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5856 results in Facet Publishing

Page 238 of 293

  • 5 - Research skills training

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 73-94

  • Summary

    Introduction

    The purpose of this chapter is to identify the range of skills required by research students in order to enable them to successfully complete their individual research and obtain a doctorate. These include information skills, the ability to access and use different resources and skills for different stages in the doctoral journey. In addition, research students need to develop a range of skills that will enable them to obtain employment either as academics or researchers, or within particular professions. Research students, especially those studying for professional doctorates, may also need to develop their employability skills, e.g. to enable them to move from management to strategic roles.

    Training and skills of research students

    In the UK in recent years concerns and initiatives have been aimed at developing the skills base and employability of research students. In Chapter 1 it was noted that doctoral education has shifted its focus from providing an experience enabling entry into an academic community and career, to providing a qualification for entry into the wider labour market. This puts emphasis on doctoral students gaining a wider set of employability skills (Chiang, 2003) and contributing to the knowledge-based economies after graduation. The need was identified by the UK Research Councils, who, working in collaboration with Vitae, previously UK GRAD, and the higher education sector, developed the Joint Statement of Skills Training Requirements of Research Postgraduates in 2001. This initiative identified the competencies that a postgraduate researcher should develop during the course of his doctoral programme.

    As part of this trend the UK government commissioned a review to investigate the supply of people with science, technology, engineering and mathematical skills (the STEM subjects). The outcome of the review was the report Set for Success (Roberts Review, 2002), which recommended a number of developments in doctoral education, including additional training for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. One of the outcomes of this influential report was that the UK government provided funding from 2003 for the development of professional and personal skills in doctoral students. This led to the implementation in universities of research skills and professional development programmes for research students. In addition, it helped to fund initiatives such as the virtual graduate school, which are presented in Chapter 7.

  • 6 - Resource discovery

    • By Graham Stone, Electronic Resources Manager and Repository Administrator at the University of Huddersfield (UK)
  • Edited by Hazel Woodward, Lorraine Estelle
  • Book:
    Digital Information
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 133-164

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Today's researchers use a wide variety of tools to discover the information resources they require. These resources may be located within a physical library or available on the web and, if so, are available in a proliferation of formats and interfaces, which has often meant that users were directed to a number of different in-house or external systems to find the information they required. Over the past ten years libraries have, to a varying degree, sought to manage and expose this data, while attempting to dissuade users from flocking to the simplicity of Google (Scholar), Amazon, YouTube, etc. However, the provision of these different resource-discovery systems uses an increasing amount of the resources in today's academic library.

    A review of the recent literature suggests that users prefer simple search interfaces such as Google (Nicholas et al., 2009). The implication here is that libraries often fail to make their resources discoverable and that this may in turn affect the perceived value of the library.

    In a recent report for vice-chancellors and senior institutional managers the Research Information Network (RIN) stated that:

    The usefulness of the content and collections provided by libraries and from other sources depends on how easily researchers can discover, locate and gain access to them. Institutions need to ensure that their researchers can readily make use, through the library and other providers, of services that enable them to discover, locate and gain access to information sources that may be relevant to their research.

    (RIN, 2008)

    However, do libraries have a sufficient understanding of their users to provide this level of support in the way the libraries users expect and demand? Is there a very real danger of information overload from the plethora of different systems or lack of intuitive interfaces driving users towards Google? Is this actually a problem? In a time of severe fiscal hardship how can libraries restore their importance and reclaim their position?

    This chapter looks at both traditional methods of resource discovery and the next-generation systems entering the marketplace in 2009 and asks if these will be appropriate in the next five to ten years.

  • 1 - Introduction

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 1-16

  • Summary

    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.

  • 7 - Virtual graduate schools

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 123-140

  • Summary

    Introduction

    The aim of this chapter is to present and explore the idea of supporting research students in a virtual graduate school (VGS). The concept of a VGS is an online environment where research students can come together to access a range of resources, to meet and discuss common issues with each other and perhaps with their supervisors. Different approaches to developing a VGS are explored in some depth.

    The development of virtual graduate schools

    The concept of a VGS has developed as a result of a number of drivers, including:

  • ■ the need to support research students and encourage them to complete their degrees

  • ■ the need to provide students with access to a community where they can make friends, share ideas and learn from each other

  • ■ recognition that there may be research students in different faculties and departments who are grappling with the same methodological issues as their peers in other parts of the university and who welcome the opportunity to share their experiences and ideas

  • ■ the benefits of capturing and sharing the experiences of researchers (including students, contract staff and academics)

  • ■ the need to support and provide flexible research skills training

  • ■ the availability of virtual learning environments

  • ■ the availability of online tools, including Web 2.0 social networking and other tools.

    • Behind the development of a VGS there is often recognition that the research student experience is a very individual one and that some students may work in isolation and find it difficult to become part of a research community. This may be because there are small numbers of research students in their department or faculty, they may be distance research students, or they may be working away from their campus, e.g. doing fieldwork. The idea of developing a virtual community with access to discussion groups is an attractive one, as it suggests the possibility of developing online communities of research students and staff. Also, research students in different departments or faculties may be working on the same methodological issues, e.g. research students in education and in management may be using an action research approach to their work, or students in gender studies and leadership may be using discourse analysis. The idea of enabling students from different departments and faculties to work together is attractive, as it suggests that students may learn from each other by sharing resources and ideas.

  • 2 - Research and the research process

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 17-40

  • Summary

    Introduction

    In this chapter, I provide an introduction to research and the research process. The aim is to provide library and information workers with a general understanding of research and the language of research. The chapter considers different styles of research, from positivist to interpretivist, and I consider different research methods.

    The subject of research and the research process is vast, and academic libraries provide access to hundreds of textbooks on the subject. This makes providing an overview in a single chapter quite a challenge. Consequently, I have selected key ideas and themes and have attempted to indicate the overall shape of the research process and key terms related to it, rather than an exhaustive exposition of the subject. This account is thus very much a generalization and over-simplification. Each topic considered is in itself the focus of a number of textbooks and many research articles. If you require further information or want to explore the debates relating to individual research approaches and methods, then my advice is that you follow up the topic in the context of the discipline(s) that you support within your normal work roles.

    Research proposal

    The starting point for many research projects is a proposal, which a researcher may write either as a means of gaining funding from an external organization or as a means of gaining resources and permission to proceed from their own organization. A proposal is a written document that outlines what the researcher(s) intend to do in their project. Typically, proposals will be between 1000 and 2000 words long, although proposals in the form of funding bids may be even longer. Many organizations provide a template for producing the proposal or bid, and typical headings for its organization are likely to include:

    ■ Title

    ■ Introduction containing:

  • —project aims and objectives, or research aims and hypotheses/questions

  • —problem or issue to be addressed

  • —context of the work, e.g. specific company or sector

  • —scope of the work, e.g. what will be included and what will be excluded

  • —unique features of the proposed research, e.g. innovation.

  • 3 - The research student's experience

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 41-56

  • Summary

    Introduction

    In this chapter I consider the role of the supervisor in the life of a doctoral student, and the early stages of the research journey. I cover the research process from getting started through to designing the process, including the topics of induction, working with a supervisor and getting started. Chapter 4 continues the research journey and explores the following stages: the literature review, methodology, fieldwork, writing up, the viva voce examination, amendments and completing the doctorate.

    In this chapter I include examples from my own doctoral research experience and from colleagues who have been willing to share their experiences with me.

    Starting points

    The starting point for potential research students is a desire to continue their studies, e.g. to progress from a taught Master's degree to a research degree, or to return to academic life and complete a doctorate on either a full- or part-time basis, perhaps after a number of years in the workplace. As with students who want to join a taught degree programme, potential research students start their search for a suitable university and department on the basis of their field of interest, the reputations of individual researchers, departments and universities, the availability of funding (some universities provide bursaries and sponsored research studentships) and their desire to study in a particular city or country. There are many sources of information to provide them with advice, including websites such as those provided by the Research Councils (see Chapter 1) and sites such as:

    www.findaphd.com/students/life.asp

    www.vitae.ac.uk/

    www.professionaldoctorates.com/

    Useful textbooks on the subject, include: Gina Wisker's The Postgraduate Student Handbook (Palgrave Study Guide, 2001), and Estelle M. Phillips and Derek S. Pugh's How to Get a PhD (Open University Press, 3rd edition, 2000).

    Once a student has identified an appropriate university, department and supervisor, he will be required to make a formal application to the university to become a research student. The application process varies from university to university, e.g. in some it is managed centrally by a graduate school or equivalent administrative unit, while in others research student applications are dealt with at faculty or department level. If the student is applying to undertake a PhD, it is likely that he will be required to write a research proposal as part of the application process.

  • Conclusion

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 175-176

  • Summary

    In this book I have explored different aspects of supporting research students. My starting point in Chapters 1 and 2 was researchers and research processes. This was followed by a description of the typical learning, development and research processes experienced by doctoral students in Chapters 3 and 4. I then considered the skills required by doctoral students and discussed them, in Chapter 5, in the context of initiatives in the UK to improve not only research skills but also the employability of people with doctorates.

    In Chapter 6, I considered different approaches to supporting research students, including induction, workshops, one-to-one support and electronic support. This was followed by a discussion about different approaches for targeting and communicating with research students. An increasingly important means of supporting research students is through a virtual graduate school and this concept was explored in some depth in Chapter 7 and illustrated with case studies. Virtual graduate schools often support communities of researchers. Research communities are important because they support knowledge creation and exchange, scholarly publishing, and the development of networks. Two different types of community, communities of practice and communities of interest, were explored in Chapter 8 in the context of their relevance to research students. Membership in a research community is important for research students because it helps to provide them with access to information, ideas, networking and career support. Library and information workers who are knowledgeable about such communities and networks can signpost students towards them.

    Finally, in this chapter I have considered different approaches to professional development for library and information workers. These include support offered by professional organizations and networks, provision by higher education institutions and research degrees.

    Supporting research students is currently high on the agenda of universities in the UK. Research skills training for research students is seen as vital to successful completion of their degrees, as well as having an impact on their employment prospects. Developing strategic and targeted support for these students is an important element in the role of library and information workers.

  • 7 - Who owns the content in the digital environment?

  • Edited by Hazel Woodward, Lorraine Estelle
  • Book:
    Digital Information
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 165-196

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Libraries have two roles essential to the IP balance: archiving the national memory and allowing the public and research community access to it.

    Any book dealing with the future of digital information would be incomplete without considering the issues of intellectual property (IP). Although the internet casts a new light on these issues, the principal problems are not new. In the 19th century the American publishing industry was quick to recognize that in sharing a language with the UK, it was easy to share its literature too. English texts were open to piracy, and it was easier and more profitable to appropriate an English text than to pay an American author. This had a depressing effect on the US publishing industry, and for decades American authors expressed their frustration at being underpaid because of the availability of cheap pirated copies of UK publications. Equally, renowned British authors such as Charles Dickens were paid nothing for the many thousands of copies of their books sold in the USA. Indeed, Dickens, while on a reading tour of the USA, made many pleas for international copyright laws. His fans, enjoying access to cheap copies of his books, were not impressed; for example, they paid the equivalent of 6 cents per copy for a book such as A Christmas Carol, which cost $2.50 in the UK (Vaidhyanathan, 2001). It was not until the 1890s that international copyright agreements began to resolve the situation.

    Arguably, since the late 19th century copyright law has evolved to protect the intellectual property of authors and creators, to cultivate a vibrant creative arts industry, and to allow for fair dealing on the part of the buying or reading public. Fair dealing is the ‘right’ to make a copy from an in-copyright work without permission from or payment to the rights holder, if that copy is for non-commercial research or educational purposes. The only requirement is to acknowledge the source of the copied work. Most individual copying by researchers at universities for academic purposes is done under the fair dealing provisions.

  • 3 - Scholarly communications: the publisher's view

    • By Ian Russell, Chief Executive of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP)
  • Edited by Hazel Woodward, Lorraine Estelle
  • Book:
    Digital Information
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 57-88

  • Summary

    Background

    For the future of digital information to be orderly, that information must be discoverable, accessible, structured, interoperable, linked, semantically tagged and well identified; it must have clear provenance and good version control; and it must be preserved and curated. There must also be a means of bestowing authority on the corpus of literature in order to give the readers a quick but effective way of assessing the importance or likely importance of anything that they come across. Nowadays it needs to embrace both formal and informal scholarly communications (to include not only scholarly journals and monographs but also blogs, wikis, tweets and whatever else web users throw at it). And, of course, all this needs to have a sustainable and robust funding mechanism behind it and to be scalable to deal with the ever-increasing outputs from scholarship.

    There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the future of digital scholarly information will be orderly. Research efficiency depends on it and is something that will be increasingly scrutinized as funders and research establishments look to maximize the impact of the research that they are associated with. For the most part, the academy will also demand organization, although there are currently widespread instances where academics act in their individual interests rather than for the collective benefit of scholarship, for example by storing data only on un-networked computers in their labs. The question, then, is how we get to this orderly future. What barriers are in the way and what obstacles need to be overcome? How can we get to that future as quickly as possible, taking the best of the present with us instead of destroying something now only to reinvent it later?

    I am going to restrict myself primarily to a discussion of scientific journal publishing since that is what I know best, but much of what follows is, or will become, applicable to other disciplines. Indeed the issues of discoverability, digital curation and preservation, version control, provenance and trustworthiness are applicable to all online content, including scholarly e-books, research data, audio and video files, news content, etc. In the discussion that follows, I will use the NISO Journal Article Version recommended practice nomenclature for article versions, a full explanation of which can be found in NISO (2008) .

  • Preface

  • Edited by Hazel Woodward, Lorraine Estelle
  • Book:
    Digital Information
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp xiii-xvi

  • Summary

    We are delighted to have been given the opportunity of editing this book on the theme of ‘Digital Information: order or anarchy?’. In the early stages of preparation, when discussing the outline and selecting the contributors, we were anxious to ensure that we covered all the major aspects of the digital revolution that is taking place across our industry. Thus we not only chose contributors from a number of different countries to ensure the widest possible perspective, but we were also keen to include publishers, non-traditional information workers, and even a lawyer, in pursuit of our goal.

    The theme of order and anarchy permeates the chapters. As editors we were intrigued by the possibilities (and uncertainties) of future developments in our digital universe and we wished to explore the potential impact on libraries, publishing companies and all the other players in the marketplace. Will the present relatively orderly system of scholarly communication survive into the future or will the possibilities that technology affords, create disruption and anarchy? And what is being done today that will help an orderly transfer to the future?

    The chapters by Rick Anderson, Colin Steele and Ian Russell essentially focus on the process and evolution of scholarly communication in the digital age from their own individual perspectives. Anderson identifies three ‘crunch points’ for libraries and publishers: searching and finding information; library collections; and pricing. In a world where Google has effectively taken over the document-finding role from libraries, there is one area that it has not yet fully invaded (but is making some progress). That is the role of third-party broker for expensive high quality documents such as scholarly journals and monographs. But how will libraries respond as more and more scholarly material becomes easily searchable and increasingly freely available on the internet? The final crunch point is pricing and business models – a dilemma that many would maintain that has been around for decades. Anderson works through various future scenarios around these topics and points to essential mission change for academic and research libraries.

  • 1 - Introduction: digital information, an overview of the landscape

    • By Lorraine Estelle, Chief Executive of JISC Collections, Hazel Woodward, Cranfield University – the UK's only postgraduate university – as University Librarian and Director of Cranfield Press
  • Edited by Hazel Woodward, Lorraine Estelle
  • Book:
    Digital Information
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 1-34

  • Summary

    As seasoned information professionals it is easy to think that we have a reasonable understanding of the way in which the world of information and associated technologies is moving. However, the world is changing fast and many of our core beliefs and understandings will, without doubt, be impacted by these changes. In the words of Clifford Lynch:

    Digital technologies have opened the door to a host of new possibilities for sharing knowledge and generated entirely new forms of content that must be made broadly available.

    (ARL, 2009)

    Take, for example, the way in which users search for information. Only a few years ago, librarians would advise that the starting point for all literature searches should be an abstracting and indexing (A&I) service, or a reference publication such as a handbook or encyclopedia. While this advice is still given in appropriate circumstances, all librarians know that everyone (ourselves included) uses an internet search engine such as Google, Google Scholar or Yahoo! as a first port of call. We know this by talking to, and observing, our users, and recent research by the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER, 2008) has validated it.

    In 2009 the UK Serials Group (UKSG) ran a student competition. Entrants were asked to write a short submission on how they used libraries, electronic resources and the internet; the winner was then invited to run a workshop at the 2009 UKSG conference. The winner was Claire Duddy, and her workshop was a runaway success. Duddy wrote in a subsequent article for Serials:

    As a librarian (in-waiting) even the idea of a ‘quick and dirty’ search with Google is an illicit thrill. It is almost too easy: shouldn't there be some effort involved in finding useful, valid information? And if librarians use Google, aren't we just undermining ourselves? It is a difficult thing then to admit: Google is my first stop for all my information needs, whether I am researching my dinner or my dissertation.

    However, she went on to say:

    Librarians who accept the importance of Google in their users’ academic lives are easier for users to relate to. They can also help to encourage research that takes in a wide variety of sources and types of information.

  • 4 - E-books and scholarly communication futures

    • By Colin Steele, Emeritus Fellow of the Australian National University (ANU)
  • Edited by Hazel Woodward, Lorraine Estelle
  • Book:
    Digital Information
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 89-116

  • Summary

    Given the absolute faculty of reading, the task of going through the pages of a book must be, of all tasks, the most certainly within the grasp of the man or woman who attempts it! Alas, no; – if the habit be not there, of all tasks it is the most difficult. If a man have not acquired the habit of reading till he be old, he shall sooner in his old age learn to make shoes than learn the adequate use of a book. And worse again; – under such circumstances the making of shoes shall be more pleasant to him than the reading of a book. Let those who are not old, – who are still young, ponder this well.

    (Trollope, 1866)

    Introduction: the impact of the digital revolution

    It is a truth universally acknowledged that in the 21st century we are witnessing a revolution in communication unparalleled since the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. As in the 15th century, however, there is a time lag between technical innovation and the impact on society of changes in the distribution and publishing of scholarly knowledge. Initially, the first printed pages of incunabula replicated the physical layout of manuscripts, and in the same way digital journals and books have remained influenced by historical print and research assessment frameworks.

    In the monastic scriptorium, the dissemination of knowledge was limited by the productivity of the output of the scribes and by public accessibility to appropriate libraries or personal collections. Books generally impacted little on the general public, for whom oral transmission (perhaps now called social networking) was the norm for conveying knowledge and gossip. With the introduction of movable type, these access limitations were overcome quantitatively, although it was probably not until the second half of the 19th century that the mass of the reading public and the print world significantly coincided. By the 19th century, books were no longer individually crafted works of art, but products of industry in a variety of formats (Battles, 2009).

    E-books, by which one means the text rather than the device, are another significant variant in the evolution of book publishing and distribution. As Siracusa (2009) contends, an issue ‘is right there in the name: e-book.

  • 6 - Supporting research students in academic libraries and information services

  • Barbara Allan
  • Book:
    Supporting Research Students
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 December 2009, pp 95-122

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Many academic library and information workers are involved in supporting research students. This chapter explores different approaches to supporting research students, including induction, workshops, one-to-one support and electronic support. Approaches to targeting and communicating with research students are also considered. Towards the end of this chapter, a self-assessment inventory is provided which will enable you to identify your approaches to supporting research students. It will be a tool for reflection and for the identification of potential areas of development as well as areas of good practice which might be shared across the information services sector.

    The information presented in this chapter is based on research into current practice through visits (physical and virtual) to a range of academic libraries, and also informal discussions with colleagues who have attended my workshops on ‘Supporting Research Students’ at CILIP. The range of support offered to research students varies, depending on the type of university, the focus of the library and information services, the numbers of research students and the development plans of the institution. Many institutions are now focusing on developing and expanding their research activities and increasing their numbers of research students. For these institutions, enhancing the support available to research students is high on their agenda.

    While the levels and types of support for taught students appear to be fairly similar across different universities, it soon became apparent to me that there is much less uniformity in terms of provision of support for research students. The self-assessment inventory at the end of this chapter brings together all the different ways in which library and information workers are supporting research students. As this is a constantly developing field, the different ways in which these students are supported will continue to grow and develop.

    Information needs

    Barry (1997) argues that research students have the greatest information needs and therefore, of all students, the greatest need for information skills. She suggests that their information needs are even greater than those of established academics, as they need to provide comprehensive and up-to-date literature reviews in their theses.

Page 238 of 293