The future of library and information science education and research: a view from Barcelona #liser2015

Third Seminar on LIS Education and Research logo

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

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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Two talk Tuesday: Evaluating your digital impact, and a special birthday celebration

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.

Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences logoMy 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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All set for LIS-ER 2015

Third Seminar on LIS Education and Research logo 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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Six papers at Information, Interactions and Impact i3 2015, and a preview of iDocQ 2015

i3 logoThe programme for Information, interactions and impact: i3 2015 has just been published. This international conference, held on a biennial basis in Aberdeen, brings together an international community of academic and practitioner researchers to explore the quality and effectiveness of the interactions between people and information, and how such interactions can bring about change. This year it takes place at the Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University from Tuesday June 23rd to Friday June 26th. I’m delighted that six paper proposals that I co-authored for submission to the conference have been accepted, and they can now be seen in the programme.

Five of the six papers draw on projects currently undertaken by colleagues and research students within the Centre for Social Informatics: Christine Irving; Lynn Killick; John Mowbray; Frances Ryan; and Louise Rasmussen. These are:

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Prizes, papers, and a new publication on success factors in information systems development projects

John Mowbray's winning poster

John Mowbray’s winning poster

We currently have eight research students undertaking doctoral studies in the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) working on a variety of projects. While the goal of our students is to complete their theses within the degree registration period, it’s also important that they share news of their work as it progresses. A number of our current students have recently been busy taking advantage of opportunities to disseminate their research. New work on success factors in information systems projects co-authored by a PhD graduate has also been accepted for publication.

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Save Blipfoto: how to automatically generate PDF files of your journal entries

polaroid-blipfoto-logo
This blog entry was originally posted on Tuesday 17th March 2015. It has since been edited to take into account the posting of the program that it describes to GitHub, and to provide links to short tutorial information on YouTube for non-programmers on how to run the program.

Yesterday many members of the Blipfoto community – myself included – were deeply unsettled by news that the company has gone into liquidation. Blipfoto has been integral to my everyday life for over three years. The thought that my daily routine is at risk is very upsetting. Finding a photographic subject, capturing a shot, uploading it, writing a little about my day, waiting for greetings from my fellow blippers, and catching up with the journals of others has become part of what I am.

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Meet you in St Louis? ASIST 2015 call for papers

ASIST 2015 logoThe 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) takes place between 6th and 10 November this year in St Louis, Missouri, USA.

I’m pleased to be working as a member of the conference programme committee alongside Lisa Given of Charles Sturt University (conference chair), Heather O’Brien of the University of British Columbia and Alison Brettle of Salford University (panel co-chairs), and Lynn Westbrook of the University of Texas and Michael Khoo of Drexel University (poster co-chairs).

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Supporting the ‘research-minded’ librarian

EAHIL/ICAHIS/ICLC conference logoThe 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.

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Looking forward to the Third International Seminar on LIS Education and Research (LIS-ER), Barcelona, June 4-5 2015

Third Seminar on LIS Education and Research logo The Third International Seminar on Education and Research (LIS-ER) is organised this year by the Faculty of Library and Information Science at the University of Barcelona as part of its centenary celebrations. The meeting is supported by the European Association for Library and Information Education and Research (EUCLID) and the Red Universitaria de centros de Información y Documentación (RUID). It takes place 4-5 June 2015 on the University of Barcelona campus.

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i3 2015: call for papers

i3 logoSince 2011 I have served on the international programme committee of i3, the conference that brings together academic and practitioner researchers from across the world interested in exploring the quality and effectiveness of the interaction between people and information, and how this interaction can bring about change.

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