The story so far: a summary of the contributions to the ‘Dissertations into practice’ feature

Abstract

The 'Dissertations into practice' feature began life in March 2012 with a dual aim: to encourage students and new professionals to write for publication and to highlight the impact of student research on policy and practice. This article reflects on the initiative and to summarise what has been achieved so far. It highlights the diverse range of contributions to the feature so far and proves that student research can and does influence policy and practice. It also demonstrates that, with a bit of encouragement and support, students are willing and able to write for academic publication. AM.

The story continues: an overview of the ‘Dissertations into Practice’ feature

“…In the last update, I highlighted the range of contributions while noting that eight of the thirteen published articles reported on investigations into an aspect of library service provision in the NHS, thus making NHS library services the most thoroughly explored topic. Two articles examined health information provision by public libraries, and a further three articles looked at information needs and behaviour – of the public, patients and community health workers.…”

“…In the earlier summary article, I highlighted a theme around the use of technology to enhance NHS library and information services. In contrast, there have been no contributions on technology in service provision since 2013, and the emphasis has shifted much more towards addressing the needs of users and, specifically, on how to make services more accessible and less intimidating to those users.…”

“…However, contributions from outside the UK are always welcome, and there have been several published articles written from an international perspective. Since the 2015 update, which included two such articles, there has been one non‐UK contribution. This article, written by Ahmadizadeh et al ., echoes the theme of anxiety but in a very different context.…”

“…Investigating aspects of consumer health information behaviour have been a consistent theme since this feature first began. However, what has emerged as a new strand since the September 2015 update is the opportunities offered by social media and mobile technologies.…”

“…In the first article, in which I introduced the feature, I referred to the research gap in the library and information world, often conceptualised as a tension between academics and practitioners . In an update article in September 2015, I suggested that this research gap was a continuing feature in our profession and that ‘many information practitioners feel daunted by the idea of carrying out research, and lack the confidence needed to become involved in research activities’ . However, as I also pointed out, many practitioners are in fact conducting research without realising it – collecting and analysing data or evaluating an aspect of a service – and small research projects such as those can be of value to a wider audience than the service's host organisation.…”