Small institutions must be agile and creative in successfully sustaining and expanding in today's higher education climate. Collaborating with external partners is an excellent choice for small institutions whose funding and staffing are limited. Our intention with this article is to focus on collaboration with external partners including…

Developing students' practical skills in strategic staffing and selection within the classroom can be challenging. This article describes a staffing system simulation designed to engage students and develop applied skills in strategic recruiting, assessment, and evaluation of job applicants. Instructors looking for a multifaceted team project…

This article addresses two of the most repeated questions in APPA (1) How can we convert our reactive maintenance operations to a planned and predictable operation? and (2) In addition, how can we do this with little or no additional resources? It seems reasonable to assume that if a department is short on resources and in a full-blown reactive…

The Main Library Service Desk is a one-stop academic help center located between a newly renovated student-focused space called the Learning Commons and the library collections. Services began with the first day of classes, August 26, 2013, and assessment has been ongoing, in part due to the availability of data. Staffing levels, staffing hours,…

In fall of 2011 the University at Buffalo Libraries circulation department undertook Six Sigma training for the purpose of overhauling its student scheduling process. The department was able to mitigate significant staffing budgetary reductions and resource reallocations and to overcome the unique challenges of scheduling student labor for a…

Traditionally, journalism majors gain professional experience before graduation through internships, part-time or summer jobs, and campus media. Those avenues are often insufficient to adequately prepare them for the professional workplace and professional standards. This essay explores two of a journalism school's practice-based programs that…

When yes/no or multiple-choice answers do not suffice--when a qualitative understanding of a topic rather than a quantitative head count is needed--it is time to consider focus groups. They work well when learning why, how, and what for is more important than measuring how many. Focus groups are primarily an open-ended form of inquiry, enabling…

When the budget-cutting ended this year in one rural North Texas school district, the people-moving began. Forced to chop its total staff to 55 employees from 64, the Perrin-Whitt Consolidated Independent school system went the route of many districts across the country: It made the majority of its reductions by encouraging early retirements and…

Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, comprises three primary units that each serve a distinct population: the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is a residential college for roughly 2,800 traditional-age undergraduates; the College of Adult and Professional Studies and Graduate School (CAPS/GS) serves roughly 2,200 adult learners at both the…

Not so long ago the library at the high school in the author's semirural community was perking along every day with the help of one energetic and dedicated library clerk, a few student staffers, and the author, the professional school librarian. About 700 students, and 50 teachers and paraprofessionals access the library on a regular basis. They…

This paper provides an account of how performance management is operating in a rural primary school in the county of Rutland, UK, which aspires to provide an outstanding standard of education for its pupils. The paper begins by outlining the existing regulations for the operation of performance management in schools, before going on to explain how…

The author's first school librarian position was in her hometown elementary school where she had been a library aide in the fifth grade. The principal spelled out the problems with the situation she would be entering--the school library was the least favorite of the resources, many policies and procedures were antiquated, and the collection needed…

The English Language Learner (ELL) Summer Camp in Worcester, Massachusetts--an intensive six-week program that served middle school and high school students from Worcester Public Schools (WPS)--was the product of a five-way partnership that included the school district, higher education institutions (Latino Education Institute [LEI] at Worcester…

College and university administrators must take into account a number of variables in determining the appropriate staffing levels for their campus public safety function, according to a white paper released by International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA). The report is entitled, "Establishing Appropriate Staffing…

Schools and districts across the country are being subjected to some of the fiercest budget cuts in recent history, even as principals are held increasingly accountable for significantly improving student achievement, particularly in schools labeled "persistently low-achieving." For the 5,000 lowest-performing schools, there is the…