This afternoon I will be delivering a presentation as part of the colloquia series of the iSchool and Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) at the University of Toronto.

The content of my presentation relates to the period between 2009 and 2012 when I led the implementation of the UK Library and Information Science (LIS) Research Coalition. Amongst its goals the Coalition had a commitment to support practising librarians and information scientists in accessing and exploiting available research in their work, and to encourage their development as practitioner researchers. The AHRC-funded Developing Research Excellence and Methods (DREaM) project, which was supported by the Coalition, contributed to the meeting of such goals.

My talk today will cover how the Coalition tackled the challenges of LIS research at a national level, and reflect on its impact. Particular attention will be paid to the findings of the DREaM Again project—a recent follow-up exploration of the lasting impacts of DREaM. The results of DREaM Again reveal, for example, that half of those who participated in the DREaM research methods workshops have been actively involved in research since the end of the project, and almost as many report that their research outputs have already had an impact, for example in informing policy, and/or determining information services provision, and/or developing the LIS research agenda. Analysis of the network ties between the participants reveals that a loose but persistent network of DREaMers endures, in which both social and work-related connections are important.

Attendance at the colloquium is free of charge and open to the public. It takes place in room 728 at 140 St George Street, Toronto. Further details are provided on the iSchool’s web site. The slides for my presentation are available on SlideShare.