The paper by Hazel Hall, Rachel Salzano, Katherine Stephen and me, about the impacts of the 2019 to 2021 RIVAL events, and the plot even in 2018, has now been published online. Here’s the abstract:

Purpose

The purpose of the empirical study was to examine whether strategies shown to work well in one model of network development for library and information science (LIS) practitioners and researchers could be applied successfully in the development of a new network and contribute to the narrowing of the research–practice gap in LIS.

Design/methodology/approach

Overall, 32 members of a new professional network were surveyed by a questionnaire following the completion of a programme of four network events held between 2019 and 2021.

Findings

The analysis demonstrates the transferability of the existing model of network development to a new network and that it can be successfully adapted for online delivery of network events and activities.

Practical implications

The criteria deployed for the evaluation of the new network could be used in other similar settings. Funding bodies can also use these findings as demonstration of the value of their investment in network grants.

Originality/value

This contribution on means of growing collaborative networks to narrow the LIS research–practice gap stands out in contrast with prior research that tends to focus the support of research productivity of academic librarians in North American universities for the purposes of career development. Here wider aspects of research engagement are considered of value for LIS practitioners from a range of sectors and institutions, beyond North America, for purposes that are broader than personal advancement.

Citation: Hall, H., Ryan, B.M., Salzano, R. and Stephen, K. (2022), “From a network model to a model network: strategies for network development to narrow the LIS research–practice gap”, Journal of Documentation, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2022-0088

My first formal experience of leading an academic project has started. I am principal investigator of Platform to platform: an investigation into audience engagement with digitised archives and its transformative impact across different online formats. (The link is to Hazel Hall’s description of the project.)

The project will

• create a non-fiction narrative podcast series based on the diary of Lorna Lloyd, a young woman who lived in Malvern at the start of World War II. Contemporary news content will be added to Lorna’s diary entries at key points in the narrative.

• evaluate audience engagement with the podcast series following its launch at a public engagement event, provisionally planned for Tuesday 24^th May 2022 in Malvern.

(shamelessly copied from Hazel Hall’s post)

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