Research

This chapter provides an overview of the research in librarianship and information science (hereafter LIS) carried out in the UK in the period 2011-2015, complementing the analogous British Librarianship and Information Work chapters by Nicolas for the periods 1991-2000 and 2001-2005 and by Sen and Willett for the period 2006-2010. More specifically, we consider first the funding environment for LIS research in the UK, and then the process and outcome of REF2014, a nationwide evaluation of the quality of research conducted by UK universities. The next, and largest, section discusses the range of LIS research being conducted in the UK as reflected in both the academic and the professional literatures, the latter including a brief discussion of the perceived value of different media to the research process, and the chapter concludes by summarising important characteristics, both positive and negative, of the current state of LIS research in the UK.