This thesis employs a third wave feminist perspective to consider the regular crises experienced by British librarianship concerning professional status and issues of theory and practice. It proposes that librarianship, particularly within the public library, is being contested by a range of external and internal forces with immense significance, and that such processes have occurred at other periods of major change, notably the late nineteenth century and the late 1960’s and early 1970s. It explores the gendered roots of such manifestations, and reviews the critiques and other possibilities offered by earlier feminist waves, with those of second wave feminism seen as of particular significance, but limited to their ability to offer satisfactory insights. Contemporary librarianship is identified as vulnerable because of its difficulty in accepting the gendered nature of its nineteenth-century construction, when the activities of American librarians like Melvil Dewey has profound effects on its ongoing form, components and practitioners. Ongoing debates about librarianship’s professional status are viewed, using second and third wave feminist insights from sociology and other theoretical positions including queer theory, as outcomes of late Victorian notions of gender roles that have embedded structures, framework and behaviours within librarianship that still continue. It is argued that the librarianship ratified by the professional library associations resists ideological challenges to its construction and maintenance, with feminism the pivotal example under consideration, and that relevant activity taking place in settings outside the mainstream is frequently invisible. This is proposed as limiting the possibilities of librarianship and the work of librarians, within what is defined as a feminised occupation. A twenty-first century interpretation of librarianship informed by feminism is proposed, and considered through the utilisation of an original concept, gendertopia, derived from Foucault’s heterotopia, that describes the transformative potential of libraries and aspects of librarianship. To undertake this investigation the experience and actions of women librarians within mainstream British libraries were explored through field-work, along with the activities of three contemporary British women’s libraries that operate outside the mainstream and which derived form different periods of twentieth century feminisms. The author has been actively involved in some of the activities described, and to reflect this and feminist research methodologies, the development of which are described, an explicit theoretical position is taken that integrates autobiographical and fictional material.

This thesis investigates the donation of books made by Alexander Thistlethwayte (?1718–1771), a Hampshire grandee and bibliophile, to the Fellows’ Library of Winchester College, the oldest of the English public schools. The first two chapters demonstrate the largely untapped potential of two unique books in the Thistlethwayte benefaction to advance scholarly understanding of topics relating to the copying and transmission of early modern literary texts. The second part of the thesis examines the collecting habits which shaped the physical configuration of Thistlethwayte’s books and the contents of his library. Chapter Three rediscovers the role of the anthology in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century cultures of compilation, through a comparison of Sammelbände assembled by Thistlethwayte with those that he acquired from an Oxford graduate of the 1690s. Chapter Four traces the growth of Thistlethwayte’s library in the context of his life as a gentleman, taking in evidence from Thistlethwayte’s later donation of books to his alma mater, Wadham College, Oxford. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the conditions of access to the Fellows’ Library from which this doctoral project has benefited, and considers ways of extending the benefits of access and community engagement to scholars and the wider public.

The Special Collections of the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham hold seven early Qur’ānic pieces on parchment and papyrus dating from the seventh century. Alphonse Mingana purchased them from the antiquarian dealer von Scherling in 1936. Through investigation of the private correspondence of Mingana and archival documents, this research provides new information about the origin and history of the fragments, whose reception has been influenced by the European cultural context at the beginning of the twentieth century, in contrast with the public image proposed in catalogues, official documents and previous studies. Furthermore, this research is an attempt to initiate an alternative perspective in analysing and editing the physical objects and texts of early Qur’ānic manuscripts by applying digital philology, thus using XML-encoded expressions to transcribe all of the richness of manuscripts in reconstructing the history of their transmission. This perspective interprets the process of the making of the manuscript text and the context in which the manuscript was written, thus editing its mobile and multi-layered text, differently from previous examples of the edition of early Qur’ānic manuscripts.

Unrestricted accessible scholarly resources are increasingly considered essential to knowledge creation and socio-economic development. In order to facilitate this, university libraries at National Research Universities (NRUs) in Thailand have established institutional repositories (IRs). The development of the Open Access publishing movement also provides opportunities and challenges to NRUs’ IRs and scholarly community. Like others, the IR projects in Thailand have experienced low awareness and content contribution from stakeholders. Accordingly, this study aims to optimize the established IR projects in NRUs in Thailand by exploring the stakeholders’ research publishing behaviour, and the perception, participation, and utilisation of IRs. This study advances the understanding of IRs in NRUs in Thailand from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups. This inductive qualitative study employs Constructivist Grounded Theory as a research methodology. Theoretical sampling, convenient sampling, and purposive sampling were used to recruit key participants in Thai scholarly communication at three NRUs. An in-depth semi-structured interview method was used to collect data and Charmaz’s Grounded Theory Method of Open coding and Focused coding was used to analyse it. The analysis resulted in the generation of the 4Cs (/foresee/) Model for the Development of University-based IRs. It composes of “Communication” “Collaboration”, “Copyright understanding”, “Control” and “Local academic culture”. This innovative model provides an explanatory framework identifying the factors for the availability and accessibility of full-text digital research publications in Thai university-based IRs. Moreover, the 3Rs – Rethinking, Redefining, and Re-collaborating- are recommended as key activities to be considered when confronting the difficulties in the development of IRs. In addition, this study also proposes the “2PSC model for operational excellence – Policies, Procedure, Services, and Competencies” as a practical and effective mechanism for managing IRs. Further, the study offers theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the understanding of IRs in NRUs in Thailand from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups.

This submission addresses the change to the electronic environment in libraries. It presents eight selected research papers which cumulatively contribute to knowledge regarding the management issues arising from this change. The specific elements of the research programme focused primarily on changes in academic libraries and secondly in public libraries. The implications of changes in different countries were investigated. The research programme evolved over time, as its applicability and relevance extended to other players in the developing library electronic resources field. The need for effective communication and marketing regarding electronic resources was identified as key, and it became increasingly evident that libraries needed to adopt marketing techniques appropriate to the changing environment and different to those techniques traditionally used. The linked elements of the research programme involve managing changing user needs in line with a changing user base, which includes remote users, and the requirements for changing staff skills. Further elements include work in a virtual environment alongside a physical environment and collaboration and consortia working. The central aim of the research programme was to identify solutions for best practice, and funding was obtained for many of the research elements. Originality is demonstrated by investigation into an emerging area, using library websites at the time of their development and applying an experimental research technique. Research methods from different research paradigms - positivist and interpretivist - were employed. Quantitative data was obtained to establish hard facts. Qualitative approaches enabled the acquisition of multiple perspectives and understanding of social constructions of meaning and knowledge, such as respondents' attitudes, feelings and perceptions. The extent and modes of discussion with respondents facilitated triangulation of methods that resulted in multiple views for synthesis so as to clarify understanding. All of the research was underpinned by an on-going literature review, which was vital in order to assess both what existed and current developments. The research methods used were applied in a sequence of eight stages as the electronic environment in libraries developed. The research aimed to provide a fully rounded picture, investigating the issues arising from the introduction of electronic resources in libraries, and it achieved this by considering developments over a period of time just in excess of the past decade. The papers present findings that can be applied by players in the field of electronic resource provision. Foremost amongst these was the requirements for educating library users, often in a remote environment, in the use of the new electronic resources, which were derived and the vital importance of operating different marketing and communication techniques, which was demonstrated.

The first part of the work is focused on the history and last trend on library automation and integrated library systems, with specific attention on the italian context. The second part evaluates some possible use of open source software in library and open source diffusion in Italy.The third part analyze Koha, an open source ILS, and its possible application at the University of Ca' Foscari Library System.

The job analyzes the lines of development of the library services devoted to chidren and young adults, with particular reference to the Italian context, in public and school libraries. It analyzes some international documents: the guidelines IFLA-UNESCOfor children's library services and the PULMAN guidelines, with a special focus on library porfessionalism.

In this study an in depth investigation of successful competitive strategies for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is undertaken. The overall aim of this study is to analyse the strategic orientation of UK Manufacturing SMEs. In the process, it will test Porter’s (1980, 1985) theoretical framework of generic strategies and thus evaluate firms’ preferred strategic synthesis. It will, therefore, test the efficacy of the value chain and develop any specific pattern that relates to a combination strategy. The investigation of the above objectives is undertaken utilising a mixed research methodology with the purpose of examining the applicability of existing competitive strategy frameworks (phase 1) and testing a new theoretical framework that incorporates additional dimensions of strategy (phase 2). During phase 1, Porter’s framework is employed to investigate SMEs’ strategic orientation as a means to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. A semi-structured questionnaire is employed and the analysis is carried out by means of factor and cluster analysis to identify strategic variables currently employed by SMEs. During phase 2, the theoretical framework is operationalised to bridge the gap within the literature and existing empirical research. Its purpose is to identify forms of successful competitive strategies of UK MSMEs as they are formulated and implemented in firms’ value chain activities. The data was collected through a number of semi-structured interviews and the analysis was based on data categorisation. The findings indicate that Porter’s (1980) single generic strategies are not the best option for UK MSMEs for gaining competitive advantage and that the

Background and rationale: Collecting is a basic human activity, a cultural phenomenon establishing cultural values, defining authenticity and creating new identities for collected objects and collectors. For more than a decade, I have studied cultural heritage collections from three key interwoven perspectives. These approaches are evident in the six publications selected for this submission: • Architectural and organisational perspective: at the Vatican Gallery (Innocenti 2001a), Uffizi (Innocenti 2003a) and Biblioteca Laurenziana (Innocenti 2002a) I investigated institutional collector and key stakeholder strategies for designing collection space and displays. I then applied this analysis to‘knowledge architecture’ for industrial design artefacts and processes (Innocenti 2004c). • Procedural and functional perspective: from Palladio drawings (Innocenti 2005a) to industrial design knowledge bases (Innocenti 2004a), I investigated how to digitize, archive, render and make accessible cultural heritage as an accurate iconic representation, interwoven with documentary and cultural contexts. The work further led me to study the authenticity of born-digital artworks (Innocenti 2012c). • Artefact perspective: I explored how artists and institutional collectors address the preservation of artworks, from the Renaissance desks of the Biblioteca Laurenziana (Innocenti 2002a) to digital artworks (Innocenti 2012c), and the historical and theoretical implications of their choices. In each of these areas, I contextualized the interrelations between cultural heritage discourse and the history of collecting cultural artefacts within given historical, social and cultural periods. My work began in Italy, where cultural heritage is deeply rooted and widespread, and moved on to encompass Europe and North America in tracing the evolution of cultural heritage collectors’ strategies. I adopted an interdisciplinary approach, engaging perspectives, methods and theoretical frameworks from art history, art theory, museography, museology, library and information science, information technology, social anthropology and engineering. Starting from this multi-focal vantage point my research has resulted in contributions to knowledge, methods and theory. These publications on one hand demonstrate the continuum of key issues in cultural heritage creation, preservation and access as manifested in the strategies of institutional collectors and artists. On the other hand, they highlight the new paradigms and transformations introduced by digital and communication technologies, the shaping of cultural heritage informatics to address these transformations and the theoretical and methodological implications underlying them. Through my scholarly research, I contributed to progressing the canonical historicisation of cultural heritage, museography and museology, and to exploring the new paradigms and transformations introduced by digital and communication technologies to the disruptive and exciting world of cultural heritage informatics. The portfolio: The portfolio is a selection from Perla Innocenti’s more than forty publications of research carried out since 2001 on cultural heritage and informatics with the Universitá degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte in Rome, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Fondazione Andrea Palladio, Politecnico di Milano and EU-funded projects SHAMAN and MeLa. Six scientific publications are presented: two journal articles, a scholarly treatise, a published conference paper, key chapters from a monograph and one book chapter from an edited volume. The works have two key themes relevant to the critical analysis and understanding of heritage institutions’ evolution up to the digital age. The themes illustrate the contribution each publication has made to the literature and explain the relationship between the works submitted, including developments which have occurred between one piece and another. Theme I: Evolution of museography, museology and heritage studies Three publications are presented under this theme, each of these presenting the critical analysis of cultural heritage institutions and their artefacts within the historical evolution of museums and libraries. Publication I presents the critical analysis of the museographic principles applied by Luca Beltrami to the design of the Vatican Gallery, investigated and contextualised within its museographical and cultural history (Innocenti 2001a). Publication II presents the critical analysis and findings of the museological and museographical principles applied by Corrado Ricci to the Uffizi Gallery in the 19th Century, compared with the contemporary principles in the Uffizi applied by the former Superintendent and Italian Ministry Antonio Paolucci (Innocenti 2003a). Publication III presents the analysis and original findings of Michelangelo’s ergonomic design of the Biblioteca Laurenziana fittings, within the historical evolution of libraries (Innocenti 2002a). Theme II: Creating, managing, disseminating and preserving digital cultural heritage The publications presented in this theme relate to methodologies and processes characterising diverse typologies of analogue and digital cultural heritage and the emerging field of cultural informatics. Publication IV presents the novel methodological approach defined and applied within a relevant digitization project of Andrea Palladio manuscripts and maps (Innocenti 2005a). Publication V presents the outcomes of my investigation defining and implementing an online knowledge-based system supporting research and teaching of industrial design, which is formally considered part of Italian cultural heritage (Innocenti 2004a). Publication VI discusses the repositioning of traditional conservation concepts of historicity, authenticity and versioning in relation to born-digital artworks, based on findings from my research on preservation of computer-based artefacts by public collectors (Innocenti 2012a).