Involving university library staff in ongoing research

Adriaan Swanepoelswanepoelaj@tut.ac.za

Typical research barriers

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Lack of:• time• resources• research skills• research support• practically focused projects• motivation• incentives• etc.

Success factors

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• Absolute commitment from head of the library• Relevant• Beneficial to practitioners• Clearly outline and communicate benefits• Keep participants informed of progress• Dynamic• Easy• Sound methodology

Condensed project proposal

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• Title. A citation analysis of master’s and doctoral theses at TUT

• Research problem. How does the use of information sources by M&D students differ between the faculties at TUT, and to what extent does the LIS provide access to a subset (journals) of the information sources that are mostly used by M&D students?

Condensed project proposal

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Subproblem 1. Which types of information sources do M&D students in different faculties use most and least, and to what extent does the usage differ from year to year?

Subproblem 2. Which journals do M&D students in different faculties use most and least, and to what extent does the usage differ from year to year?

Subproblem 3. To what extent does the LIS keep or provide access to the journals that are mostly used by M&D students?

Condensed project proposal

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Research design• Nature: Longitudinal• Data sources: All TUT theses since 2004• Data collection: per faculty

a. Number of citations per information type

b. Number of citations per thesis

c. Number of theses per subject discipline

d. Frequency of journal titles cited

e. Cited journals owned by the library• Method: Citation counting• Timeframe: retrospective

Condensed project proposal

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• Pros and cons of the method

• Operational environment

- During normal working hours

- 20 to 30 LIS staff members (5 to 6 teams)

- Research time and tasks to be set in consultation with all

Condensed project proposal

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• Pros and cons of the method

• Operational environment

- During normal working hours

- 20 to 30 LIS staff members (5 to 6 teams)

- Research time and tasks to be set in consultation with all

Condensed project proposal

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Tasks and responsibilities• Coordinate, monitor, allocate resources (Lib Director)• Train staff (Training Librarian)• Research administration (Secretary)• Literature study (Team A)• Determine, define data categories (Team A)• Collect data sources/theses (Team B)• Analyze citations and codes (Team B)• Verify outcomes of previous tasks (Team A)• Count & capture citations per data category (Team C)• Verify outcomes of previous tasks (Team D)

Condensed project proposal

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Tasks and responsibilities• Tabulate & cross-tabulate frequencies (Team E)• Analyze tabulation, cross-tabulation data (Team A)• Verify outcomes of previous task) (Team B)• Compare list of journal titles most cited (Team D)• Verify outcomes of previous task) (Team B)• Write research report (Teams A & C)• Proofread research report (Teams B & D)• Present research report (Teams B & D)• Implement recommendations (All)

Condensed project proposal

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Significance of the study• Develop research capabilities and research

mindedness• Improve practice, lead to better service• Develop means of measuring use of

information sources by M&D students• Assist library to make informed decisions

regarding collection development

Condensed project proposal

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Limitations of the study• Initially, research skills of majority of

practitioners will be very low, even nonexistent.

• Initially, huge burden on more experienced practitioners, managers and trainers.

Conclusions

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• Proposal is only one example of a research project to introduce relatively large numbers of inexperienced LIS practitioners to research

• Technique (citation analysis) is only a means to an end – to embed libraries in research

• Of more importance: conditions / success factors pointed out in this paper.

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Adriaan SwanepoelActing DirectorLibrary and Information Services (Pretoria Campus)Tshwane University of TechnologySouth Africa

swanepoelaj@tut.ac.za