Library & Information Studies

Librarian's guide to online searching : cultivating database skills for research and instruction

Author: Brown, Christopher C

Understanding and navigating online databases is an essential skill for today's librarians, but staying current in this changing landscape can be a challenge. The fifth edition of this vital book ensures that you meet that challenge. Offers additional professional guidance in the form of recaps, concrete examples, exercises, and points to consider. Empowers students and librarians to search online effectively. Discusses databases in the context of real-world problems.

Altmetrics : a practical guide for librarians, researchers and academics

Author:  Tattersall, Andy

This book gives an overview of altmetrics, its tools and how to implement them successfully to boost and measure research outputs. New methods of scholarly communication and dissemination of information are having a huge impact on how academics and researchers build profiles and share research. This groundbreaking and highly practical guide looks at the role that library and information professionals can play in facilitating these new ways of working and demonstrating impact and influence. Altmetrics focuses on research artefact level metrics that are not exclusive to traditional journal papers but also extend to book chapters, posters and data sets, among other items. This book explains the theory behind altmetrics, including how it came about, why it can help academics and where it sits amongst current measurements of impact. Editor Andy Tattersall draws on the expertise of leading altmetric innovators and practitioners, with chapters from Euan Adie, the founder of Altmetric.com; William Gunn, the Head of Academic Outreach at Mendeley and Ben Showers, author of the bestselling Facet title Library Analytics and Metrics.

Where research begins : choosing a research project that matters to you (and the world)

Author:  Mullaney, Thomas S

Location: Bay 1A

Print and eBook available

The hardest part of research isn't answering a question. It's knowing what to do before you know what your question is. Where Research Begins tackles the two challenges every researcher faces with every new project: How do I find a compelling problem to investigate - one that truly matters to me, deeply and personally? How do I then design my research project so that the results will matter to anyone else? This book will help you start your new research project the right way for you with a series of simple yet ingenious exercises. Written in a conversational style and packed with real-world examples, this easy-to-follow workbook offers an engaging guide to finding research inspiration within yourself, and in the broader world of ideas.

Basic research methods for librarians

Author: Connaway, Lynn Silipigni

Addressed to practising librarians and other information professionals, as well as master's and doctoral students in LIS programs, Basic Research Methods for Librarians, Fifth Edition specifically covers the research methodologies likely to be used by librarians, providing guidance on designing and conducting research and publishing research results. Like its predecessors, this fifth edition is exceptionally comprehensive. Content has been thoroughly updated and sections have been added on social networking and other web-based research methods and techniques. The book emphasises quantitative research, including survey and experimental studies. It also gives attention to qualitative research, including historical research. A chapter is devoted to the statistical analysis of research results. Evaluation, writing, and publishing of research reports are considered as well. Coauthored by distinguished researchers in library and information science, the book also includes contributions from experts on qualitative research, domain assumptions of research, and sampling.