American Public Service

American Public Service
Author: James S. Bowman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2017-09-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 135157678X

Understanding the effects of radical change on public personnel systems is critically important both now and in the future to all those interested in the quality of American democracy. Civil service reform is occurring at all levels of government both in the United States and abroad. American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System is a collection of papers that examine the innovations, strategies, and issues found in the contemporary civil service reform debate. Offering diverse perspectives from expert contributors, this book presents matters concerning radical reform and the merit system at the federal, state, and local levels of government. This volume offers fresh insight into the effects of merit system changes on employees. Divided into four sections, this book... · Examines a portrait of contemporary reforms from across the country and concepts to interpret those data · Addresses whether the relaxation of civil service protections against partisan intrusion will result in corruption · Provides examples of ongoing changes and analyzes survey data from state managers · Discusses a variety of key issues, such as the impact on racial inequality of moving from a protected class employment status to an unprotected at-will relationship The book provides a baseline of data on reforms as well as an account of their current promises and pitfalls. Covering topics ripped from the headlines, this text also identifies pressing issues and makes suggestions for the future. Offering a variety of methodological approaches, it is ideal for all those interested in effective governance.

American Public Service

American Public Service
Author: Sheila Suess Kennedy
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2011-08-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0763760021

Questions of ethics in public administration are increasingly in the news, where commentators seem too often detached from the sources of those ethics and their application to current political conflicts. American Public Service: Constitutional and Ethical Foundations examines public administration ethics as contextualized by constitutional, legal, and political values within the United States. Through case studies, hypothetical examples, and an easy-to-read discussion format, the authors explore what these values mean for specific duties of government managers and for the resolution of many contemporary issues confronting public sector officials. Key Features: • Describes the philosophical underpinnings of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights • Identifies the values that anchor and define what government and public administrators should do. • Indicates where these values fit into a framework for moral decision-making in the public sector, and how they apply to discussions of current controversies in public administration. • Written by authors with rich experience as both lawyers and academics in public administration programs.

Readers' Advisory Service in North American Public Libraries, 1870-2005

Readers' Advisory Service in North American Public Libraries, 1870-2005
Author: Juris Dilevko
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2007-02-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0786429259

Beginning in the early 1980s, readers' advisory services were a widely discussed topic in North American public libraries. By 2005, almost every public library in the United States and Canada offered some form of readers' advisory service. The services offered have changed significantly, in ways perhaps disadvantageous to adult North American library patrons. This book provides a critical history of readers' advisory philosophy and offers a new perspective on the evolution of the service. The book analyzes the debate that shaped readers' advisory and discusses how the service has assumed its present form. The study follows readers' advisory through its three prominent stages of development, beginning with the period 1870 to 1916, when the service was still a subject of much crucial debate about its meaning and purpose. During the second phase (1917 to 1962), readers' advisory systematically committed itself to meaningful adult education through serious and purposeful reading. The book argues, however, that during the most recent phase of readers' advisory, from 1963 until the present, contemporary public libraries have turned their backs on the rich heritage of readers' advisory services by valorizing the reading of entertainment-oriented and commodified genre titles and bestsellers. Historical analysis, case studies and statistical charts augment the book's central argument.

Why Public Service Matters

Why Public Service Matters
Author: R. Durant
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 568
Release: 2014-10-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137069570

Why Public Service Matters conveys the importance, purpose, and nobility of a career as a civil servant in the United States. It does so, however, with an unflinching eye on the realpolitik that drives public administration in America's "compensatory state" and on the pitfalls of reformers' focus on bureaucratic, rather than democratic, administration. The book links the nation's ability to handle contemporary policy problems with the strategic, tactical, and normative quality of public management. In doing so, it offers newcomers a rare, concise, and accessible overview of the field. Readers will gain an appreciation for the challenges, choices, and opportunities facing public managers as they help advance a sense of common purpose informed by democratic constitutional values in twenty-first century America.

Trailblazing African American Public Administrators

Trailblazing African American Public Administrators
Author: Beverly Edmond
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2016-11-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 131729338X

The field of public administration holds social equity and inclusiveness as a core administrative value, but African American voices in the discourse about the theory and practice of public administration have been ignored all too often. This book is the first to formally chronicle the evolution of the field of public administration in the United States through desegregation, equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity/multiculturalism, and presumptions about a "post-racial" society, incorporating African American contributions to public policy-making and implementation at every stage. As long as the "post-racial" America myth continues to influence the design, development, and implementation of public policies, African American perspectives need to be reconsidered as a legitimate and important focus of public administration’s theoretical and practical framework. Focusing on the lives and profound contributions of several unsung but seminal African American public administrators, accompanied by personal accounts of perseverance and detailed descriptions of unique approaches used for social change, this book demonstrates the intellectual, academic, and pragmatic evolution of these leaders as they built careers in their discipline and blazed the trail for those to come. Authors Beverly C. Edmond and Ron W. Finnell demonstrate how these pioneers extended the very definition of the enterprise of public administration through their movements between the intersecting worlds of academia, practice, social movements, and community activism. Trailblazing African American Public Administrators serves as a timely practical, social, and historical teaching text for graduate and undergraduate courses in Public Administration, Public Management, Public Affairs, and Human Resource Management.

Handbook of American Public Administration

Handbook of American Public Administration
Author: Edmund C. Stazyk
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 571
Release: 2018-10-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786432072

'Currently, public administration as art and science ponders a challenging and uncertain future. Thus, no better time exists to take stock and ponder the practical and theoretical value of its topical coverage to date. Stazyk and Frederickson have assembled an eclectic and impressive group of senior and junior scholars to join them in this intellectual exercise. Collectively, the contributors offer a stiletto-like dissection of where and how the field's energy has been expended, what knowledge it has produced, what its limitations are, and where future energies might best be expended. Kudos to all.' - Robert F. Durant, American University, US This forward-thinking Handbook draws on the expertise of established and emerging scholars to provide a comprehensive review of the current state and future direction of theory and practice in US public administration. Chapters offer a cross-disciplinary, holistic review of the field, pulling together leaders from subfields such as public administration, public and nonprofit management, finance, human resource management, networks, nonprofits, policy, and politics. Chapter authors conclude that the field is intellectually rich and highly nuanced, but also identify numerous opportunities for growth and expansion in the coming years. The Handbook charts an agenda for future research in the field. TheHandbook of American Public Administrationis geared toward academics, researchers, and advanced graduate students. As an authoritative text on the history and state of US public administration, it proves equally suitable for national and international audiences. Practitioners who may be looking for background information or state-of-the-art knowledge about practice will also benefit from this Handbook. Contributors include: G. Arnold, G.A. Brewer, B.J. Cook, R.S. Davis, L. DeHart-Davis, M.D. Farnworth, P.S. Federman, S. Fernandez, H.G. Frederickson, H. Getha-Taylor, R.K. Ghere, D. Hatmaker, K. Hendren, C.J. Hill, N. Humphrey, K.R. Isett, S. Jo, J.E. Kellough, S.Y. Kim, Y. Kim, L. Langbein, M. Leighninger, L.E. Lynn, Jr., D.S.T. Matkin, B. Merriman, C.C. Merritt, A.V. Moldavanova, T. Nabatchi, S. Nicholson-Crotty, R. O'Leary, Z.W. Oberfield, A. Osorio, S.K. Pandey, Y.J. Park, S. Portillo, B.A. Radin, W.G. Resh, R.L. St. Clair, J.R. Sandfort, L.M. Shimek, A.E. Smith, S.R. Smith, E.C. Stazyk, S. Webeck, E.S. Zeemering, H.L. Zook

Muslims' Place in the American Public Square

Muslims' Place in the American Public Square
Author: Zahid Hussain Bukhari
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2004
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780759106130

This, the first volume from the Muslims in the American Public Square research project, gives theoretical and demographic portraits of Muslims in the American civil landscape.

The American Public Library Handbook

The American Public Library Handbook
Author: Guy A. Marco
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2011-11-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1591589118

A detailed reference work that documents every aspect of the American public library experience through topical entries, statistics, biographies, and profiles. The American Public Library Handbook is the first reference work to focus on all aspects of the American public library experience, providing a topical perspective through comprehensive essays and biographical information on important public librarians. Based upon the author's own notes and extensive experience, as well as library periodicals, library reference books, monographs, textbooks, Internet sources, and correspondence with individual libraries, this book comprises nearly 1,000 entries addressing all aspects of public library service. Each topical essay considers terminology of the area covered, its historical context, and current concerns and issues. Biographies highlight the philosophical perspective of the individuals covered, while entries on specific libraries present timely data and interesting facts about each facility. This unique handbook also offers up-to-date statistics, historical highlights, and information about programs and events of individual libraries.