Beamer, Jennifer

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Jennifer Beamer M.LISc., M.Sc., B.A., B.Sc.

orcid.org/0000-0001-6887-6568 ResearcherID H-9648-2014

Jennifer is Faculty Librarian. Jennifer has been employed for the past 10 years at Universities in Canada, the USA and Japan, conducting research and teaching. In her spare time Jennifer studies French and Japanese, plays with technology and is an avid synchronized swimmer.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Isomorphic Pressures on Institutional Repositories in Japan
    ( 2017-06-30) Beamer, Jennifer
    A variety of IRs have appeared in the past two decades, some as responses to the pressures on the economic model of scholarly publishing, and others as a result of the natural evolution of scholarly communication in some disciplines. In 2003, Japanese Universities started their first system of IR. Since then, over the past decade, more than 300 Japanese universities and research institutions have set up repositories and the number of full-text items on repositories has exceeded one million. The purpose of my research is to examine how Japanese institutions have developed and maintained successful IR’s. This qualitative research will use the lens of Institutional Isomorphism (II) as expressed by DiMaggio and Powell (1983). II is the similarity of processes or structures between organizations, and how they are a result of imitation or independent development under similar environments and pressures (Greenwood, 2008, p.15 - 17). Collecting data via interviews at five institutions (the IR Managers) involved with IR development at Japanese institutions, may reveal noticeable patterns or regularities of IR development. A comparative case study approach will be used to provide a detailed account and cross-case analysis of IRs
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    Metadata Matters: A Holistic Approach to Metadata at the University of Hawai‘i Institutional Repository
    ( 2015-06-28) Shiba, Asako ; Beamer, Jennifer
    Libraries that maintain an institutional repository (IR) have always faced issues of metadata quality. The University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) Library is no exception. The issue of metadata quality at UHM is complicated by several factors: 1) metadata is produced by the IR’s community members and often not trained by library staff through unmediated submissions; 2) the repository’s scope is inclusive of both scholarly and non-scholarly works produced on campus; 3) the community that deposits digital objects to the IR consists of diverse members; 4) the IR has been up and running for seven years with no formal/documented workflows and/or metadata guidelines. Based on the understanding that standardization of metadata practice alone cannot achieve the goal, UHM has taken a holistic and versatile approach to improve the quality of metadata in its IR. In other words, a preset basic course of actions, ranging from standardization to outreach, has been adjusted based on contingencies and feedback. This method has worked well not only because it enables good quality metadata to be an integral part of the UHM’s IR initiative as a whole, but also because it has helped make a positive impact on open access that UHM advocates and beyond. The poster illustrates the approach undertaken to show how each action aligns with the overarching goal of improving metadata, and is intertwined each other to contribute to some of the Library’s larger objectives.
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    UHM Library Technology Survey 2014
    ( 2015-03-19) Beamer, Jennifer
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    "Japanese Zaibatsu" in Cultural sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa : an encyclopedia
    (Thousand Oaks, Calif. : SAGE Publications, 2012) Beamer, Jennifer ; Seybolt, Peter J.
    Zaibatsu is a Japanese term that refers to industrial and financial business companies that developed in Japan from the mid-1800s into the mid-1900s. Zaibatsu were large family-controlled vertical monopolies consisting of a holding company, a wholly owned banking subsidiary providing finance, and interconnected industrial subsidiaries dominating specific sectors of a market, either as stand-alone companies or through a number of subsubsidiaries. The size and influence of these companies allowed for significant control over segments of the Japanese economy. However, the zaibatsu were widely condemned by the late 1930s as being elements of Western excess in Japanese society, a corrupting influence on Japan's parliamentary system, and highly profit-oriented organizations disloyal to Japan's imperialistic future. From the late 1900s onward, the Zaibatsu were instrumental in economic and industrial activity within Japan. Zaibatsu groups were made up of a central holding company, owned by a controlling family, which held the stocks of major ...
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    Reviving Japanese "Traditional" Industries: Prospects and Strategies for Asian Regional Integration
    (Waseda University Global COE Program Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration (GIARI), 2010-03-25) Beamer, Jennifer
    In the 1980s, most Asian traditional craft industries severely declined, deeply impacted by the process of globalization. Japan’s craft industry was no exception, and in looking for new ways to expand the shrinking domestic market for crafts, Japan’s Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI) began to look for opportunities outside its borders. Several prospects emerged in the form of cooperative and developmental craft exchanges designed to raise awareness and create an appreciation for traditional commodities among Asian neighbors. While research to date concerning Asian regional integration has focused mainly on economic analysis, this paper argues that focusing on the social and cultural benefits of such craft cooperatives is potentially a more effective means for successful regional integration and advancement of Asian community building. Furthermore, as traditional crafts are material objects that can represent aspects of local, ethnic or cultural identity, therefore symbolizing not only the economic, but also social and cultural elements of a society, they can be part of the discourse of grassroots integration focused away from the elite. This paper investigates the case of a regional community initiative—Japan’s Kiso Lacquer- ware Technical Cooperation Project and educational exchange with the Union of Myanmar in 1998. As an initial investigation, this paper will suggest preliminary strategies for regional cooperation and the survival of traditional industries.