Presented at ANLTC (Academic & National Libraries Training Co-operative) Librarian as Researcher Seminar. 8th May 2014

1. Source: http://spring4thpublishing.com/
The Librarian as
Researcher
The Librarian and the Academic
Weaving Data Threads into
Research Outputs.
Siobhán Dunne
8th May 2014

2. Source: https://flic.kr/p/963gSh

3. Rationale for Collaboration
• You’ve formed a natural working relationship with an academic colleague &
share similar views
• You want to develop your learning of a shared teaching experience or
research project
• You recognise a gap in available literature and want to remedy that
• You want to promote the value of librarians in your institution and beyond

4. My Prompt to Write up Research
A conference paper at INULS 2007
Which led to a peer reviewed article of the same title:
Dunne, Siobhán (2008) ‘The Irish Research electronic Library initiative – levelling
the playing field?’ Library Management, 29 (8), pp. 757-769.
First steps towards research collaboration:
Byrne, Ursula and Dunne, Siobhán (2008): ‘Partnership - What's in it for You?’
Presentation at UCD Teaching & Learning Colloqium, 29th May 2008, UCD.
Tweaked from an institutional symposium to a national conference :
Dunne, Siobhán and Byrne, Ursula (2008) Making it real: information literacy and
student engagement. Presentation at: AISHE International Conference Series:
Encouraging Student Engagement, 28-29 August 2008, NUI Maynooth.

5. 2 Collaborative Projects
Academic E books: Survey + focus group
Reflective Journals: conference paper + journal article + chapter
Source: https://flic.kr/p/B8HeG

6. Reflective Journals - Research Rationale
to map transition issues in
information literacy for first
year learners
to ‘acknowledge’ the
student voice
to identify areas for
inter institutional
collaboration
to improve the module for future students

7. Research proposal submitted to
University Ethics Committee
Qualitative framework
Journals used retrospectively
35 participants
Journals coded (grounded theory)
manually as hand-written in diary format
15 categories

8. Feedback from Academic 1

9. Where did the idea for our collaborative research
come from?
I decided to use reflective journals with the first
years as I had already taught them. Then I
contacted you (but we had already talked about the
study skills module and timing the library input for
critical moments).
Remember I made attendance compulsory for library
training? Then we talked about the project and you
introduced me to the McGuinness article and we
took the method from it and refined it for our
purpose.

10. Did the joint research process 'work'?
most definitely as we both brought something to the table.
when I asked if you were up for doing the data analysis, that
was also really productive. You had insights which I would not
have had so another set of 'eyes' was really beneficial.

11. How did it differ to collaborative research work you've done
with non librarian colleagues?
I think we talked more as I was not expecting an 'academic'
and that talk and different perspective was useful.
You were really good with coming up with good material
such as the contributions to the HEA from students and
lecturers.

12. Any specific skill set you think having a librarian on board brought?
Yes, searching in areas where I may not have done as well as
bringing your specialist knowledge
any other observations?
I think such collaboration should happen
more often because librarians possess so
much knowledge which can fit well into
small-scale research projects for instance.

13. https://flic.kr/p/dpxhrv

15. Feedback from Academic 2

16. Where did the idea for our collaborative research
come from?
This project has been on a back burner, stemming
from my interest in digital learning. Given the
nature of the research topic it was
then a logical choice for me to involve
a librarian.
As well as being our subject librarian, you have been
involved in our Master's methodology module, so I
knew your profile and also as someone I can count
on, so on all accounts it was an obvious choice for
me.

17. Did the joint research process 'work'?
Absolutely. From compiling the survey questions to
writing the final report our collaborative thinking was
very positive and gave a balanced view to the
whole study.
The particular funding call (Quality
Development Office) encouraged a
collaborative study with another
school/unit, so it fell into place

18. How did it differ to collaborative research work you've done
with non librarian colleagues?
Given the nature of the topic it would not have worked if I
had a non-librarian collaborator who is unlikely to be familiar
with behind the scenes information
including issues such as how e-books are sourced, priced
and what are current issues from the lender's point of view

19. Any specific skill set
you think having a librarian on board brought?
Having knowledge about relevant
resources to help our research, such
as previous reports from JISC, not to mention the
ability to be able to informally canvas other
librarians' views and sentiments, as we did, on
survey questions and certain issues.

20. Any other observations?
To me having different perspectives is
always eye-opening and educational. This
provided me with a great opportunity to realise that
academics tend to be ignorant of certain issues with the
library despite our heavy reliance on it.
I felt I learnt quite a lot from the
experience going beyond the issues
related to our specific project.

21. Take Advantage of Available Supports…
Twitter @Write4Research @writingcentre @Acwri @awhelp
Adventures in Qualitative Analysis LINK Research Institute Workshop, DCU.
Publishing Pedagogical Practice workshop facilitated by Sarah Moore, UL (organised
by Learning Innovation Unit, DCU)
Introduction to Writing for Academic Publication : workshop facilitated by Helen
Fallon, NUIM (organised by ANLTC)
Writers Retreat facilitated by Rowena Murray, University of Strathclyde (organised by
Learning Innovation Unit, DCU)
Academic Writing Librarians established by Helen Fallon = invaluable, informal forum
for sharing writing ideas, tips and calls for papers

22. Source: https://flic.kr/p/7mPUvV
Tips for Collaborative Research
Divide administration duties:
Researching appropriate journals
Liaising with editors
Responsibility for formatting
Responsibility for checking references
Be clear about the contribution you are
making and not making
Harness sharing tools like
Google Docs & Drop Box
Afford enough time to the planning
and editing phase

23. Thank You
siobhan.dunne@dcu.ie
@dunnesiobhan
https://flic.kr/p/67ow36