This chapter provides an introduction to this book and also to the world of research and research students. The book is written as a general guide and I suggest that you read this chapter and then skim through the rest of the book. You may then choose when to read individual chapters in depth. They are designed to be read and worked through in any order.

The aim of this book is to provide library and information workers in the higher education sector with an understanding of the research process and to help them support research students. Library and information workers in higher education institutions are likely to provide well established support services for undergraduate and postgraduate students on taught programmes. In contrast, support services for research students are often not so well established as those that are focused on students on taught programmes, and in some cases may be relatively novel, e.g. as a result of some higher education institutions developing and expanding their research student base. The support needs of research students have recently risen up the academic agenda and this is linked to a number of factors.

The traditional taught doctorate, the PhD, has been joined by a range of doctoral qualifications including the ‘professional’ doctorate such as the Doctor in Business Administration (DBA), the Doctorate in Education (EdD) and psychology (DClinPsy or DEdPsy), and this diversification has led to a more diverse student body, which now includes senior professional practitioners. Chiang (2003) identified that the learning needs of doctoral research students have undergone rapid change and development. He observed that doctoral education has shifted its focus from an experience enabling entry into an academic community and career, to a qualification for entry into the wider labour market. This puts emphasis on doctoral students gaining a wider set of employability skills. The issue of employability skills is explored in Chapter 5.

While the library and information profession is a graduate one, with many individuals having a taught Master's degree, a relatively small number of workers have a research degree.