Edinburgh Napier University

  Enhancing the impact of LIS Research Projects.
RiLIES1 investigated the influence of funded research on practice in UK library and information science (LIS). It  identified factors that increase or hinder the impact of research findings on those who deliver library and information services. The study included a review of the LIS literature on impact, a practitioner poll, case studies of five LIS research projects identified as “impactful”, three sector-specific focus groups and a validation survey.


More on the RiLIES1 findings:
RiLIES1 found a general disconnect between LIS research and the practitioner community. It identified the factors which are likely to increase impact on practice: most importantly how it is planned and conceived, the involvement of practitioners in the project, and how its findings are reported. At the other end, organisational factors can increase the likelihood of practitioners being able to usefully engage with research outputs.
New insights relate to the roles of research leadership and sponsorship, and means of involving practitioners in research projects. In particular, findings highlight a preference for face-to-face channels for the dissemination of research results, and reveal the role of social media in raising awareness of research, for the first time in a report on this theme.
The eleven detailed project recommendations relate to strategies to ensure that:  LIS research undertaken has high level support; the execution of LIS research involves practitioners; dissemination plans for LIS research take into account practitioner preferences for consuming research output; LIS research output is accessible to the target audience;  practitioners are given support to engage with research by their employers and professional bodies, drawing on good practice within the broad community of librarians and information scientists.
The full report, including recommendations was published in January 2012.