from perspectives to policy: an examination of evidence, value and impact can inform the lis...
DESCRIPTION
Slides for Charles Oppenheim's closing keynote presentation "From perspectives to policy: how an examination of evidence, value and impact can inform the LIS research agenda" at the Library and Information Science Research Coalition conference held at the British Library, London, June 28 2010: http://lisresearch.org/conference-2010/, hashtag #lisrc10TRANSCRIPT
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
From perspectives to policy
How an examination of evidence, value and impact can inform the LIS research agenda
Professor Charles Oppenheim
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
A REQUESTPlease tweet during this session,
ideally just three words summarising your views of the key words that
describe the day – Kirsty Pitkin will be collecting your tweets for her write-up
#lisrc10 plus #eval
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
SETTING THE SCENE FOR YOU
All the England-branded Mars bars are on special offer in
Tesco’s – four for one
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
WHY DO LIS RESEARCH?Intellectual interest/curiosity?Make you more engaged and
empowered?To help influence policy and decision-
makers?To make your name?
Other reasons?
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
MY PERCEPTIONS OF THE LIS RESEARCH LANDSCAPE
A lot of scattered effort, some of which isn’t really recognised by those doing it as research
Often poorly funded, poorly conducted, poorly recognised
Plethora of unco-ordinated funding bodies, with different agendas, requirements, overlapping areas
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
WHERE IS THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS?
• Every generation worries about the next one• Standard complaint when short-listing for
lectureships in the field• We’ve seen a really impressive set of presentations
from PhD students exploring some fascinating topics• Gives me reason to be optimistic for the future
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
Large amount of research going on world-wide, much of it in the UK
Ranges from fundamental studies on how people seek, search for and use information, via IR (TREC, etc.), to very practical studies on how to improve a particular library service
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT
Cuts in funding means increased pressures on LIS to justify their existence/provide
evidence of value for moneyIt also means less money available to fund research, and reduced funds for University
LIS Departments
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
VALUE AND IMPACT• How does one measure impact or value?•The bean counters demand something robust that they can relate to, e.g., RoI•Research on how much money has been saved by having the library or information service there is often viewed as unconvincing/self-serving
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
COST BENEFIT
Cost is easy to measureBenefit is hard to measure
The bean counters require it – we have to learn to use their techniques and talk their language, even if it goes against our deep-
seated principles
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
TWO KEY TERMS
ImpactHuman angle
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
“IMPACT”Everyone is talking about it
The REF requires evidence of impact of research, and HEFCE has provided guidance notes on what constitutes impact – more to
comeThe REF’s approach: a series of case
studies, plus a narrativeWhy not adopt the same approach?
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
THE HUMAN ANGLEOur profession is about humans creating, storing,
disseminating and using information, and this can only be done by understanding the way humans interact
with informationThe most outstanding IR system in the world is useless
if humans don’t want to interact with itAlso learn from history – good and bad use of
information in the past and the lessons we can learn today
LIS research has to focus on this as well
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
MOREHow do yuppies multi-task?
Information overload strategies and stress
What makes information valuable to people?
Adopt a scientific paradigm – seems to press the right buttons
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
POLICY ANGLESWe have yet to work out the new
Government’s policies towards LISThere seems to be a commitment to releasing
Government dataIssues to do with the Digital Economy Act
affecting library operations
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
QUESTIONS TO ASKWhat is the purpose of the research?
Who are we demonstrating our value and impact to?The audience changes over time
How do we communicate to the audience – formal routes, informally
Different levels of seniorityAre we influencing the end users and are they our best
advocates?
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
How much do we involve the audience in the research design?
Do practitioners really understand what users want?Cultural issue – do we have the skills?
To what extent is research “nice to do” rather than “must have”? How to get research embedded into the
organisational culture?
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
Do we use mixed methods? How important are narratives?
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?• New sources of funding – Microsoft, Google – and lobby existing funding
agencies• International collaboration/exchanges?• Ground-breaking report on the benefits of LIS?• Use of novel research techniques, e.g., social network analysis, critical
incident technique, sophisticated stats,, log file analysis, Balanced Scorecard, observational studies…..
• Involve psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, computer scientists (but don’t become bedazzled by IT) , economists!
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
MOREPublish, or at least
capturing/anonymising negative results – something for the
Coalition?Get journals to publish more
practitioner researchMentor practitioners
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
TASKSIdentify worthwhile realistic
research projects, especially a research agenda for tough timesIdentify the researchers who can
undertake itIdentify the funders to pay for it
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
A CLASSIC IMPACT EXPERIMENT
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
CONCLUSION
The title of my talk was wrong – it should be “Evidence, Value and
Impact SHOULD BE the LIS research agenda”
LIS Research Coalition Conference, 28 June 2010
DON’T FORGET TO FILL OUT YOUR EVALUATION FORMS AND
LEAVE THEM AT THE REGISTRATON DESK!