Having the opportunity to work with
other librarians from different organisations is a great way to share ideas,
gain insights and to reinforce your professional networks. The Annual CONUL conference is a fantastic event
to get together with other Academic Librarians and learn about what kinds of
areas they have been involved in. This year we decided to build on the work we had presented at the Library of Congress
Submit of the Book Conference (with Helen Fallon, Maynooth University) in Nov.
2016 and present to colleagues our professional journeys in the research and
writing areas.
Post CONUL conference there was follow
up requests for all kinds of information and one in particular was a request to
pull together highlights of the presentation for the Academic Librarian Blog.
As each of us identified in our presentation, Helen Fallon and her support for
all library staff moving into the writing space was the one common factor that
inspired us and gave us confidence to endeavour into writing for academic publications;
submitting our tips to readers of this blog seemed a natural route.
Research
to date
My interest in research was sparked initially from
my work as a Subject Librarian in Maynooth University when I helped others to do research. In more recent
years I spent and continue to spend a significant amount of time building a
library service to enhance research practices. Helping someone to find the
evidence to build their best argument is a critical skill that libraries and
library staff bring to the table, in the complex world of digital and print
information. We have a key role to play as curators and consumers of
information. My own research initially focused on practice based research
(writing about specific library issues such as opening hours for SCONUL FOCUS
for example) and this evolved into an interest in exploring more theoretical
based research. This interest was
sparked by a curiosity to explore if carrying out doctoral research would help
me to empathise more with research students and staff by gaining an insight
into the research journey which could further inform the development of library
services. Additionally I was interested
in bringing Library & Information Science work outside of the field and
situating it into the wider field of Education.
I signed up to undertake part time
Doctoral Research with the University of Sheffield. My intention was to carry
out research on the topic of “Information Literacy” but in the field of
Education. My supervisor was not from a
library background. One of his many areas of expertise is literacy. This worked
well for me as he was very well placed to help me situate information literacy
(IL) into the wider context of literacy, pedagogy and Education. My research
focused on the literacy part of information literacy and explores IL as a
critical literacy for success in the complex Higher Education information
landscape. My thesis is titled “Concept, Ownership and Impact of Information
Literacy in a Higher Education setting in Ireland”. The thesis required a
different research approach and writing style to what I completed before and in
both cases this was related to having a longer more sustained project with a
large word count.
Benefits
and insights
Having completed the process I am very grateful I
had the opportunity to do it. The process gave me a greater understanding of
the demands and challenges faced when undertaking research. Furthermore, it
gave me an insight into the student experience of finding, using and managing
information. The opportunity to bring ideas from Library and Information
Science into Education helped me to bring thoughts from one field to another
and vice versa while also highlighting areas of commonality. Additionally the
opportunity allowed me to meet staff from different Third Level settings in
different discipline areas with a common goal of completing doctoral research
in the field of Education. This provided a great opportunity to meet colleagues
I may not have met otherwise. It is important as library staff that we communicate
with our wider audiences and by working with colleagues outside of our
libraries we can gain valuable experience and insight into not only the
research process but also into the wider Educational environment in which we
all operate.
Advice for others
This is a growth area and
we are uniquely positioned to pursue it. My advice to anyone considering
undertaking a research project is to go for it. There is a vastly growing
community who will help!
My research
experience
As Deputy
Librarian at the University of Limerick, together with the Library Director
and the management group, I have an overarching remit to continually improve
library services in UL. To do that well
we need to generate evidence through assessment and data gathering. It is through
library assessment that my engagement with research and publishing has
developed over the years.
The type of
research I've engaged in, as many of us have in our libraries, is
practitioner-led research. Sometimes
called action research - action oriented - applied - there are many names for
it; it is done in a practical setting,
by practitioners. There are
estimates that between 50-60% of research articles in LIS journals emanate from
practising librarians and many high ranking LIS journals welcome practice-based
research. It is also common in other
applied fields, such as education, health sciences and business.
I've
published in academic journals and been through peer review three times, twice
have been in Q1 percentile journals in the Scopus list, another recently
submitted to a journal, and I have been a peer reviewer in a Q1 percentile
journal on one occasion. So my
experience is modest - enough to speak with some confidence but not enough to
have forgotten the feeling of newness.
The type of
research projects I've been involved in, worked with others on for some and
have published on include:
·
The use and perceptions of LibQUAL+ in Irish academic libraries
·
Exploring & finding solutions to the issue of noise and the
provision of quiet space in academic libraries
·
Exploring & finding solutions to the issue of desk reserving -
students leaving belongings on desks for long periods - and the constraints
that causes in space management
·
I am currently looking at a decade of transformation at UL Library
through a longitudinal analysis of survey data from the last 10 years
The
research methods I've used include user surveys, mostly LibQUAL+ which is very
well tested as a research tool. I've
also used interviews and more recently focus groups and local user surveys.
The purpose
of my research is to improve practice in UL Library and to inform practice
elsewhere. It is very evidence-based and
applied. The assessment is closely
connected with my work but the publications and more of the deeper research and
data analysis I do as more a continuing professional development activity.
Benefits
and insights
From a
professional perspective, engaging in research has upskilled me in all aspects
of scholarly communication. I think it
is really important for all librarians to have a good understanding of the
research process, regardless of what area or role you work in. However if you don't work directly with
researchers, concepts like open access, research data management, data
visualisation, impact factors, etc. can seem quite abstract. By engaging in research you get a good
understanding of what these mean in a real life sense, why they are important
and where the library fits.
This
understanding has informed my job - in recruiting new roles, in developing UL
library staff skills in scholarly communications, in library-wide
planning. Strategically it has
strengthened my understanding of university strategy and national and
international educational strategy, which is dominated by the research agenda
From a
personal perspective, it is a great CPD activity that fits well into a very
busy job and family life. It is
self-motivated so you do it when you have the time and when life is busy you
don't.
The
greatest benefit - and the reason I keep doing it - has been to see through the
eyes of a researcher, in so far as I can, and there are many insights to be
gained from this perspective, as both Mary and Jane will echo. The one I'd like to share with you today is
about the language we use in librarianship in relation to scholarly
communications, in supporting researchers and particularly in advocacy.
I think we
need to speak the same language as researchers and particularly focus on the
'what's in it for me' aspect When I'm wearing my researcher hat, what I want to
know is what will make my research better, easier, faster, more organised, and
critically, increase its impact.
Essentially how can the library help me to communicate my research more
widely
Advice for
others
Here are my
tips and advice on getting started with practice-based research:
·
Start by writing a non-research based article
·
If conducting primary research, connect it closely to your work
·
Plan your research methods carefully
·
Get advice from an academic
colleague or an experienced author
·
Present at a conference
before writing it up
·
Look at journals you like for topics, methods and styles – aim high and
think about open access. Here are the
ones that I follow and that welcome practice-based research, but there are many
others depending on your interests:
For most of
us who have published, we started with Helen Fallon and the Academic WritingLibrarians blog contains a wealth of advice on getting started. The LSE Impact Blog is excellent for all
issues relating to scholarly publishing, I would recommend that all librarians
should follow it, whether you are engaging in research or supporting it. There is an active international community of
librarians who are interested in assessment and measurement, they meet at
conferences like Library Assessment in the US and the International
Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries in the UK and publish in
the above journals. I'd be very happy to
connect with anyone who wants to know more about practice-based research and
share what knowledge and experience I've gained.
Overall, if
you do engage in research and publication, my main advice to you is to
continually observe yourself as researcher - see where you struggle, what
obstacles and challenges you encounter and always think in the back of your
head, where are the opportunities for the library to step in and help navigate
the research journey. Then put your
librarian hat back on, turn your learning into action and make those
opportunities happen in your library.
My research
experience
The experience I have working in research is quite varied. For the CONUL
presentation I focussed on my current experience of pursuing a PhD at
University College Dublin in the School of Education.
Different
Skills & Different Perspectives
Undertaking a PhD has been one of the best and most challenging
decisions I have made. I am at the start of year 2 at UCD where I am working
part time towards a PhD in Education- my intended area of research is medical
humanities. The experience is
challenging primarily because of the amount of time and work involved- there
are very few weekends off and my mind never stops thinking about the topic and
what must be done. It can also be a
lonely space as much of the work and the thinking is done alone with minimum
supervision.
Having library and research skills is a definite advantage in many
ways in the PhD process. We understand the mechanics of sourcing, organising
and disseminating content. Having
insight into the 360 view of the research process and knowing how to navigate the
library and online resources the mechanics is extremely helpful.
However, undertaking a PhD is a different kind of research
experience. Here the researcher is as important an element to the research as
the literature, the structures, the methodologies, and any other research
activities.
This is where a challenge comes about- as a PhD researcher you
must suspend your library perspective- as you move away from the management of
information to an integral component of the research process.
Librarians
and PhD’s
Why Librarians & PhD’s – seems to be a trend now as more
librarians as they progress in their careers to want to undertake their own PhD
research. For me this was inspired by librarian colleagues such as Mary Delaneyand John Cullen but also from colleagues from other professions, in particular
Education whose passion and interests want to be developed.
What are the career possibilities with a PhD? In the field of
Library and Information Studies this is not very clear cut but as we see our
profession changing and evolving the possibilities may be there. Opportunities to get involved in lecturing
and other academic work. Teaching and Education are an interest of mine and
that is why I am pursuing a PhD in Education.
Librarians tend to be generalists- also identified by the fact we
know everything but many of us come from a range of different backgrounds and
interests or have developed new ones and the opportunity to do research in
these areas is appealing.
Librarian as Researcher- a natural space but one that must be
developed. In the same way as it is so infuriating when others outside our
profession think they could be librarians because they like books-there are
skills as a researcher that need to be developed in order to move into this
space.
Developing
Critical Skills
Working on a PhD for me has been
unlike any other research experience I have had. To be challenged that my
primary goal is to create new knowledge is daunting. It takes an incredible
amount of isolated time. Being a librarian certainly helps- I am very popular
with my classmates but there is a learning curve that has to been undertaken to
fully engage in the PhD research process. These are some of the critical skills
required and that need constant development.
•
Critical Thinking
•
Research
Methodologies
•
Research Software/
Data Analysis
•
Project Management
& Organization
•
Understand and
synthesize large quantities of data
•
Writing skills at
all levels — brief abstract to book-length manuscript
•
Analysis &
Problem-Solving
•
Collaboration and
Funding
•
Responsibility that
you are creating new knowledge
As you can
see there is a range of experience and range of perspectives in the writing,
research and academic process for Librarians. It is important to keep in mind
there are lots of colleagues available to help guide or answer questions. The
most valuable resource by far is Helen Fallon from Maynooth University- she is
someone who has given these authors and many others the confidence to put pen
to paper to endeavour into areas of publishing which has changed the landscape
for librarians.
