Feature post #46: Getting Research To Practitioner
Last month post exploring the topic of LIS Student Research we had Michelle Bond, one of the founders of LISDIS – the Library and Information Sciences Dissertations Conference agreed to write a feature post for #uklibchat.
This is our second feature post exploring “Getting Research To Practitioner” written by Dr. Claire McGuinness.
If you write it, will they read?
As coordinator for the Capstone and Thesis modules in the UCD School of Information & Communication Studies (ICS), writing this post is a timely exercise, as we are approaching the start of a new academic year, and also looking forward to our current student cohort submitting their final research papers at the end of August. It has also encouraged me to take a broader look at the general issues around this oft-cited “disconnect” between research and practice in LIS that, amongst other things, has been the catalyst for the evidence-based library and information practice movement (EBLIP), which aims to close the gap through encouraging practitioners to both make use of and carry out original research to inform their practice.
Understanding why this disconnect exists in the first place is a step towards fixing it, both at the level of student research, and that carried out by tenured faculty. An interesting review by Pilerot (2016) highlights several possible explanations, including the suggestions that a) most research is carried out in LIS schools by academics and student researchers, and b) that it doesn’t match, or lacks relevance for, practitioners’ areas of concern. He also cites researchers’ alleged failure to present or communicate their findings in a way that is applicable for practitioners. For their part, practitioners stand accused of being overly reliant on practical experience at the expense of research use, and of being too focused on practical matters and unwilling to do research themselves – although the latter is, in my experience, not an accurate reflection, particularly in academic librarianship. In general, Pilerot’s review points to a fundamental cultural disconnect between academics and practitioners, which has resulted in that most basic of things – a failure to communicate. This is a familiar trope from the literature of Information Literacy, so it is perhaps not surprising to discover it here also. Suggestions for resolving the issue include promoting increased collaboration between researchers and practitioners (more of which later), communicating research in formats which can be read quickly by busy practitioners, and by using social media and Open Access channels to disseminate research. Another (eminently sensible) solution focuses on ensuring that LIS students receive an excellent grounding in Research Methods during their professional education, which empowers them to engage critically with the published research, and to do good research themselves as practitioners. While a lot of these points are generalisations, and are certainly not applicable to all, it is nonetheless food for thought, particularly when considering the flavour and type of research that we should encourage LIS students to do, and how they should subsequently communicate it.
Student Research in ICS
In ICS, we have a long and rich history of postgraduate student research dating back to the founding of our professional MLIS programme in the late 1970s, and which has now expanded to include Masters of Science in Information Systems and Digital Curation, as well as a smattering of MA, MLitt and PhD dissertations. Until 2010, the sole research option for a student on the MLIS programme was an individual thesis of 10,000-12,000 words, and over time literally hundreds of thousands of words have been committed to paper or screen in pursuit of a professional LIS qualification. A brief sweep of the titles of these projects offers a fascinating, rolling insight into the evolution of the LIS field and profession across the past four decades, as topic choice reflects the issues and challenges that have exercised researchers and practitioners at different times, as well as the personal and career interests and aspirations of the students. In our School alone, project topics range from expert systems, CD ROM technology and artificial memory in the 1980s, to an explosion of research analysing the impact of the emergent Internet and WWW in the 1990s, to the more recent dissertations on digitisation, social media, web design and information literacy in the 2000s. Each project represents months of hard work and persistence, and in many cases, empirical engagement with the profession, as surveys, interviews, consultations and observation offer important insights into the practice of professional librarianship in Ireland. While it is natural that the quality of the research will vary – often substantially – from thesis to thesis, many do represent fine and rigorous contributions to both discipline and practice; some have won awards, and several have been developed into scholarly articles published in respected journals, frequently co-authored with supervisors (Fulton, Kerins & Madden, 2004; Dodd, 2007; Callinan, 2005; Byrne & Bates, 2009; Flynn & McGuinness, 2011; Lyons & Wusteman, 2012; Bracken et al, 2014; Fay, 2017). Others have been presented as papers and academic posters at high-profile conferences at home and abroad. It undoubtedly constitutes a rich resource that both illuminates the past, and informs the present and future of the LIS field.
However, although some of the work has been consulted by other students from time to time, it is probably fair to say that most projects have had little to no exposure outside the walls of our storeroom. While plans remain afoot to establish a searchable online repository of student dissertations in the School, at present there is no easy way of accessing this material digitally. This is an issue that we have often discussed as faculty members, and that has informed some of the decisions we make in respect of student research work.
Making the Connection
The previous featured post by Michelle Bond highlighted channels other than the traditional pathways of academic journals and conference; namely blogging and social media, in addition to informal events such as teachmeets, and publishing in practice-oriented publications and newsletters. A key issue is undoubtedly venue – what events do practitioners attend, what websites do they visit, which social media apps do they use, and what literature do they read (if any)? In an MLIS project undertaken in 2010 by one of my former students, Maura Corcoran, this precise question was asked of a sample of Dublin-based subject librarians – how do they keep up to date with developments in their field? (Corcoran & McGuinness, 2014). Her findings showed that “librarians turn to their professional organisation (in this case, the LAI), online tools, and the professional literature, followed by networking, courses and conferences” although it was notable that “some participants only read the professional literature when they need to research a particular issue, or just read abstracts, rather than full articles.” Email lists, RSS feeds, Twitter and social networking were also mentioned as sources. Predictably, lack of time was the chief barrier mentioned by participants, along with lack of encouragement from employers, and funding issues affecting their ability to attend professional events. Self-motivation is key, and busy practitioners must parcel their time out carefully – there must be strong underlying reasons to engage in professional development activities outside of scheduled working hours. The key message for researchers – including LIS students – must be “Go to where your Audience is.” The Field of Dreams model is unlikely to be effective here.
One interesting approach to promoting student research that we have taken this year in ICS is a publicly accessible Poster Presentation session for both PhD and Masters students, which is also part of the assessment schedule for their programmes. Held in the School lobby, students display professional-standard academic posters outlining their current research, which they accompany with a one- or two-minute lightning presentation to attendees. The purpose of the session is to emulate the conferences and seminars that they may attend in future, in addition to presenting their work to a wider audience in a very accessible way. Invitations to attend are sent out to specific individuals, but also more widely via social media and email. We also encourage our students to present their findings locally; the Irish LIS calendar is full of lively, practitioner-focused events, including the Annual Conferences of CONUL and the Academic & Special Libraries section of the LAI, the DBS Annual Seminar, events run by NPD Ireland, L2L and SLIP Ireland, and the annual CONUL Seminar on Teaching & Learning, as well as nearby conferences such as LILAC, which is a top forum for bringing together researchers and practitioners in the LIS field. There is more opportunity than ever before for LIS researchers, students and practitioners to congregate and share research findings and experiences. 
Collaborating with practitioners
With the caveat that not all research should necessarily be practical and practice-oriented, and that contributing to the philosophical and conceptual sphere of the discipline is equally important, perhaps the most useful way of resolving the issue of neglected student research and connecting it to practice is to address it from the ground up, rather than focusing all of the attention on promotion and dissemination only when the research is complete. One of the suggestions to emerge from a panel discussion focusing on the research-practice disconnect at Alise in 2016 was for researchers to partner with “those on the front line” to make research “more accessible and relevant“ (Abbas et al, 2016). Direct formal and informal collaborations with individual practitioners and organisations, with research deeply grounded in immediate and pressing issues and challenges, is not only a means of increasing the visibility and impact of student research efforts, but also of encouraging practitioners to flex their own research muscles, if they so choose.
This desire in ICS to connect our students’ research work more closely to “real-world” concerns, in addition to equipping them with the workplace skills of teamwork, collaboration and project-management, prompted the introduction of the team-based Capstone Project option on the MLIS and MSc programmes in 2010. Instead of individual theses, students instead had the opportunity to work in teams of 4-6 on significant practical problems, involving close collaboration with external organisations – including libraries and archives – and communication with an external client. In most cases, the topics addressed had an immediate relevance, and were directly connected to a specific need or challenge experienced by the client. Part of the experience included a professional presentation of the work to a select panel of experts drawn from the public and commercial information professions. Although we continue to experiment with different models of research practice for our students, and have introduced a new Capstone module in 2016-2017 aimed at facilitating professional development and planning, our students still have the option of working on practical projects and individual theses, and we feel confident that these have helped to strengthen our links with the profession, and have enabled some fruitful and ongoing collaborations.
Overall, we are going in the right direction – LIS students are encouraged to share and present their work like never before, and increasing numbers of practitioners are undertaking serious research projects such as PhDs, and publishing their work in widely-read venues, encouraged by excellent supports such as Helen Fallon’s Academic Writing Librarian initiative in Ireland, and the L2L professional development programme that is currently underway. The onus is on both sides to maintain this momentum.
Author Bio
Dr. Claire McGuinness is an assistant professor in the UCD School of Information and Communication Studies (ICS). She has authored many publications on information & digital literacy and academic librarianship, and is currently the coordinator of the Thesis and Capstone modules for MLIS and MSc students in ICS. Claire has a strong interest in professional identity and career development for LIS professionals. She can be contacted at claire.mcguinness@ucd.ie
About siobhanmac
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