Library and Information Research (LIR)
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Selling the JUBILEE Project: issues arising from a methodology
Get PDFThis article, inspired by JUBILEE project fieldwork, is influenced by van Leeuwen and Leeuw\u27s work on the growing negative attitude towards market research. While the JUBILEE team, as academic researchers, were not making a sales pitch, they were trying to sell the project to putative participants. Issues discussed include length - and degree of difficulty - of questionnaire; how to sell a questionnaire; and how to identify key prospects for interviews and focus groups. Through the experiences gained, the JUBILEE researchers were able to identify key points of good fieldwork practice in relation to the issues discussed
Establishing the context for your research project
Get PDFThis article will help fellow practitioner researchers establish research background for a topic by describing a process and resources. This is potentially useful not only for the LIS professional in their own research, but also when finding information at work for their customers or clients. My own work role is information specialist support for research commissioning in the social care field; from this I have drawn general tips for background scoping in a social science field such as library and information science. Variety of sources is key: the sources drawn on include bibliographic databases, research databases, portals, key organisations\u27 websites, discussion groups, conferences and awards. It is not intended to be exhaustive, and can only give a snapshot of a changing environment, however it can act as a foundation for detailed preparation. In parallel, the LIRG website links list has been expanded and updated: please see
www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/research/link
Routes to Knowledge
Get PDFThe Wider Information and Library Issues Project (WILIP) has now reported and is being followed-up. Many of the recommended actions will be implemented via the next, strategic stage -"Routes to Knowledge"- which seeks to re-position libraries in the Knowledge Society and develop capacity so their potential can be realised. Routes to Knowledge will engage with the library and information world to produce an Action Plan by March 2005. Actions will fall under headings such as user need, strategic framework, advocacy, network development, access, funding, workforce, information literacy and knowledge management. The relevance of these activities to research (and vice-versa) is discussed
Why do we need research?
Get PDFA lightly edited transcript of the paper given to LIRG on 4 July 2003 as part of the CILIP Umbrella 2003 Conferenc
"E-books are good if there are no copies left": a survey of e-book usage at UWE Library Services
Get PDFThis article outlines research carried out with students and academic staff at a large UK university library on how e-books are being used for learning, teaching and research. It was discovered that e-books are meeting many of users\u27 needs, especially in terms of accessibility, but there are still concerns about subject coverage and the impact on students\u27 learning. There are various reasons why e-books are beneficial in developing an academic library collection, most particularly for reference materials and essential readings, but librarians need to work closely with academic staff to integrate use of e-books effectively into learning and teaching, taking care that licence and access implications are better understood. The drivers to the use of e-books appear to be outweighing the barriers, although the latter will require considerable effort on the part of librarians within their institutions and also in terms of communicating concerns to e-book providers
Use of book borrowing statistics as a means to establish library use by pre-registration nursing students: a case study at the University of Northumbria
Get PDFThis paper examines the book borrowing by pre-registration students at the University of Northumbria over a three-year period. Nursing education was transferred into higher education in the early 1990s resulting in large numbers of extra students in many higher education institutions. Little work has been done to establish the impact this move has had in library and information services. This work analyses book borrowing by two nursing pre-registration courses from three perspectives: quantity of books borrowed, book borrowing dispersed over an academic year and the subject material borrowed. Analysis of borrowing is completed using the TALIS Library software. The findings of this study are related to some of the major issues facing those providing library and information services to health student
From abstract to relevant: encouraging access to journals
Get PDFThe article discusses and evaluates a project designed to gain understanding of students\u27 attitudes towards using journals in their academic assignments, based on evidence that some students made little use of journals and library-run training opportunities. Results of a questionnaire showed that students generally had a positive view of journals, but there were numerous remarks about the difficulty of accessing relevant material. Tutors have a large influence in students\u27 perception and use of journals. Students from different subjects accessed journals in different ways, but students who had been on workshops were more likely to use an electronic index. However, many former workshop attendees still had limited confidence in finding journal articles, and a model of repeated skills development is proposed. Implications for resource acquisition and access are discussed and the importance of working with academics to promote and deliver skills workshops is stressed. It is suggested that an institutional Information and IT Literacy policy would be helpful in developing and embedding an ongoing skills development programme.
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