Keynote speaker: Prof Lisa M. Given

 

LARK is delighted to announce 

Professor Lisa M. Given as the keynote speaker at the LARK 2022 symposium

Lisa M. Given, PhD, is Director, Social Change Enabling Capability Platform, and a Professor of Information Sciences at RMIT University (Melbourne). Lisa’s interdisciplinary research in human information behaviour brings a critical, social research lens to studies of technology use and user-focused design. Her studies embed social change, focusing on diverse settings and populations, and methodological innovations across disciplines. A former President of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Lisa has served on the Australian Research Council’s (ARC’s) College of Experts. She holds numerous grants funded by ARC, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, working with university and community partners across disciplines. She is lead author of the forthcoming 5^th edition of Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs and Behavior, author of 100 Questions (and Answers) about Qualitative Research (2016), and editor of The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods (2008).

The Symposium Organising Committee is looking forward to inspiring conversations with Prof Given and our presenters. Please note that a call for papers is currently open. 

Sharing and communicating – a necessary addition LIS evidence based practice model

By Clare Thorpe

Earlier this year, Library and Information Science Research Australia held a panel discussion 'to consider the opportunities, issues and challenges for library and information professionals in sharing and disseminating Australia’s emerging body of LIS practice-based research'. Clare Thorpe has recently expanded on her presentation in a commentary article in the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. She summarises her thoughts about why library and information professionals should share their outcomes and results widely.

The Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP) model provides a structured approach to decision making and problem solving in workplaces. Colloquially known as “The 5As” (Koufogiannakis, 2013), it is a cyclical process that guides library and information professionals through five steps - Articulate, Assemble, Assess, Agree and Adapt. The model can be applied by individuals and in teams, providing a practical, guided approach that incorporates critical reflective practice and evidence-informed decision making. However, the model fails to explicitly identify a step to prompt the LIS practitioner to communicate their evidence based practice to their stakeholders, clients, or peers.

Figure 1: The five step EBLIP model (Koufogiannakis & Brettle, 2016, p. 14)

Writing, publishing, disseminating and sharing the completed work is the final step in the research process (Hallam, 2018, p. 457). Communicating research findings is a critical and often required stage of the research process, particularly when publishing research findings is mandated by funding bodies. Crumley and Koufogiannakis (2004) argued that: 

“Dissemination of research results is vital to the progress of the profession as well as helping to improve practice. It involves not only making your research available, but also ensuring that it is accessible to others and presented in a manner that is easy to understand. (p. 127)”

They promoted communication within the library, to its parent organization, and externally to the profession via informal and formal methods of dissemination, such as conference presentations, journal clubs, scholarly publication, reports to management, and personal networking (Crumley & Koufogiannakis, 2004).
 
So, if EBLIP is accepted as a form of practitioner research, then it follows that communicating findings and results should be a requirement of being evidence based LIS practitioners.

Figure 2: The six step EBLIP model (Thorpe, 2021, p. 121)

Why should announcing, advocating, and communicating be made an explicit part in the EBLIP model? In my writing, I proposed four benefits that may apply to individuals, libraries, and the profession: 

• To advocate and influence 
• To contribute to the profession’s evidence base 
• To demonstrate professional expertise 
• To build organizational capacity and maturity. 

During the LISRA webinar, panellists Suzana Sukovic and Daniel McDonald also highlighted additional benefits to LIS practitioners, such as writing as a form of professional development and as a source of professional pride. 

I try to practice to what I preach and tell stories of the work that I do in my library in a range of different forums. For example, in 2021, I have published four journal articles, presented at two conferences, spoken at four webinars and now, written one blog post. Taking time to reflect on the work that I have done with colleagues over the past year, has challenged me to think about how I explain my work to different audiences and to communicate with a purpose, whether that is share findings, to advocate for my library and my team, or to influence and inspire others into action. 

In a profession that values access to information and knowledge sharing, sharing of work based projects and practitioner research should be a normal expectation and behaviour of our work. I argue that the EBLIP model would be strengthened with an explicit step that promotes actively contributing to the evidence base for the betterment of libraries and the profession.

If a generation of LIS professionals learns to engage in EBLIP without sharing and communicating their work, then criticisms of the validity of our profession’s evidence base will endure. Communicating in an evidence based way should be an explicit part of the LIS professional’s identity. 

References
Crumley, E., & Koufogiannakis, D. (2004). Disseminating the lessons of evidence based practice. In A. Booth & A. Brice (Eds.), Evidence-based practice for information professionals: A handbook (pp. 138–143). Facet Publishing.

Hallam, G. (2018). Being evidence based makes sense! An introduction to Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP). Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis, 42(3), 453–462. https://doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2018-0067 

Koufogiannakis, D. (2013). How academic librarians use evidence in their decision making: Reconsidering the Evidence Based Practice Model [Doctoral dissertation, Aberystwyth University]. Aberystwyth Research Portal. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/12963

Koufogiannakis, D., & Brettle, A. (Eds.). (2016). Being evidence based in library and information practice. Facet Publishing.

Thorpe, C. (2021). Announcing and advocating: The missing step in the EBLIP model. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 16(4), 118–125. https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip30044 

Clare Thorpe is an award-winning library leader, research-practitioner, and board director. She is Director, Library Services at Southern Cross University and serves on the Board of the Australian Library and Information Association.
Clare.Thorpe@scu.edu.au
@thorpe_clare

LARK webinar recording

 

The last LARK's event this year was a great success. It was well attended and our audience was engaged in interesting conversations with the guest speakers who discussed their doctoral trajectories. Dr Katherine Howard facilitated discussions. We also re-launched LARK's South Australian Chapter.  

Many people were interested in the webinar, but unable to attend, so we are now pleased to share a RECORDING from the event. Many thanks to ALIA for posting it for LARK.

As always, we tweeted during the webinar. See #LARK2021 on Twitter

Webinar: Why do library practitioners do PhDs?

LARK is finishing this year on a high note by re-launching our South Australian Chapter. Join our great guest speakers to celebrate this achievement and consider why library practitioners do PhDs. 

Find out more about the re-launch of LARK's SA Chapter from our conversation with Dr Katherine Howard who will facilitate panel discussions on 1 December. 

It is a free online event. Join us via Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82593642241?pwd=WUdsaHFDZm0zOGJCR1RZNHlFMjdHQT09

Meeting ID: 825 9364 2241

Passcode: 946063

Fiona Salisbury is the Executive Director Library and University Librarian La Trobe University. Fiona is an experienced library leader and before being appointed to her current role worked in senior library roles at La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne. Fiona serves on the boards of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and CAVAL Ltd. and is currently the Program Director of the CAUL ‘Enabling a Modern Curriculum’ program. Fiona is a PhD candidate in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. She is interested in keeping academic libraries at the heart of the university through conversation, collaboration and transformative cultural change.

Edward Luca is a library practitioner and researcher. He is currently Associate Director, Academic Services at the University of Sydney Library. Prior to this, Edward led a team of liaison librarians providing research and teaching support to the Faculty of Medicine and Health. Edward writes and speaks on topics including design thinking, academic librarianship and scholarly publishing. He is undertaking his PhD in the discipline of Business Information Systems at the University of Sydney Business School.

Dr Jo Kaeding is Children’s Librarian with the Adelaide Hills Council. She is the Programs Team Leader, responsible for children’s, youth and adult programs throughout the library service. Jo has a PhD from the University of South Australia, where she also lectures into the Information Management program. Her research focus is inclusive public libraries for children with disability and their families. She is a past recipient of the following awards: South Australian Catherine Helen Spence Scholarship, Public Libraries of South Australia Rod East Memorial Award and the Australian Library and Information Association Twila Ann Janssen Herr Award. Jo is a current member of the Public Libraries of South Australia Executive committee.

"You don't need a PhD to this job": in conversation with Dr Katherine Howard

 

Online via Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82593642241?pwd=WUdsaHFDZm0zOGJCR1RZNHlFMjdHQT09

Meeting ID: 825 9364 2241

Passcode: 946063

LARK is finishing this challenging year on a high note. Our last event this year will be an opportunity to participate in interesting discussions with our excellent guest speakers, and celebrate the re-launch of LARK's South Australian Chapter. You will also have a chance to meet Dr Katherine Howard, LARK's new Treasurer and Chair of SA Chapter, who will facilitate this event. Warming up for the webinar, we invited Katherine for a chat to introduce herself and tell us something about her plans.

Katherine, please tell us something about yourself.

Like many people in librarianship, I came to the sector needing a career change after being a Business Analyst for 7 years. I liked the idea that after completing my qualification I could work in archives or records management, as well as libraries. I was lucky enough to have amazing lecturers who were inclusive of many of the information professions, and that has really shaped how I see the field – that librarianship is just one part of the broader information professions. I strongly believe we need to join forces with all the other information professions – including the computer scientists! – in order for us to gain a more holistic understanding of the field. And the computer scientists could learn a thing or two about us!

Why did you decide to join LARK?

It was another opportunity for me to highlight and promote the importance of research to the profession. I have been on the ALIA Research Advisory Committee for a number of years, and have presented workshops with other committee members at ALIA National conferences.

Working on the LISRA project, a phrase kept coming up again and again – “You don’t need a PhD to do this job.” I thought it was just me on the receiving end of such comments, but apparently not – it's common the world over! There appears to be limited recognition of the value of research or a research degree to library practice. This doesn’t mean that I think every librarian needs a PhD, or even a research masters, but having one certainly brings another level of skill and insight to the way you approach your role. Those skills and insights are largely intangible, so it was only when I started reading the literature in this space that I realised I wasn’t alone. But how do we change that mindset? It’s for this reason that I wanted to explore why library practitioners do PhDs, which is the topic of our next webinar.

Another phrase I came across in my LISRA work was from Juznic and Urbanija (2003) –

“If research is absent [...] there is no profession, but only an occupation[...]”*

I think that bears reflecting on ...

You are relaunching LARK's SA Chapter. Could you tell us more about your hopes and plans?

I hope to create a community of practice amongst South Australian librarians – and anyone else who is interested – to recognise the importance of research to our profession, and to learn from each other what it means to do research. “Research” in this sense is more than a lit review or a systematic review – although they are both aspects of research. I think that is also a common misperception – what do we mean when we say “research”? (a view that is also supported by the literature!). So hopefully these ideas will go some way to ensuring that we don’t become “only an occupation.”

*Juznic, P. and Urbanija, J. (2003), Developing research skills in library and information science studies, Library Management, 24 (6/7), pp. 324-331. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120310486048

Dr Katherine Howard currently works as Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology

Translational research: where is LIS bedside?

  By Suzana Sukovic

Last month I had a pleasure to participate in LISRA’s webinar, Sharing practitioner-research: a panel discussion. In my opening talk, I mentioned a need to engage with ‘translational research’ in LIS. In response to a question from the audience, I promised to share some resources, and here is my answer.

Translational research originates in health and is still predominantly used to advance health outcomes. It is often described as ‘bench to bedside research’. ‘Translational research’, ‘research translation’ and ‘knowledge translation’ are the terms often used interchangeably, but there is some difference in meaning (see explanation of terminology by Sydney Health Partners). 

So, what is it? 

'Translational research makes engagement with practitioners and the wider community its priority. It seeks to “translate” research in ways that enable that research to be applied. It also “closes the circle” by allowing practitioners to provide feedback to researchers based on their experience’, explains Pru Mitchell in her article From concept to classroom: what is translational research? 

Mitchell’s article is about translational research in education, one of the areas outside health in which this type of research is gaining prominence. A/Prof Elaine Wethington explains reasons why social sciences are later adopters, and outlines some benefits of translational research.  

So far, librarians have been described as supporters of translational research in health, and the support role was discussed in the literature. However, the library and information sector hasn’t applied translational research in its own practice in any substantial way. Once again, our field needs to decide how to move beyond research support to develop our discipline and practice.

Writing this post, I remembered another LARK blog post about lessons from health. This older post is about my conference presentation Towards a teaching library: connecting academia and the profession presented at EBLIP8 (see slides). Since then, I worked in education research in health, and now believe more than ever in the concept of a ‘teaching library’. Furthermore, I now think that the model of a ‘teaching library’ may be a way to introduce translational research into LIS. Some food for thought while we think what ‘bench to bedside’ means in our field.

For further exploration

ACER, Translational Research 

Choi P J, Tubbs R, Oskouian R J (March 19, 2018) The Current Trend of the Translational Research Paradigm. Cureus 10(3): e2340. DOI 10.7759/cureus.2340

CQUniversity Library, Knowledge Translation 

Lowitja Institute, Knowledge Translation 

USC Library, Research Knowledge Translation Defined

Dr Suzana Sukovic is Director of Research and Library Services, PLC Sydney

Translational research image source: https://bctr.cornell.edu/

Sharing practitioner-research: How can ALIA help?

Earlier this week, LISRA organised a panel discussion 'to consider the opportunities, issues and challenges for library and information professionals in sharing and disseminating Australia’s emerging body of LIS practice-based research'. Four panelists started with their statements to open discussions. One of them was Andrew Finegan from ALIA who summarised his opening statement for LARK. A full recording is available from the LISRA event page.

By Andrew Finegan

As a professional association, one of ALIA’s core activities is to support research and publications that inform its members and the library and information sector.

 

One way that ALIA does this is through the production of the Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, or JALIA. Produced quarterly, JALIA presents research and research-in-practice articles which are subjected to a double-blind peer review process.

 

ALIA’s agreement with JALIA’s publisher allows authors to make their research publicly available through their institutional repository, with zero embargo – through what is commonly known as Green open access. As this content would otherwise only be immediately accessible through subscriptions, we encourage those who publish their work in JALIA to also take this opportunity.

Indeed, it should be noted that this does place the responsibility of access onto the author, with the expectation that the author does the work in preparing and uploading their research onto their institutional repository. University libraries make a valuable contribution to the research community by supporting academics through this process.

 

Of course, not everybody who has their research published in JALIA has access to an institutional repository, with many authors coming from school, public, state, territory and national libraries. This in itself can create a barrier to access, as there is no obvious place for them to upload their Green open access version.

Fortunately, ALIA manages its own repository, ALIA Library, where research content such as conference papers, reports and discussion papers are held. ALIA can work with these authors to make their JALIA-published research available as green open access.

 

However, we also need to think beyond the formal research journal as the only way to engage practitioners with research. The reality is that there are library professionals who, for whatever reasons, do not actively engage with research that is published in this format.

 

ALIA provides numerous opportunities to engage with different audiences with LIS research, through different channels:

• Conferences – there is a current call for proposals for the ALIA National 2022 Conference
• INCITE magazine – upcoming themes and submissions deadlines are listed on the website
• ALIA Groups and committees – The New Generation Advisory Committee run monthly twitter discussions in #AusLibChat, Health Libraries Australia produce their open access journal JoHILA, and of course LARK hold research related events and this blog.

This past year has also seen an increase in webinar discussions which have created new opportunities to engage large audiences online.

 

Of course, to engage effectively with different audiences, it is so important to understand how the tone and style of your communication needs to be adjusted to best connect with that audience - especially with practitioners who may not be actively engaged with an academic style.

 

As with any communications, you should first and foremost think about your audience. There is a very specific style that you’re expected to use to engage with an academic audience. However, for a non-academic audience, this can be much more fluid, and you need to be ready to adapt your tone for each context, and craft your message to be specifically relevant to their interests and sector. This is an art that is best be developed through active engagement, and so I’d certainly encourage LIS researchers to explore these different spaces.

Communications, ultimately, is a call to action, and researchers have the opportunity to connect with practitioners in their own language and in the spaces where they are engaged, to both inform and challenge them to continue to develop their professional practice, with a robust evidence base.

Andrew Finegan is ALIA Communications Manager

publishing@alia.org.au