The School of Information and Communication Studies engages in a wide range of research activities in the field of information studies. Its academics are active members of research centres and groups, both locally and internationally. Outlined below are the areas of expertise and focus for these research initiatives:
Exploring the practice, context and history of collections and collecting institutions in documenting society. Areas of research include archives and records, collection management; institutions and repositories, material culture and cultural heritage; conservation and preservation; the history of archives, library and information science.
Key people: Dr Mary Carroll, Dr Lizzy Tait
Investigating how and why people interact with information. Research areas include information seeking behaviour, information literacy, information behaviour and flow, information seeking and serious leisure, and the affective impact of information interaction.
Key people: Dr Waseem Afzal, Dr Hamid Jamali, Dr Yazdan Mansourian, Dr Asim Qayyum
Focusing on information and knowledge organisation, and the uses and value of metadata in the context of retrieval and other information systems. Research areas include information resource description, bibliographic control (incl. cataloguing and classification), metadata, and indexing.
Key people: Professor Philip Hider, Dr Debbie Lee
Examining leadership and management in an information context, and the role and functionality of information systems. Research areas include marketing for information services, information leadership, and library management systems’ features and functionality.
Key people: Dr Waseem Afzal, Dr Simon Wakeling, Dr George Yi
Considering the role and impact of libraries in a range of social contexts. Research areas include prison libraries, teacher librarianship, public libraries, libraries in educational settings, children’s and youth literature.
Key people: Dr Waseem Afzal, Dr Mary Carroll, Krystal Gagen-Spriggs, Dr Jane Garner , Dr Kasey Garrison, Professor Philip Hider, Dr Kay Oddone, Dr Asim Qayyum , Dr Lizzy Tait, Anita Dewi, Dr Simon Wakeling,
Understanding, mapping and informing changes in the ways that academic research is communicated. Research areas include open access, open data, measuring research impact, and the theory-practice relationship.
Key people: Dr Hamid Jamali, Dr Simon Wakeling