Supporting the information needs of early-career researchers in a digital age.
Esther Dingley
This project proposes to investigate the information needs of early-career researchers and investigate particularly whether research masters and first year PHDs, require different and potentially additional support from University Library Services to help them develop efficient methods of searching and handling information resources in an ever progressing digital age.
Electronic reference tools such as Endnote are well used but localised on one machine. The ability to access a bibliography anywhere at any time is significant step forward but isn't common practice for many students. The recent sudden uptake of academic online networking may provide a mechanism by which early-career researchers can share knowledge and experiences of not only their research interests but also the more practical skills that they have developed such as searching for and handling information in a changing digital age.
More specifically this project proposes to:
- Research the current information needs of early-career researchers and the current opportunities for online bibliographic reference keeping - Is anybody using them? If so who? Why aren't more people using them?
- Focus on benefits to research Masters and 1st year PhDs. What resources or tools are they aware of or think they need?
- Explore how awareness of the benefits of online resources and tools can be raised? What is currently being done? What role does social networking play?
- Invetsigate whether a University Library related peer support community centred on best practice be useful and how could this be delivered? i.e creating an online community which not only allowed university librarians to provide support but which also connected outgoing PhDs with incoming PhDs to advise what they would have done differently.
- And also is there a role for University Library Services to deliver training developing new online bibliographic reference keeping skills, and how might this be delivered?