senior researchers in UK departments of LIS about research impact and how it formed part of their own research plans. What I found incredibly compelling was that, despite often getting slightly irked at the bureaucracies and box ticking of REF, so many of my respondents spoke with real emotion about their connec- tions to and affinities with practitioners and their aspiration to make a differ- ence to society.2
What can you do to help?
l Think of ways in which you can work with academics, invite them in to talk about and help with your challenges and issues;
l Involve academics in attempts to
influence policy: there will be ways in which their research or that of others will be able to contribute to such exercises;
l Participate in a national debate on priorities for the impact research agenda for LIS going forward, as this would help to coalesce thinking and open up new directions for our work (and indeed is something CILIP might facilitate);
l Say yes when you are invited to be part of a research project, for collaboration is very highly rated in a REF context and there are many funding opportunities that would be strengthened by a better academic/practitioner mix;
l Seek nomination as a ‘Research User’ for their role is highly significant and will
Beyond academia: ‘Research users’ from the private, public or third sectors who make use of university research will play a key role on REF expert panels, sitting alongside senior academics. Photo: Trinity College Cambridge
make a difference to LIS research perfor- mance in 2021;
l Help academic research achieve a high profile in the UK for there is a fear amongst LIS researchers that our research needs to be better ‘sold’; and
l Reach out to a researcher today telling them how you’ve valued or used their research.
The application and significance of LIS knowledge for society must be highlighted, not just to others in the community but beyond it into government and the media: “it’s a kind of lobbying, saying you can use this, this is of value to you” (academic research participant). For ultimately we all believe that library and information science matters and we need to work together to enhance the power of that message. IP
References
1 HEFCE (2016) REF impact: policy guide.
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/REFimpact/
2 Marcella, R., Lockerbie, H. & Bloice, L. Beyond REF 2014: The impact of impact assessment on the future of information research. Journal of Information Science, 2016. 42(3), 369-385.
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