Today I’m presenting a research paper entitled ‘Creating a UK-wide network of LIS researchers’ at the library research symposium hosted by McMaster University in Canada. My invitation to speak at this event provides the first opportunity to present the initial findings from the DREaM Again project, which was completed in summer 2015. Continue reading
Since the end of May my colleague Dr Bruce Ryan and I have been investigating the long-term impact of the AHRC-funded DREaM project (for which I was Principal Investigator in 2011 and 2012), and the forms that such impact has taken.
As part of this work we have been considering what ‘impact’ means in the context of library and information science (LIS), and how this relates to conceptions of the term in other domains where there is a perceived research-practice gap, such as policing, social work and nursing. This first part of the study has been based on an analysis of the extant literature. We intend to write this up as a review paper.
In 2011/12 I was Principal Investigator (PI) on the AHRC-funded DREaM project. The aim of this work was to develop a formal UK-wide network of Library and Information Science (LIS) researchers. The project ran from January 2011 to August 2012, and was supported by the Library and Information Science Research Coalition. We reported the initial successes of the DREaM project in a paper that I co-authored with Alison Brettle and Charles Oppenheim and presented at QQML 2012. Three years later, we are interested in any further lasting impacts of the project.
To this end I am working with my colleague Dr Bruce Ryan on a follow-up study that investigates any longer-term impact of DREaM, and the forms that such impact (if it exists) has taken. I mentioned these plans earlier in the month in a presentation at the Third International Seminar on LIS Education and Research, and then during my recent opening keynote paper at the 2015 EAHIL conference (the format of which was inspired by the DREaM project, and the event masterminded by Marshall Dozier, who was a member of the DREaM cadre).
I spent Thursday 4th and Friday 5th June 2015 in Spain as a guest of the Faculty of Library and Information Science at the University of Barcelona. Here I was one of many academics from across the world invited to join the Faculty in the celebrations of its one hundredth anniversary. These were organised around an event billed as the Third International Seminar on Library and Information Science (LIS) Education and Research (LIS-ER).
Blaise Cronin keynote speaker
The main theme of the meeting was education and research in library and information science. The opening keynote presentation was delivered by Dr Blaise Cronin, Emeritus Professor at Indiana University, and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University. There then followed a series of sessions on: LIS education in Europe; LIS education in America; LIS research in general; LIS academic journals; and research data. There was also an opportunity for those who contributed to a poster display to introduce their work in plenary. In this session the speakers invited delegates to visit an exhibition that displayed work on themes that ranged from open science to beach libraries for summer tourists.
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I had a very busy day on Tuesday this week with two external speaking commitments, one a training session for research students from across Scotland, and the other a public engagement event on the theme of the future of library services.
My first commitment was at the annual summer school of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. Here I led a session on the evaluation of the digital impact of research with my colleague Dr Elizabeth Tait (aka Lizzy) of Robert Gordon University. In the first hour I set the scene by covering the range of tools available to help increase research impact, and providing some recommendations on those that research students should use to develop an online presence for themselves, and for their work. At a minimum I recommend that all research students should have:
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The Third International Seminar on LIS Education and Research (LIS-ER), organised by the Faculty of Library and Information Science at the University of Barcelona, takes place this week on Thursday 4th and Friday 5 June 2015.
The meeting’s theme of education and research in library and information science will be covered in conference presentations, panels, and a poster session. On Friday morning I’m speaking on the theme of challenges in LIS research, drawing on my experience of leading the implementation of the UK Library and Information Science Research Coalition between 2009 and 2012. For a preview of my presentation Meeting the challenges of LIS research: a national coalition approach, please see the slides below.
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The Workforce Mapping Project survey is found at http://bit.ly/workforcemap
The Workforce Mapping Project survey closes at the end of the month on Thursday 30th April. The Edinburgh Napier project team is keen to encourage those who work within the UK in roles associated with libraries, archives, records, information, and knowledge management, and who have not already done so, to make their contributions to the study.
Given that I am currently leading a research project to map the UK workforce in library, archives, records, information and knowledge management sectors, I was interested to come across some results of a recent YouGov survey yesterday. These claim that the job of librarian is the ‘second most desirable’ in Britain. Is this really the case, and (if so) why?
The Workforce Mapping Project survey is live at http://bit.ly/workforcemap
This is a call to workers in the library, archives, records, information, and knowledge management sector to contribute to a research project by completing a short survey. If you work in this sector, please read on to learn more about the project and how you can contribute to it.
The European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) will be holding a workshop in Edinburgh this summer in collaboration with the International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (ICAHIS) and the International Clinical Librarian Conference (ICLC). This event forms one of a series of biennial workshops and other related events designed to support healthcare librarians and information professionals in their work.
Hazel Hall 