1. The role of the research practitioner Dr Graham Walton, Head of Planning and Resources, Library and Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Information Science, both Loughborough University Session 7A, co-organized with LIRG: Research into practice Chair: David Haynes International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO UK biennial conference: University College, London, 9 th July 2013 https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home

2. Purpose of practitioner research Benefits of practitioner research Difference and similarities between practitioner research and academic research Challenges in disseminating practitioner research https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Areas covered in case study on practitioner research

3. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Loughborough University academics’ use of the Library both via building and online:2012

4. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Comparison between 2009 and 2012 in ranked satisfaction/importance of e-books

5. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Comparison between 2009 and 2012 in ranked satisfaction/importance of e-journals

6. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Comparison between 2009 and 2012 in ranked satisfaction/importance of e-resources (e.g. Web of Science)

7. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Comparison between 2009 and 2012 in ranked satisfaction/importance of Library online catalogue

8. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home What are the research questions! What online services do academics use if 24% respondents access Library online daily? Why do academics see e-books as being less important in 2012 than in 2009? Why are academic more satisfied and attach more importance to e- journals in 2012 than they did in 2009? Why do academics see e-resources such as Web of Science as being less important in 2012 than they were in 2009? Why do academic staff have much lower satisfaction levels with the online catalogue in 2012 compared to 2009?

9. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Purpose of practitioner research Problem solving: University Library needed to know in more detail how academics are using its digital services to inform future services Evaluation: showing how services are performing Benchmarking: internal comparison to show how users’ information seeking behaviour is changing Influencing University Library strategy and policy, e.g. welfare or health policy Not about contributing to the learning of library and information science discipline. [6] [6]

10. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Benefits of practitioner research Generates evidence that can be used to inform practice Makes sure decisions are not based on guess work Process provides practitioners with wider skills mix including an understanding of research process and research tasks Can be used for promotional and marketing activities Allows empathy with researchers to be developed Gives credibility

11. https://sites.google.com/site/lirgweb/home Difference and similarities between practitioner research and academic research Research not seen as core activity for practitioner researchers – has to be done on top of day job (with no resources allocated for research) Validity and reliability are not top of the agenda when practitioners are doing research Methodology is very much influenced by limited resources. Reason why online surveys proliferate and very rare to come across ethnographic studies