Information School News

Tools for Life Research Project Seeking Views on Patient Data Dr Sarah Hargreaves We are inviting members of the public, patients, and health professionals to take part in interviews which aim to explore what people think about sharing patient data/medical records for purposes beyond their individual care, e.g.for research to improve treatments or healthcare service. We are looking for people aged 25-44 or 65 plus and from a range of different backgrounds to take part. Your participation would involve being interviewed to find out your opinions about sharing your patient data/medical record. The expected length of the interview is about an hour. This would take place at a data/time of your choosing, and via the telephone, or skype, or google hangouts. To say thank you for your time, all participants will receive a £30 Amazon voucher which will be emailed to you after the interview. If you have any questions about the study and to receive an information sheet with further details please...

Survey Results: University library support to student mental health and well-being during COVID-19 Dr Andrew Cox Andrew Cox and Liz Brewster (Medical School, Lancaster University) undertook a survey of how university libraries are supporting student mental health and well-being during COVID-19.  The survey was open from 18th to 29th May 2020. This is a brief report on some of the main results of the survey. There were a total of 59 valid responses, representing 49 different institutions (some institutions gave more than one answer). Two were from outside the UK. For the purposes of this short initial report we have not de-duplicated responses. Of the responses 17 (29%) were from library directors and 13 (22%) from staff with a particular responsibility for the subject.  We are offering limited interpretation of the data at this stage. Watch this space for a pre-print of the paper using the survey. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the survey, and those who he...

Academic librarians are being invited to participate in the survey “Mapping the academic library of the future”. https://survey.shef.ac.uk/limesurvey/index.php?sid=39554 The survey forms part of a research project commissioned by the SCONUL Transformation Group. We are investigating the future academic library for the next 10 to 15 years in the context of the decline in importance of the printed book and its repercussions for use of library space, development of services, and deployment of staff. As part of the project, we have already undertaken interviews with senior library staff and others from education, technology, publishing, estates and heritage sectors, and are now conducting a survey to add to our findings. The results of this research will be used to inform policy and future plans and will be made widely available. We would like to hear a range of views and are inviting all library staff to complete the survey. Because this research focuses on informing the SCONUL community,...

As our graduate intern over the last six months, Stuart Crowley has worked on improving our provision for our iLab facility. On his last day in the department, he has written the following blog about his work here. After my graduation in English Language and Linguistics and an arduous stint of unemployment, I successfully applied to become a graduate intern for The Information School. For the past six months, I was tasked with evaluating and improving the state of the iLab facilities, a research facility with the purpose of observing and analysing human interaction with and without electronic devices. Thus, the iLab can be used to test website design and accessibility as well as analysing social interaction accompanied or unaccompanied by electronic devices – a potential goldmine for innovative and creative research projects. Before I arrived, the iLab was not always reaching its full potential. To evaluate this, I researched the needs and wants of previous and potentia...