1. Essential information skills for
researchers: A collaborative
project to develop an online,
open access resource.
Chris Bark,
Coventry University
Liz Martin,
De Montfort University

2. Content
 Who we are
 Project history and methods
 Perceptions and needs ‐ our recent findings
 Pilot module content
 Demo
 Taking a collaborative approach ‐ benefits and challenges
 Next steps

3. Who we are...
 East Midlands Research Support Group:
Loughborough, Nottingham, De Montfort, Leicester,
Coventry, Northampton and Warwick
 EMRSG Project consortium:
Loughborough, Nottingham, Coventry, De Montfort

4. Information handling skills for researchers
project: Why?
 Observation of the information handling skills of researchers at all
levels
 Increasing internal push for online learning objects
 Discussions at a regional library event (Emalink)
Desire for re‐usable suite of generic tutorials
Prevent us all reinventing the wheel

5. Project Timetable
 Autumn 2009: First meeting
 Jan 2010: Funding & initial planning
 Spring: Review of current products
 Summer: Surveys of researchers' attitudes to learning &
information skills, plus interviews
 Autumn: Design & authoring tool selection
 Jan‐May 2011: Construction of content
 May: Evaluation of pilot units
 Summer: Editing in response to feedback
 Autumn: Start of dissemination
 2012: Dissemination

6. Review of current products
Looked at
 Pilot
 Swim- Denmark
 Irish Information literacy programme
 Pathway2Information- Nottingham
 Open University
 I-lit (Cranfield)
 Epigeum

7. Researchers’ survey and Interviews
2 surveys conducted:
First survey
Conducted at research conference at
Loughborough (researchers attitudes towards
learning, particularly elearning)
Second larger survey
 Created by Sarah McNicoll
 224 responses from Nottingham, Loughborough
and DMU
 Followed up with 11 face-to-face interviews

8. Researchers’ survey and Interviews
Key results
 Include element of hands-on
 Ability to complete at own pace at a
convenient time
 Visuals and links to external resources
important
 Liked learning from peers

9. Design
Selected Xerte as the
authoring tool
 Open source
 Content can be re-
used and repurposed
 Designed for non-
techies
 Technical help

10. Areas identified for content
include
 Primary Information, to include ethics, information
gathering and archives
 Secondary Information, to include effective searching,
information beyond academia and information issues for
projects such as researching funding bids
 Promotion of your research (next slide)
 Management, to include reference management and
data management

11. Content of Pilot module

12. Quick live demo of the final
‘Dissemination of your research’
module

14. Evaluation of pilot module
 Conducted by a ‘neutral’ research associate, Michael Norris
 Qualitative methods:
Focus groups (Nottingham, Loughborough & DMU)
Observations (Coventry)
 Recommendations were produced for whole module, plus
comments on individual units which have aided editing and revisions.

15. Taking a collaborative
approach
Image by Nicola Corboy, used under a Creative
Commons Licence,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/n_corboy/4921290518/size
s/m/in/photostream

16. Mindmap of wider collaboration

17. Our experience: Benefits to us
 More motivation
 Increased knowledge of other organisations
 Sharing of knowledge of tools
 Support
 Friendship

18. Our experience: Benefits to the project
 More time
 More money
 More ideas
 More skills
 More potential contacts

19. Our experience ‐ challenges
 Different institutional expectations (PGRs or Research
staff?)
 Editorial control
 Politics and diplomacy, especially regarding deadlines
 Cross‐institutional file sharing, especially video

20. The Future
 Add to Jorum and Xpert as open access
 Promotion and Publicity

21. Contacts
Coventry University De Montfort University
Chris Bark Liz Martin
c.bark@coventry.ac.uk emartin@dmu.ac.uk
Judy Thompson
j.thompson@coventry.ac.uk
Loughborough University University of Nottingham
Helen Young Wendy Stanton
h.young@lboro.ac.uk wendy.stanton@nottingham.ac.uk
Ruth Stubbings Jenny Coombs
r.e.stubbings@lboro.ac.uk jenny.coombs@nottingham.ac.uk
Keep in touch with the project at:
www.emrsg.org.uk

22. Questions?