This document discusses how examining evidence, value, and impact can inform the library and information science (LIS) research agenda. It notes that LIS research ranges widely but is often poorly funded and recognized. With funding cuts, LIS must justify its value and impact. The document advocates adopting techniques used by policymakers to demonstrate cost-benefit analyses and impact case studies. It also stresses the importance of human-centered research and involving practitioners and end users in research. Finally, it calls for identifying priority research areas and collaborating to develop the LIS research agenda and secure necessary funding.

1. From perspectives to policyHow an examination of evidence, value and impact can inform the LIS research agenda Professor Charles Oppenheim

2. A REQUEST Please tweet during this session, ideally just three words summarising your views of the key words that describe the day – Kirsty Pitkin will be collecting your tweets for her write-up #lisrc10 plus #eval

3. SETTING THE SCENE FOR YOU All the England-branded Mars bars are on special offer in Tesco’s – four for one

4. WHY DO LIS RESEARCH? Intellectual interest/curiosity? Make you more engaged and empowered? To help influence policy and decision-makers? To make your name? Other reasons?

5. MY PERCEPTIONS OF THE LIS RESEARCH LANDSCAPE A lot of scattered effort, some of which isn’t really recognised by those doing it as research Often poorly funded, poorly conducted, poorly recognised Plethora of unco-ordinated funding bodies, with different agendas, requirements, overlapping areas

6. WHERE IS THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS? Every generation worries about the next one Standard complaint when short-listing for lectureships in the field We’ve seen a really impressive set of presentations from PhD students exploring some fascinating topics Gives me reason to be optimistic for the future

7. Large amount of research going on world-wide, much of it in the UK Ranges from fundamental studies on how people seek, search for and use information, via IR (TREC, etc.), to very practical studies on how to improve a particular library service

8. THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT Cuts in funding means increased pressures on LIS to justify their existence/provide evidence of value for money It also means less money available to fund research, and reduced funds for University LIS Departments

10. The bean counters demand something robust that they can relate to, e.g., RoI

12. TWO KEY TERMS Impact Human angle

13. “IMPACT” Everyone is talking about it The REF requires evidence of impact of research, and HEFCE has provided guidance notes on what constitutes impact – more to come The REF’s approach: a series of case studies, plus a narrative Why not adopt the same approach?

14. THE HUMAN ANGLE Our profession is about humans creating, storing, disseminating and using information, and this can only be done by understanding the way humans interact with information The most outstanding IR system in the world is useless if humans don’t want to interact with it Also learn from history – good and bad use of information in the past and the lessons we can learn today LIS research has to focus on this as well

15. MORE How do yuppies multi-task? Information overload strategies and stress What makes information valuable to people? Adopt a scientific paradigm – seems to press the right buttons

16. POLICY ANGLES We have yet to work out the new Government’s policies towards LIS There seems to be a commitment to releasing Government data Issues to do with the Digital Economy Act affecting library operations

17. QUESTIONS TO ASK What is the purpose of the research? Who are we demonstrating our value and impact to? The audience changes over time How do we communicate to the audience – formal routes, informally Different levels of seniority Are we influencing the end users and are they our best advocates?

18. How much do we involve the audience in the research design? Do practitioners really understand what users want? Cultural issue – do we have the skills? To what extent is research “nice to do” rather than “must have”? How to get research embedded into the organisational culture?

19. Do we use mixed methods? How important are narratives?

21. International collaboration/exchanges?

22. Ground-breaking report on the benefits of LIS?

23. Use of novel research techniques, e.g., social network analysis, critical incident technique, sophisticated stats,, log file analysis, Balanced Scorecard, observational studies…..

25. TASKS Identify worthwhile realistic research projects, especially a research agenda for tough times Identify the researchers who can undertake it Identify the funders to pay for it

26. A CLASSIC IMPACT EXPERIMENT

27. CONCLUSION The title of my talk was wrong – it should be “Evidence, Value and Impact SHOULD BE the LIS research agenda”

28. DON’T FORGET TO FILL OUT YOUR EVALUATION FORMS AND LEAVE THEM AT THE REGISTRATON DESK!