In 2009, the Library and Information Science (LIS) Research Coalition was established in the UK by major players in the LIS landscape. The Coalition had a particular interest in supporting practicing librarians and information scientists, both in how they can access and exploit available research in their work, and in their own development as practitioner researchers. One of the Coalition’s key initiatives was the Developing Research Excellence and Methods (DREaM) project, through which a formal UK-wide network of LIS researchers was successfully developed. In this presentation, Professor Hall discusses how the LIS Research Coalition tackled the challenges of LIS research at a national level and reflects on the longer-term impact of the project with particular reference to the findings of the DREaM Again project—a recent follow-up exploration of the lasting impacts of DREaM. Not only have half of the DREaM participants been actively involved in research since the end of the project, but just under half report that their research outputs have already had an impact—informing policy, and/or determining information services provision, and/or developing the LIS research agenda. Analysis of the network ties between the participants reveals that a loose but persistent network of DREaMers endures, wherein both social and work-related connections are important.

1. A coordinated approach to Library and Information
Science Research: the UK experience
iSchool/KMDI Colloquia Series, Faculty of Information,
University of Toronto
5th November 2015
Dr Hazel Hall
Professor of Social Informatics
@hazelh

2. www.napier.ac.uk/iidi
http://hazelhall.org/about

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Establishment of the LIS Research Coalition
2006-2008: Consultations
March 2009: Coalition formally established by 5 founding members
August 2009: Dr Hazel Hall appointed to lead the implementation, 2 days per week in a
seconded role

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To facilitate a co-ordinated
and strategic approach to LIS
research across the UK
(2009-2012)
 To bring together information about LIS
research opportunities and results
 To encourage dialogue between research
funders
 To promote LIS practitioner research and
translate research outcomes into practice
 To articulate a strategic approach to LIS
research
 To promote the development of research
capacity in LIS

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To facilitate a co-ordinated
and strategic approach to LIS
research across the UK
(2009-2012)
 To bring together information about LIS
research opportunities and results
 To encourage dialogue between research
funders
 To promote LIS practitioner research and
translate research outcomes into practice
 To articulate a strategic approach to LIS
research
 To promote the development of research
capacity in LIS

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To facilitate a co-ordinated
and strategic approach to LIS
research across the UK
(2009-2012)
To develop a UK-wide
network of LIS researchers
(2011-2012)

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To facilitate a co-ordinated
and strategic approach to LIS
research across the UK
(2009-2012)
To explore the extent to which
LIS research projects
influence practice (2011)
To create outputs to support
the use and execution of
research by librarians and
information scientists (2012)
To develop a UK-wide
network of LIS researchers
(2011-2012)

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£229,000 total investment
• ~$462,400 CAD
£45,000 for DREaM
• ~$90,900 CAD

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Access to existing resources to be exploited and reused:
http://lisresearch.org/links/multiple-resource-listings/

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Resources to support LIS practitioners as researchers:
http://lisresearch.org/links/lis-resources/

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Heavy use of a Twitter
feed that is still active in
2015: @LISResearch

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Use of other social media

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To develop a UK-wide
network of LIS researchers
(2011-2012)

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DREaM events and reach
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Five events
2 conferences
3 linked workshops – for the ‘cadre’ of DREaMers
213 participants, 33 presenters
Remote audience
~80 blog posts
~800 tweets
Multiple web pages, SlideShares, SoundClouds,
Vimeos etc.

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DREaM as a vehicle for research methods training
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Expert-led sessions on:
Data mining
Discourse analysis
Ethnography
Horizon scanning
Repertory grids
Research ethics and legal issues
Research impact
Research and policy
Research techniques from history
Social network analysis
User involvement in research
Webometrics

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DREaM as forum for dissemination of research
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Unconference half hour: sample topics
Digital research and curation
M-libraries
Quality improvement in the delivery of medical
information services
Training of academic librarians
One Minute Madness: sample topics
E-books
Digital reference services
Information literacy
Web archiving
One Minute madness videos: 2011; 2012
Unconference half hour: 1; 2; 3

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DREaM impact in 2012
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Growth in knowledge and expertise in
research skills
Substantial growth in theoretical knowledge
Modest increase in application of new skills
Greater confidence as researchers
Widened networks
Brettle, A., Hall, H., & Oppenheim, C. (2012). We have a DREaM: the Developing Research Excellence
and Methods network. Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Qualitative and
Quantitative Methods in Libraries, Limerick, Ireland, 22-25 May 2012.

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DREaM impact post-project: anecdotal evidence
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Development of new resources
Research, evaluation and audit, Facet, 2013
First editor was a DREaMer
A third of the book’s authors had some involvement with the
Coalition
Events
Organised by DREaMers
Participation from others who were associated with the project
What else?
Particular interest in less visible impact

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Since 2012, to what extent have the
workshop participants:
1. Implemented new and innovative research
methods/techniques in their work-place
environments?
2. Undertaken and disseminated relevant, high
priority research output to inform policy,
determine information services provision, and
develop the future LIS research agenda?
3. Experienced enhanced possibilities for
exploring avenues for new research initiatives
as a result of network participation?
4. Continued to work as a network?
5. Witnessed impact of their post-DREaM
research on end-user communities?
DREaM Again study summer 2015

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Work undertaken in 2015: desk research and survey
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Research Associate
Dr Bruce Ryan
Literature review
Impact as conceived in LIS
Survey
Designed to gather data on 5 main research
questions
Distributed to 35 DREaMers
Completed by 32

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Work undertaken in 2015: focus groups
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10 participants
4 in Edinburgh
6 in London

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[I have used this session] to
inform consultancy work with
clients. It highlighted a
number of issues and
prompted me to research
further.
Although I have not used this
in my own research...this has
been really helpful in allowing
me to understand and
participate in discussions
about research methods.
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1. Implementation of new and innovative research
methods/techniques in work-place environments
Most influential training sessions
Increasing research impact
Social network analysis
Most used
Research ethics and legal issues
Value of awareness
To participate in discourse around
research
For future reference

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2. Dissemination of relevant, high priority research output to
inform policy, determine information services provision, and
develop the future LIS research agenda (1)
Research undertaken post-DREaM
50% actively involved in research
Top themes: LIS; information literacy,
policy, and health
Other themes include cultural heritage,
data mining, data protection, economics,
education, employability, knowledge
management, law, politics, psychiatry, and
social justice

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2. Dissemination of relevant, high priority research output to
inform policy, determine information services provision, and
develop the future LIS research agenda (2)
The majority have:
Presented their work internally
Contributed to blogs and other social media feeds
Published their work in journals
Peer-reviewed others’ work for journals and/or conferences and/or books
Outputs:
87 research outputs post-DREaM (4.8 per actively publishing DREaMer)
Most productive DREaMers: academics, researchers, and PhD students
Most ‘impactful’ DREaMers: academics (4), health care librarians (2), academic
librarians (2), and PhD students (3)

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3. Enhanced possibilities for the exploration of
avenues for new research initiatives (1)
Network ties and research outputs
Correlation between quantity of work-related
network ties and research outputs
New ‘avenues’: role changes and
research outputs
17 changed roles post-DREaM (53%)
11 of these role changes were influenced by
DREaM
Correlation between quantity of research
outputs and likelihood of having changed role

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3. Enhanced possibilities for the exploration of
avenues for new research initiatives (2)
Impact on careers
DREaM contributed to the
development of my research
capability and profile and has
influenced my decision to seek a
stronger academic role.
I have been promoted… This
required a considerable
research portfolio and DREaM
has contributed to this.
Furthermore [two cadre
members] provided references.
DREaM gave me the
confidence to go for more
senior roles, and gave me a
thorough background
knowledge in research.
Involvement in the project
helped me develop confidence
as an LIS researcher to go on
to write successful bids and be
an active part of the LIS
research community.

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4. Sustainability: a loose but persistent network
Live ties
22 DREaMers maintain both social and work-related ties
9 DREaMers maintain either social or work-related ties
1 DREaMer no longer networked
Network profiles
Work-related ties centre on academics
Social ties centre on academics and practitioners
Collaborations
12 active collaborators on 37 initiatives
Collaborators most productive: over 70% of research
outputs

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5. Impact of research
Claims of impact for 40 of 87 outputs, by 12 authors
Informed policy: 20
Determined information services provision: 23
Developed the future LIS research agenda: 15
All three: 5
Examples
Understanding of students’ use of learning spaces  changes to
physical environment within academic library service
Web log analysis of online resource  introduction of Named Entity
Recognition to major digital resource
Articulation of information literacy priorities  public library participation
in the discourse

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6. Other significant impact
Delivery of events
Format, e.g. lecture-workshop switch
Delegate participation, e.g. One Minute Madness
Speaker participation, e.g. widened pool
Reporting of events
Deployment of social media

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What next?

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Dissemination of outcomes of DREaM Again
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Presentations
Hall, H. (2015). A coordinated and strategic approach to Library and Information Science
research: the UK experience. Paper presented as part of the Colloquium Series of the
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Canada 5 November 2015
Hall, H. (2015). Creating a UK-wide network of LIS researchers. Library Research
Symposium. McMaster University, Canada, 3 November 2015
Hall, H. & Ryan, B. (2015). DREaM Again. Paper presented as part of the 21st Century
Curatorship Seminar Series. British Library, London, 10 September 2015
Publications in the pipeline
Paper on empirical work to be submitted to Journal of Documentation, with parallel
activity in the practitioner press
Full literature review on impact as conceived in LIS

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Dissemination of outcomes of DREaM Again
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Presentations
Hall, H. (2015). A coordinated and strategic approach to Library and Information Science
research: the UK experience. Paper presented as part of the Colloquium Series of the
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, 5 November 2015
Hall, H. (2015). Creating a UK-wide network of LIS researchers. Library Research
Symposium. McMaster University, Canada, 3 November 2015
Hall, H. & Ryan, B. (2015). DREaM Again. Paper presented as part of the 21st Century
Curatorship Seminar Series. British Library, London, 10 September 2015
Publications in the pipeline
Paper on empirical work to be submitted to Journal of Documentation, with parallel
activity in the practitioner press
Full literature review on impact as conceived in LIS
When’s the next
DREaM event
Hazel?

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Contact Hazel Hall
Page 34
@hazelh
http://hazelhall.org
http://about.me/hazelh
h.hall@napier.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 455 2760
Slides on SlideShare at:
http://slideshare.net/hazelhall

35. A coordinated approach to Library and Information
Science Research: the UK experience
iSchool/KMDI Colloquia Series, Faculty of Information,
University of Toronto
5th November 2015
Dr Hazel Hall
Professor of Social Informatics
@hazelh