Bell expert engagement practical researcher digital literacy provision at city
1. Expert engagement: practical
researcher digital literacy provision
at City
Diane Bell
Research Librarian, City University London
diane.bell.2@city.ac.uk
www.city.ac.uk/library
2. www.city.ac.uk/library
Overview
• Questionnaire & Library Researcher
Development Programme.
• Blog & digital literacy case study resource.
• Digital literacy workshop informed by
researcher inputs.
• Patron-driven acquisition influencing IL.
• Research-based practice.
3. www.city.ac.uk/library
Library researcher training questionnaire
(2014)
All categories have good
responses.
The most popular was
strategic literature searching
(72%); managing your
references (65%).
The “digital researcher” least
popular but is important.
Open access workshops were
not heavily attended
although OA is useful.
4. www.city.ac.uk/library
Library training formats responses
• 33333 All formats popular.
• Research webpages
rated highest (53%),
we now have these.
• Onlin Online learning for
researchers is still a
challenge.
5. www.city.ac.uk/library
Library Researcher Development
Programme
• University Researcher induction
• Library services for researchers
• Managing your references - Introduction to RefWorks
• Strategic literature searching
• Making an impact: citation searching and impact factors
• Open access, online repositories, finding theses
• The digital researcher, using social media tools to create an
online presence
• Evaluating resources, keeping up to date and news sources
8. www.city.ac.uk/library
Case study : Research student
Profile: LIS Research student, 3rd year, multi-disciplinary topic,
works part-time in an academic library.
Databases: LISTA, LISA and JSTOR.
Libraries used: SOAS, Senate House, British Library, public
libraries.
Tools used: Mendeley, Figshare, RefWorks, Nvivo.
Social media/ blogs: Twitter, Tumblr, Academia.edu, research
blogs
Advice: Connecting with others, using social media for feedback,
always follow up citations in papers.
13. www.city.ac.uk/library
Research student feedback to inform IL
“Library support for research students has been excellent. I was
especially impressed with the #readforresearch campaign.”
https://blogs.city.ac.uk/ludiprice/2014/05/08/read-for-research-
reading-list/
“Deepening research on info behaviour McQueen & The House
of Worth, thanks to #readforresearch @CityUniLibrary #citylis
#fashion.”
“Big thanks to @CityUniLibrary #readforresearch scheme, which
has helped keep my reading up to date.”
“Quick and personalised service.”
14. www.city.ac.uk/library
Researching the researchers
• Undertaking an MA research project - Factors
which influence the digital literacy of research
students.
• Literature review, Survey Monkey survey and
qualitative interviews with research students.
• Hope to inform future IL workshops &
training.
15. www.city.ac.uk/library
Conclusion
• Key message: Research- Engage-Change.
• Research students have much to offer in terms of
knowledge & skills.
• A University wide doctoral programme is desirable.
• Different engagement methods are advisable.
• Use case studies, researchers’ topics & tools to
enhance IL.
• Future: research-based practice: digital literacy.
16. www.city.ac.uk/library
Thank you, any questions, discussion
points, engagement ideas?
Researcher guide http://libguides.city.ac.uk/researchers
Researcher case study resource
http://www.citylibresearchcasestudies.wordpress.com
Employability guide
http://libguides.city.ac.uk/employability
Epistemology of Cool Daily http://paper.li/acdelion
diane.bell.2@city.ac.uk @dianelouisebell
Notas del editor
I would like to about engagement methods and working with research students in developing their information and digital literacy skills.
Post it notes: What has been successful / future ideas for engaging with Postgraduates/ Research students?
Induction questionnaire for new research students at induction. Researcher development programme
Attended a seminar with Gemma Sou, a research student from University of Manchester about her researcher podcast website http://www.vivavocepodcasts.com/
I have a research related blog and decided to create a blog to highlight research students’ case studies/ narratives and highlight library and digital resources and hints and tips across disciplines.
Using researcher interests to inform IL practice.
Masters level research on digital literacy.
New Library researcher training questionnaire (2014) at induction, about 32 respondents. Question 1: Types of training research students would like.
All of the suggestions were quite popular. There may be something around using the term strategic. Literature searching and reference management were the most popular and are the most attended. May be better at certain times of the course eg the start for literature searching,.
Digital research is important but not chosen here – maybe the title? OA workshops in OA week for example, no attendees.
Question 2 : Training formats: all types of training and enquiry services popular in the survey.
We didn’t have research webpages at the time but we have now but we mainly link to our researcher Library Guide (LibGuide) and information about/ access to City Research Online, our repository.
Maybe a Graduate School led general university wide training programme would assist with this. There is the challenge of different disciplines but specific digital literacy tools training (eg Nvivo) could be given by Depts.
A Library Services presentation is now included in the University induction day for research students.
These are face to face workshops. We have a supporting researcher Library guide. The strategic literature searching workshops is popular with Health researchers.
Open access wasn’t too popular although held in open access week in October. The most popular is RefWorks with all levels of students.
We have a new open online booking system called LibCal which means that any students can sign up for workshops.
More difficult to deliver via Moodle (the virtual learning environment) as not all of the research students use it and they would have to sign up or be enrolled.
Blog on research related topics and resources and blog posts. WordPress blog, lots of templates and quite easy to use.
Could promote student research and invite them to share and reflect on their digital experiences.
Attended a seminar with Gemma Sou a research student from University of Manchester about her researcher podcast website http://www.vivavocepodcasts.com/ On the research related blog I decided to create a blog to highlight research students’ case studies/ narratives and highlight library and digital resources and hints and tips across disciplines. It is popular with the students who have contributed but is difficult to encourage people to complete the form.
Practical case study resource to promote the researcher, the way they conduct their research. Assist others with their digital literacy by recommending resources and tools and apps they use. Could assist Masters students in researching a topic.
Could recommend these at IL workshops.
One problem is keeping it up to date with job changes etc.
This is an example of one of our LIS research students. It highlights some of the databases she uses and some of the digital tools. Some of the tools are used to manage the research itself such as RefWorks, Mendeley, Nvivo. Others are used to share research on social media or obtain feedback on research ideas or for current awareness.
The advice and tips given are useful and can be used on blogs, social media or in IL workshops.
Digital research output from our research student using the curation tool paper.li
Not all research is produced in traditional formats such as journal articles. We can look at use of these curation tools or blogging etc in our IL workshops on digital research.
Digital apps used by a research student who conducts online research. Favourite app is Evernote (Premium).
Uses a feed reader to find content and shares it via Twitter, online newspaper.
Pocket – allows PDFs to be stored and read later.
We can recommend these in IL workshops and look at using them throughout the research process. However, new digital apps are always being developed.
Employability guide, with student content of resources, websites etc.
Based on student feedback, have recently added a PowerPoint on the Further Help pages about building an online research presence using social media but also using it to research employers, Linkedin, Linkedin groups, Altmetrics (social media cites)
Using Twitter to gather feedback on our popular Read for Research patron driven acquisition scheme where research students can recommend titles to support their research to build Library collections.
We can learn from the students’ reactions to Read for Research. One student has established her own Read for Research reading list.
Another student talks about her research on fashion and Alexander McQueen. These real life examples could be used in our IL workshops.
My MA Academic Practice dissertation and research project investigating how research students have acquired their digital literacy capabilities and how they keep up to date. In terms of gender, age, discipline., length of research career etc.
Do these factors matter? How do students acquire and maintain their digital skills?
My key message is: Research – Engage – Change
Research students may be a challenge to engage but they are worthwhile because of their in depth knowledge and expertise.
The case study resource has been viewed positively as an attempt to create and promote a research community.
Hoping MA research can be used to inform practice.
Thank you very much for listening. There are some links to our resources on the slide. I’m happy to take any questions or discussion points.
Post it notes.