Institutions In England Research Articles

New Labour’s regional experiment: Lessons from the East Midlands

The Labour Governments of 1997–2010 introduced a range of new regional institutions in England, which were subsequently abolished after the 2010 General Election. This article re-assesses the lessons which emerged from the regional policies pursued during this period and argues the Coalition Government elected in 2010 has failed to learn those lessons. The article identifies three key lessons: that place and scale matter, that local government needs to be centrally involved, and that local economic development initiatives require effective local leadership to gain the buy-in of the private sector. The lessons contained in this article retain relevance for current and future regional development efforts.

The challenges facing midwifery educators in sustaining a future education workforce

Backgroundnational and international trends have identified concerns over the ability of health and social care workforces in meeting the needs of service users. Attention has increasingly been drawn to problems of recruiting and retaining professionals within higher education; however data in relation to the midwifery profession is scant. Aimto examine the perceptions and experiences of midwifery educators, in south-west England, about the challenges facing them sustaining the education workforce of the future. Designa mixed methodology approach was adopted involving heads of midwifery education and midwife educators. Methodologymidwifery participants were recruited from three higher education institutions in south west England. Data collection comprised of self-administered questionnaires plus individual qualitative interviews with heads of midwifery education (n=3), and tape recorded focus groups with midwife academics (n=19). Numerical data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Textual data were analysed for themes that represented the experiences and perspectives of participants. Ethics approval was granted by one University Ethics committee. Findingsdemographic data suggests that within south-west England, there is a clear ageing population and few in possession of a doctorate within midwifery. The six identified sub-themes represented in the data describe challenges and tensions that midwifery academics experienced in their efforts to attract new recruits and retain those in post in a highly changing educational environment which demands more from a contracting workforce. Conclusion and implications for practicethere remain some serious challenges facing midwifery educators in sustaining the future education workforce, which if unresolved may jeopardise standards of education and quality of care women receive. Active succession planning and more radical approaches that embrace flexible careers will enable educational workforce to be sustained and by a clinically credible and scholarly orientated midwifery workforce.

Book Review: The Manliest Man: Samuel G. Howe and the Contours of Nineteenth-Century American Reform

The Manliest Man: Samuel G. and the Contours of Nineteenth-Century American Reform. James W. Trent, Jr. Amherst & Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012, 336 pp., $28.95. The latest biography on Samuel Gridley Howe, the first director of Perkins School for the Blind--which is located in Watertown, Massachusetts--provides background on the beginning of education of blind persons in the United States. The book also describes the philosophical underpinnings of those efforts and, as noted in the book's subtitle, this work places Howe's ideas and activities in the political context of 19th century America. The book takes its title, The Manliest Man, from a eulogy for Howe--an interesting choice for such a complex biography of a multifaceted man. Author James W. Trent asserts that Howe's sense of was the motivation for his great works in support of the powerless in America in the 1800s. Even as a young man, Trent writes, Howe seems to have regarded manliness as a matter of reason and restraint of passions, as well as of daring and adventure. The author does an admirable job of putting the reader in the mid 1800s, a time of political, religious, and philosophical conflict in a young democracy, which shaped Howe's beliefs and actions. Unfortunately, however, much of the information provided in the book on the religious and political conflicts of the day assumes readers have intimate knowledge of the period and its global and parochial issues. Additional detail would have made the book more accessible to the average reader. EARLY YEARS The first half of the book introduces readers to as a young undergraduate at Brown University, where he was known as a prankster. While a much more serious medical school student at Harvard University, is influenced by George Parkman, a Harvard professor known for his belief in the humane treatment of insane patients. As a result, carries a passion for the underdog and the powerless throughout his life. ACTIVISM IGNITED Inspired by a lecture given by the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat and military officer, travels to Greece and supports Greek independence from the Turkish Ottoman Empire by providing medical and humanitarian aid and attempting to engineer the emerging society. In Greece, he moved away from his medical career and became a revolutionary and philanthropist. Upon returning to America, he considered a career in journalism rather than medicine. He published extensively on the Greek war for independence and looked into becoming the editor of a newspaper. It was during this time that Howe's education reformer friends Horace Mann and John D. Fisher completed a three-year effort to convince the Massachusetts state legislature to establish the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind, a school that was modeled after the work of Valentin Hauy, the founder of the first school for blind children in Paris. Fisher had been a college friend of Howe's, and he persuaded him to take the appointment to direct the new school. HISTORICAL CONTEXT The book reports in extreme detail the origins of the school, and places the activities surrounding the school's inception within the context of the issues of the day such as Nat Turner, leader of a slave rebellion, being hanged in Virginia; naturalist Charles Darwin setting sail on the HMS Beagle; and the founding of the New England Anti-slavery Society. Howe's first students and staff are described in wonderful detail, and researchers who are interested in the history of education of children who are blind will find much information in this book that will illuminate and delight them. sincerely believed that each individual had the right to achieve to their fullest potential and that his school should never serve a custodial purpose, but that it should always be an educational institution. …

Variations in prison mental health services in England and Wales

In responding to high levels of psychiatric morbidity amongst prisoners and recognising earlier poor quality prison mental health care, prison mental health in-reach teams have been established in England and Wales over the last decade. They are mostly provided by the National Health Service (NHS), which provides the majority of UK healthcare services. Over the same period, the prison population has grown to record levels, such that prisons in England and Wales now contain almost 90,000 of the world's overall prison population of over 10million people (roughly the size of Paris or Istanbul). This study provides an overview of mental health in-reach services in prisons in England and Wales, including variations between them, through a telephone survey of senior staff in all prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales. 73% of prisons took part; of them 13% had no in-reach team at all (usually low security establishments) and the majority of services were run by NHS teams, usually according to a generic community mental health team (CMHT) model rather than other specialist models. Team size was unrelated to prison size. Each nurse covered around 500 prisoners, each doctor over 3700. Many provided few or no healthcare cells and 24-h psychiatric cover (including on-call cover) was uncommon. Despite developments in recent years, mental health in-reach services still fall short of community equivalence and there is wide variation in service arrangements that cannot be explained by prison size or function. The aim of community equivalence has not yet been reached in prison healthcare and a more sophisticated measure of service improvement and standardisation would now be useful to drive and monitor future development.

Students' and lecturers' perceptions of support in a UK pre-registration midwifery programme

This paper reports on a study that explored the perceptions of students and lecturers regarding support within a pre-registration midwifery programme in one Higher Education Institution in England. A mixed method design was used: questionnaires were completed by first year and third year students and lecturers, complemented by focus groups with each of the three sets of participants. The findings showed that there are multi-focal challenges for student midwives in undertaking their programme of study. The main theme that emerged was of the difficulties involved in maintaining an appropriate work–life balance, especially within what was seen as a relatively inflexible programme structure. The value of peer support was also highlighted as a key factor in helping the students succeed in their studies. There were a number of implications for midwifery educators to consider in optimising support for students. These include ensuring that students have realistic expectations at the outset of their studies, formalising peer support mechanisms and reviewing programmes to provide more flexibility to better underpin the maintenance of an appropriate work–life balance. Further study is warranted to explore perceptions of support in practice and to identify the factors that help students to persevere in their studies.

Social Hierarchies and the Formation of Customary Property Law in Pre-Industrial China and England

Comparative lawyers and economists have often assumed that traditional Chinese laws and customs reinforced the economic and political dominance of elites and, therefore, were unusually “despotic” towards the poor. Such assumptions are highly questionable: Quite the opposite, one of the most striking characteristics of Qing and Republican property institutions is that they often gave significantly greater economic protection to the poorer segments of society than comparable institutions in early modern England. In particular, Chinese property customs afforded much stronger powers of redemption to landowners who had pawned their land. In both societies, land-pawning occurred far more frequently among poorer households than richer ones, but Chinese customary law allowed debtors to indefinitely retain redemption rights over collateralized property, whereas English debtors would generally lose the property permanently if they failed to redeem within one year. This article argues that the comparatively “egalitarian” tendencies of Qing and Republican property institutions stemmed from the different ways Chinese and English rural communities allocated social status and rank. Hierarchical “Confucian” kinship networks dominated social and economic life in most Chinese villages. Within these networks, an individual’s status and rank depended, in large part, on his age and generational seniority, rather than personal wealth. This allowed many low-income households to enjoy status and rank quite disproportionate to their wealth. In comparison, substantial landed wealth was generally a prerequisite for high status in early modern England, effectively excluding lower-income households from positions of sociopolitical authority. Chinese smallholders possessed, therefore, significantly more social bargaining power, and were more capable of negotiating desirable property institutions. Paradoxically, the predominance of kinship hierarchies actually enhanced macro-level political and economic equality. Category: Comparative Legal History

Royal prerogative: having it both ways?

Is it all right to argue with the Prince of Wales? Or, if not treasonable is it disrespectful? I hope not because while there is nothing wrong with our future king being consensual or imperious (and what is the point of monarchy without a bit of imperium?), if he wishes to engage in controversy he should be prepared to engage in debate like everybody else. He seems a good man with good intentions. No doubt so were the wise ancients who believed disease was punishment from the gods or caused by disturbances in humours or meridians. So were the inventors of thalidomide. The problem is that Charles wants science when it comes up with the answers he wants but anecdote and spiritualism when it does not. In so-called conventional medicine it is not ethical to give people treatments that have been shown not to work. Is he proposing that we should give patients treatments for which there is no empirical proof of efficacy, and do so without coming clean to them about disappointing contra-evidence? As for compassion, yes resources are squeezed and sadly that can mean compassion is sometimes marginalized. But the National Health Service remains the most popular institution in Britain because on the whole it cares for people very well. What we can all agree on is the interconnectedness of injury, disease, pain, unhappiness and lack of self-esteem. That is why science has led to treatments that go beyond the physical including cognitive-behavioural therapy. But that does not mean vaccination was only a partial treatment for smallpox, or that Paracetamol is not normally the only necessary remedy for headaches. HRH has more influence than most. It is a shame he uses it to promote ‘integrative’ health which really seeks to insinuate preEnlightenment quackery back into mainstream medicine.

Modernizing the Mikado: Japan, Japanism and the Limitations of the Avant-garde

Modernizing the Mikado: Japan, Japanism and the Limitations of the Avant-garde

Dueling for Honor and Identity Economics

Dueling is one of the best indicators of political transition from anarchy to order. This paper explores the dynamics of dueling for honor as a social institution in England, France, and Germany. It identifies major differences regarding the frequency, duration, and nature of dueling. Although dueling for honor emerged as a self-organizing and self-regulatory collective action of the aristocracy in crisis, it transformed into a middle class institution in France and Germany. However, this institution suddenly ended in England around 1850. In this study, we will follow a cognitive version of identity economics to explain the emergence of this institution, and its divergent trajectories in these countries in terms of identity choice. We will argue that while dueling is an identity investment, it might have different values according to its diverse social meanings. We will show that different social meanings that were attached to dueling in England, France and Germany gave rise to different values in identity investment, and led to different results in enhancing social identities.

‘That Infamous Commerce in Human Blood’: Reflections on Representing Slavery and Empire in British Museums

In 2007, museums across Britain commemorated the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. In doing so, they confronted three complex and interrelated issues: the changing historiography of the British Empire; the representation and commemoration of Britain’s involvement in plantation slavery, the transatlantic slave trade and their abolition; and ongoing debates about how museums should engage with these issues and what their role should be in reflecting and interpreting these themes for a public audience. In the wake of the abolition bicentenary much professional museum and academic discussion has focused on the meanings and ramifications of this anniversary year for museums and other cultural institutions in Britain, as well as for the public understanding of Britain’s role in slavery and the slave trade. This article examines how this history was represented in two particular examples. By concentrating on museums whose general remit includes the history of empire, the discussion also explores how the history of Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade became a touchstone for debates about the representation of Britain’s imperial past in 2007.

Article Commentary: Of snarks, boojums and national drug charts

Lewis Caroll's ‘The Hunting of the Snark’ – subtitled ‘An Agony in Eight Fits’ – was a nonsense poem. Its use in the title of this essay1 is, in itself, very fitting. The objections to a national drug chart, made by Barber et al.1 in this issue of the JRSM, lack credibility. First, there is substantial evidence from the Australia, that a National Drugs Chart can reduce errors. Barber et al.1 have misinterpreted the study by Coombes et al.2, showing a reduction in prescribing errors, by adopting a National Drugs Chart. Whether some of the error reduction was due to an improved prescription form is hardly a reason for challenging its overall generalizability. On the contrary, it demonstrates what can be achieved. Moreover, Coombes et al.2 not only showed a substantial reduction in overall prescribing errors but also reduced rates in each of 11 out of 12 individual types of error. For example, re-prescription of drugs to which patients had previously had an adverse reaction to a product in the same class, fell by over 50%. And there was a significant decrease in the potential risks associated with warfarin therapy. Secondly Barber et al.1 believe that undergraduate and postgraduate medical and nursing student need more, and better, education on the use of Drug Charts. I am sure they are right. But ensuring the availability of adequate training materials, across every National Health survey (NHS) Trust each with its own Drug Chart, is fanciful and unnecessary. Much better to draw up a National Drug Chart, with associated training materials, available to all. Thirdly, a National Drugs Chart, together with an online training package can be delivered and accepted in a UK environment.3 The claim that, because Wales is relatively small and homogeneous, it is a poor example for England is disingenuous. We, in England, should be prepared to adopt good practice that leads to an improved quality care, irrespective of its provenance. Fourthly Barber et al.1 claim that it is fallacious to think one chart is sufficient. Of course it is not enough. Eventually we need to standardize all of our hospital charts but – in the meantime – let us get the most widely used one sorted out. Barber et al.1 also seem to believe that local charts are needed to meet local CQUIN targets. That is sheer nonsense and indicates a lack of understanding about the various schemes now in place to encourage high quality of care. Finally the argument that, because electronic prescribing is increasingly prevalent in UK hospitals, standardized drug charts will soon be defunct is yet more nonsense. Only a minority of hospitals have e-prescribing available for inpatients; and it will be years before this is common across the NHS. In the meantime we should stop messing around and introduce a National Drugs Chart – for inpatients – and have done with it. It is curious that, at a time when hospital doctors who prescribe drugs and nurses who administer them, are all clamouring for a National Drugs Chart, it is opposed by a coterie of pharmacists. The Royal College of Physicians of London have developed a National Drugs Chart and are asking their fellows to press for its introduction in their own NHS institutions in England. I hope that their local hospital pharmacists back them.

‘It’ll look good on your personal statement’: self-marketing amongst university applicants in the United Kingdom

‘Selling yourself’ through personal statements and interviews is now a standard practice for university applicants. This article draws on a multi-case-study research project to report on the self-marketing orientations of students within three 16–19 institutions in England. These orientations (active/passive; internal/external; retrospective/prospective; and integrated/segregated) were embedded within and shaped by each site’s strategic response to the conditions of the local education market-place. It is argued that the patterns of these orientations across different institutions is related to the resources and support available to students, the educational trajectories that were considered appropriate for them, and the pedagogic identities fostered by the institution as a whole. Where these differentially prepare students to access universities and courses, schools and colleges may be contributing to, rather than challenging, the socially stratifying work of the education system.

Delivery of effective teacher training to promote health and wellbeing in schools: a survey of current practice

BackgroundTeachers play an increasingly important part in the wider public health workforce. Initial teacher training (ITT) should prepare teachers to be effective in promoting health and wellbeing in schools. However, questions remain about the provision and quality of public health within ITT courses. We aimed to assess how teacher training prepares teachers to promote health and wellbeing in schools, what barriers to and facilitators of effective training exist, and the relation between ITT and the changing policy landscape in public health and education. MethodsWe did a questionnaire survey of the 208 ITT institutions in England to assess how health is addressed in teacher training (eg, health topics covered, time spent on health, external organisations involved). We randomly sampled course leaders (n=220), stratified by region, type of provider (eg, university-based; employment-based), and number of courses offered. Questionnaire data were analysed with standard descriptive statistics. Qualitative follow-up interviews were done with a semistructured interview schedule with a purposive subsample of 19 questionnaire respondents, to investigate issues in more detail. Interview data were analysed with content analysis to create categories, which led to the generation of broader analytical themes. FindingsThe overall questionnaire response rate was 34% (74 of 220). Most respondents were based in universities (n=43; 58%), followed by school-based training providers (n=21; 28%), and employment-based providers (n=10; 14%). Most courses led by the respondents were postgraduate. 54 (89%) of questionnaire respondents thought emphasis of health of pupils or staff in teacher training was important or very important. The extent to which health was covered in courses varied. 49 (77%) respondents used external organisations to address health issues. Commonly used organisations included with local authorities (n=35; 75%), local schools (n=29; 62%), and charities (n=17; 36%), and less commonly health professionals (n=10; 21%). Some respondents anticipated that changes in educational policy might lead to a reduced focus on health in their courses, whereas others aimed to maintain the inclusion of health. In the follow-up interviews respondents described the ways they were adapting their courses to retain the focus on health. These methods included addressing the health-related aspects of special educational needs, disability, and behaviour management. Evidence of competing priorities existed, with lack of time in a busy curriculum a key barrier to addressing health. A supportive staff ethos and previous health-related experience of teacher educators were cited as facilitators. The interviews also showed that course leaders have a broad idea of health, with some taking a whole-child approach. A common view was that good health is essential for effective learning. This holistic view of education was seen to be in conflict with emerging government educational policy, which seems to place less emphasis on the importance of children and young people's health and wellbeing than previous policies. InterpretationVariability exists in the coverage of health in teacher training, and in methods and approaches. Policy and service delivery are undergoing a period of change in both public health and education, with the perception of less overt support for health and wellbeing in schools. Support does remain, but teacher educators, who generally remain committed to fostering the role of health in ITT, are interpreting policy changes in different ways in the planning of the content and structure of their curricula. Greater policy links between health and education could enhance the facilitating role of health expertise in teacher education. Our study is limited by reliance on the perspectives of college-based ITT providers; future studies should include placement schools. FundingNational Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme.

The economic efficiency of rehabilitative management in young offender institutions in England and Wales

In the light of the UK Government's call for efficiency savings across all departments, including the Criminal Justice System, this paper attempts to shed some light on how cost savings can best be secured in the running of Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) in England and Wales. It does this by identifying ‘best practice’ YOIs using recently-developed Data Envelopment Analysis that caters for both good and undesirable outputs (such as assaults and testing positive for illicit drugs by inmates), thereby allowing policymakers to deliver cost savings through the spread of management techniques adopted by benchmark YOIs. The study also analyses the size-efficiency relationship for YOIs in England and Wales and finds that, although the smallest institutions are typically the most efficient, the size-efficiency relationship is quite complex. This calls into question the Government's wisdom of building ‘titan’ prisons in England and Wales which, perversely, might decrease the efficiency of rehabilitating young offenders.

Strategic transformation and muddling through: industrial relations and industrial training in the UK

The contribution considers two related institutional domains, industrial relations and industrial training, in the United Kingdom. It analyses the trajectory and magnitude of change, seen in terms of (a) forms of co-ordination/governance and (b) the saliency of these domains. The contribution covers a long time period, pivoting on the years of Conservative government between 1979 and 1997. It argues that trajectories of change in these two domains began earlier than these years and are still not fully unfolded in the industrial training area. Throughout, change involved combinations of both strategic transformation and muddling through by key actors. There are some complementarities between these two domains and with other domains, but there are also significant disjunctures. In explaining change, some emphasis is placed on politics, but also on the ‘voluntaristic’ nature of labour market institutions in Britain and on employer preferences in labour, product and financial market and in political contexts.

Early and ultra-early surgery in hip fracture patients improves survival

BackgroundHip fracture is a common injury with associated high mortality. Recent drives by the Department of Health have sought to prioritise these patients’ care. In April 2010, the Best Practice Tariff was introduced in England and Wales. This offers financial incentives to institutions that provide holistic care and surgery within 36h for hip fracture patients. The England and Wales National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published its first guidance on hip fracture management in June 2011, and emphasised the need for surgery on the day or day after admission. In spite of the emphasis placed on this injury, the predictors of in-hospital mortality remain ill-defined. In particular the effect of the timing of surgery remains contentious. ObjectiveTo address the issues raised by NICE around surgical timing and examine whether surgery before a 36h watershed improves survival. In addition, to examine survival outcomes for each 12h watershed following admission. Materials and methodsProspectively collected data on 2056 patients presenting to our unit with hip fractures between February 2008 and May 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Multivariate regression analysis was used to correct for confounders, and so determine the effect of various parameters on in-patient mortality. ResultsAge (p<0.0001), male-gender (p<0.0001), source of admission (p<0.05), ASA-grade (p<0.0001) and delay of surgery (p<0.01) were associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality. The adjusted odds of in-hospital mortality were 1.58 (p<0.05) times higher in those undergoing surgery after 36h compared to surgery before this time. Early surgery (within 24h) resulted in reduced in-hospital mortality when compared to the 36h watershed. Similarly ultra-early surgery (within 12h) was even better still (adjusted odds ratio 3.9 p<0.05). ConclusionsExpeditious surgery is associated with improved patient survival. Other predictors of in-hospital mortality include age, gender, in-hospital fracture and ASA-grade. Ultra-early surgery (within 12h) reduces risk of in-hospital mortality.

Changing localities for teacher training: the potential impact on professional formation and the university sector response

Early in its period of office the new United Kingdom coalition government produced an Education White Paper containing potentially devastating news for higher education training institutions in England and Wales. Drawing on research papers and policy documents, this article takes an historic approach to map the changing face of teacher training over the past 30 years. A variety of approaches to the training of teachers are examined in terms of the partnership arrangements each model espouses and the training approaches that each locality arrangement represents. A small-scale research project maps early responses from higher education institutions as they consider the implications of new policies. Finally, a future scenario where higher education institutions struggle for survival as meaningful providers of teacher education is postulated.

Standardizing the Fiscal State: Cabal Tax Farming as an Intermediate Institution in Early-Modern England and France

How did modern and centralized fiscal institutions emerge? We develop a model that explains (i) why pre-industrial states relied on private individuals to collect taxes; (ii) why after 1600 both England and France moved from competitive methods for collecting revenues to allocating the right to collect taxes to a small group of financiers -- a intermediate institution that we call cabal tax farming -- and (iii) why this centralization led to investments in fiscal capacity and increased fiscal standardization. We provide detailed historical evidence that supports our prediction that rulers abandoned the competitive allocation of tax rights in favor of cabal tax farming in order to gain access to inside credit and that this transition was accompanied by investments in standardization. Finally (iv) we show why this intermediate institution proved to be self-undermining in England where it was quickly replaced by direct collection, but lasted in France until the French Revolution.

Enterprise and entrepreneurship in English higher education: 2010 and beyond

PurposeThis article aims to report the results of a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute for Small Business &amp; Entrepreneurship (ISBE) on behalf of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). The survey builds on prior work undertaken by the NCGE in England in 2006 and in 2007.Design/methodology/approachThe survey aimed to establish a complete picture of curricular and extra‐curricular enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The survey uses a similar structure to the previous survey, enabling comparison to be made with enterprise provision over the 2006‐2010 period, as well as with the 2008 European survey of entrepreneurship in HE.FindingsThe results provide a stock‐take of enterprise education provision in participating HEIs and highlight the connections in institutional strategies between enterprise education, incubation/new venture support, graduate employability, innovation and academic enterprise. The paper reveals “hotspots” and gaps in enterprise provision and offers “benchmarks” for the sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe article offers a summary of the implications for the future development and sustainability of enterprise education in HE, in relation to policy, funding and other changes in the sector. It also considers these issues in relation to recommendations from professional educators and government policy for future development of enterprise in HE and comments on the policy impact of this work.Originality/valueThe timing of the survey, in May‐July 2010, was important as it reflected the end of a period of over ten years of sustained investment in enterprise in higher education by the previous Labour government in the UK, through a range of funding initiatives. As major public expenditure reductions in support for HE and enterprise activity followed, this represented the “high water mark” of publicly funded enterprise activity in the HE sector, and raised the question of how enterprise education and support activities would become sustainable for the future. The report analyses existing provision, assesses its development over the 2006‐2010 period, and provides conclusions and recommendations covering future policy, development, resourcing, and sustainability of enterprise and entrepreneurship provision in higher education.

University Students Are Unaware of the Role of Academic Librarians

Objective – To discover students’ perceptions of information commons staff, and to determine how these perceptions influence the use of library resources.&#x0D; &#x0D; Design – Post-experience survey with one follow-up interview.&#x0D; &#x0D; Setting – The University of Sheffield, a post-secondary institution in England.&#x0D; &#x0D; Subjects – All undergraduate and postgraduate students were invited to take part. Just over 1% of the student population, or 250 students, completed the survey.&#x0D; &#x0D; Methods – Information about the survey was sent to students’ institutional email addresses. One follow up interview was carried out via email using the critical incident technique.&#x0D; &#x0D; Main Results – Students do not understand the academic roles of librarians. They are unlikely to approach library staff for academic support, preferring to turn to instructors, other students, friends, and family. Most students had positive opinions about assistance received in the Information Commons, but a small number reflected on previous bad experiences with staff, or on a fear of being made to feel foolish. The vast majority of students who did not seek help in the Information Commons stated that this was because they did not require assistance. Most students do not perceive a difference between Information Commons staff and library staff. &#x0D; &#x0D; Conclusion – Students have positive views of Information Commons staff at the University of Sheffield, but have low awareness of the roles of professional librarians. Librarians need to develop partnerships with academic staff and strengthen their presence in both physical and online learning environments to promote their academic roles.