访谈、实地考察等方式获得分析数据，分析并构建制造业企业实现敏捷制造的过程模型，结合已有研究对该模型进行进一步讨论和完善。研究过程严格遵循理论构建的理论-实践-理论研究逻辑。         研究结果表明，企业的敏捷制造能力可以通过高效对接消费者需求与资源以及提高中间对接环节的效率来打造。从数据驱动视角看，数据化、标准化和联网化是制造业企业实现敏捷制造的核心所在。一方面，数据化和标准化可以提高数据的可接入性和流通性，减少制造加工环节的延缓；另一方面，联网化可以让需求数据直接对接企业的资源和制造过程的设备，进而实现资源的自动整合，打造企业高响应速度、高质量、低成本的供给。         从数据驱动视角构建的敏捷制造过程模型系统详细地解释了制造业企业通过数据赋能实现敏捷制造的过程，完善和拓展了关于敏捷制造的研究，为未来敏捷制造实证研究提供了一定的研究基础和启示。此外，为了给企业实践提供更加详细、明确的指导，给出基于数据赋能驱动制造业企业实现敏捷制造的实践指导步骤。