**Apologies for cross posting**
There are still emerging research reports which are based on work funded by
the Library and Information Commission. Listed below are the latest reports
to be published together with brief descriptions and ordering information.
Please remember that the LIC website is currently the only place where one
can find a full listing of LIC research reports (as well as an archive
listing of British Library Research and Innovation Centre research
publications). It is worth checking
http://www.lic.gov.uk/publications/researchreports/ on a regular basis as
this page is updated whenever a new report appears.
Please also note that information and news concerning the work of Resource:
the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries and its constituency will
appear on the mailbase list: resourcenews. Visit
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/resourcenews/ for details about the list and
also how to join.
Simon Matty
Research Programme Manager
Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
16 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AA
t: 020 7233 4200 x508
f: 020 7233 3686
e: [log in to unmask]
w: http://www.resource.gov.uk
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Reading Nation February 2000, conference report
by Miranda McKearney
10p
LIC research report 29
ISBN: 1902394178
Available from: British Thesis Service, The British Library Document Supply
Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ; tel: +44 (0) 1937
546229; fax: +44 (0)1937 546286; email: [log in to unmask]
Price: microfiche £5.00 UK; £6.00 overseas; photocopy £12.00 UK: £17.00
overseas
The report of a conference organised by the library development agencies
LaunchPad and The Reading Partnership. The purpose of the conference was to
showcase the energy, impact and inventiveness of libraries' partnership work
during the National Year of Reading and to build foundations for future
partnerships. The conference spread the message that partnerships with
libraries and their reading audiences make a major contribution to social
inclusion, cohesive communities, education, literacy, lifelong learning and
the creative industries. The conference also disseminated the results of new
research into the impact on libraries of the National Year of Reading.
Barriers discouraging access to libraries as agents of life long learning
by Barbara Hull
105p
LIC research report 31
ISBN: 1902394151
Executive summary: not available
Available from: British Thesis Service, The British Library Document Supply
Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ; tel: +44 (0) 1937
546229; fax: +44 (0)1937 546286; email: [log in to unmask]
Price: microfiche £5.00 UK; £6.00 overseas; photocopy £12.00 UK: £17.00
overseas
The report of research, conducted in 1999, which checked the assumption that
students in further and higher education experience barriers to accessing
libraries as agents of life long learning. Some relationships were found
between the degree of perceived barriers and variables such as: gender,
social class, ethnic origin, previous experience of library use and access
to a PC in the home. Other issues raised included student's perceptions of
insufficiency in the provision of textbooks, IT workstations and staffing
levels.
Reading the situation: book reading, buying & borrowing habits in Britain
by Book Marketing Limited
176p
LIC research report 34
ISBN: 1873517769
Available from: Book Marketing Limited, 7a Bedford Square, London WC1B 3RA;
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7580 7282, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7580 7236, Email:
[log in to unmask] Price £37.00
While the role of public libraries, as providers of information and as
vehicles for learning, is changing, policy makers and implementers have
recognised that readers must not be left out in the emphasis upon new
technology and information services. The importance of the traditional
services of lending material for reading has been emphasised by recent
research (Household library use survey 1998); at the same time, figures show
that public library issues - particularly of adult fiction books - have
declined over the last 10 years. If public libraries are to maximise their
potential as a source of reading material they need to understand the
reading habits and attitudes of their current and potential customers, and
what role and value these customers see for public libraries in fulfilling
their reading needs. In order to improve the library industry's
understanding of these issues, the LIC commissioned Book Marketing Limited
and The Reading Partnership to undertake a research study of the reading
habits and attitudes of adults and children in Britain at the end of the
twentieth century, particularly focusing on the inter-relationship between
reading, buying books, and borrowing from libraries. This report presents
the findings of the work and provides a wealth of information covering
themes such as: the extent of reading; reading and age; reading and gender;
the value of reading; getting people to read more; buying and borrowing
books; changes in borrowing habits; the unique role of libraries; and,
libraries and bookshops - complementary not conflicting.
Carpe diem: modelling futures for library regions in a changing cultural
environment
by the Circle of Officers of National & Regional Library Systems (CONARLS)
v,110p
LIC research report 38
ISBN: 0906433290
Available from: Information North, Bolbec Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle
upon Tyne NE1 1SE; Tel: +44 (0) 191 232 0877; Fax: +44 (0) 191 232 0804;
Email: [log in to unmask] Price £19.95
This report addresses a number of key strategic issues currently confronting
the English regional library bodies, considers several models for dealing
with their future and proposes a minimum standard for enabling an holistic
cross-domain partnership with the museums and archives sectors.
The Government's challenges to libraries regarding social inclusion,
lifelong learning, access to information and modern government can be dealt
with within a single sector context. The establishment of Resource: the
Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries further challenges the regional
library bodies to consider how the purpose and functions of the new national
body can be interpreted and delivered within a regional context. This
engagement could be achieved combining the regional bodies for museums,
libraries and archives into single new strategic bodies or by the managed
partnership of the constituents in a "joined-up" approach to regional
strategic challenges and joint projects. In addition, the report proposes a
review of library services delivered by the current regional library bodies
and considers the opportunity for new services to be provided on a regional
and, if cost effective and appropriate, on a national basis.
The report advocates a minimum standard of a strategy officer based in each
region promoting the interests of museums, libraries and archives,
particularly in relationships with the regional development agency and the
regional cultural consortium. This will provide a focus for each region to
progress the interests of museums, libraries and archives and enable them to
demonstrate common purpose in their dealings with other agencies or
organisations.
The report concludes that the influence of the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport (DCMS) and their regional officers and Resource: the Council for
Museums, Archives and Libraries will assist library regions to reach
decisions for the future which are appropriate for their own distinct
regional needs.
Northern Ireland publications: final report on the bibliographic scoping
study for the Library and Information Services Council (Northern Ireland)
by Don Kennington, Carleton Earl and Geoffrey Smith
33p
LIC research report 39
ISBN: 1902394216
Executive summary: not available
Available from: British Thesis Service, The British Library Document Supply
Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ; tel: +44 (0) 1937
546229; fax: +44 (0)1937 546286; email: [log in to unmask]
Price: microfiche £5.00 UK; £6.00 overseas; photocopy £12.00 UK: £17.00
overseas
The report of a study which surveyed how Northern Irish publications are
currently acquired and the extent to which they are systematically
collected, catalogued and preserved within libraries in Northern Ireland.
The report includes recommendations for the establishment of a scheme
whereby locally published material can be systematically identified,
acquired and made available in the future.
The power of nine: a preliminary investigation into navigation strategies
for the New Library with special reference to disabled people
by Kevin Carey and Roy Stringer
22p
LIC research report 74
STV/LIC programme report 8
ISBN: 1902394461
Available from: British Thesis Service, The British Library Document Supply
Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ; tel: +44 (0) 1937
546229; fax: +44 (0)1937 546286; email: [log in to unmask]
Price: microfiche £5.00 UK; £6.00 overseas; photocopy £12.00 UK: £17.00
overseas
In the first two decades of access to digital information through personal
computers and similar devices, the primary cause of social exclusion has
largely been defined as a set of problems revolving around the design and
cost of hardware and software. However, the entry into the market of
technologies such as digital television and WAP-enabled (Wireless Access
Protocol) mobile telephones is likely to bring digital information to the
whole population at a cost which is affordable and this will, in turn,
generate a new kind of social exclusion based on varying abilities in
information handling. One of the authors, Kevin Carey, has postulated that
there are five key characteristics in information handling: access,
apprehension, navigation, interaction and expression. Navigation, he feels,
has received far too little attention. This report is an attempt to consider
social inclusion as defined in this new paradigm and addresses some
fundamental issues in information navigation. The report is arranged under
the following headings, which relate to the original project deliverables:
overview of information navigation options; factors in deriving an optimal
information handling navigation system, and; next steps (summary and
recommendations). Data on the ability to navigate information systems will
be issued later as an appendix to the report.
Public library materials fund and budget survey 1999-2001
compiled by Sally Maynard
i, 262p
LIC research report 78
ISBN: 1901786323
Available from: Publications Section, LISU, Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU, Tel: +44 (0) 1509 223071; Fax: +44 (0) 1509 223072;
Email: [log in to unmask]
The Public Library Materials Fund and Budget Survey describes in detail how
our public library services are doing and how they plan to be doing. Based
upon an extensive survey of UK libraries, it is a compilation of recent
spending results, together with budgets for 2000-2001. Details of
expenditure and forecast budgets are included under several headings: total
library expenditure; total materials expenditure; expenditure on books;
expenditure on audio-visual materials; total staff; professional staff;
service points; hours open. Information on these themes is presented in
three main sections: i) a commentary, which includes summary tables by type
of authority, for each theme, and which calculates overall percentage
changes per sector from year to year; ii) summary tables by theme, each
table listing every authority under its sector; iii) authority tables,
including all the information submitted by each authority. Themes are
summarised by types of authority, viz.: London boroughs, metropolitan
districts, English counties, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Public Library Materials Fund and Budget Survey is an important source
which takes the pulse at several important pressure points of the entire UK
public library system. This volume of extensive and detailed data is a
useful management, marketing and study aid.
Average prices of British academic books: January to June 2000
17p
LIC research report 81
LISU British academic book prices report no. 27
ISBN: 190178634X
Available from: Publications Section, LISU, Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU, Tel: +44 (0) 1509 223071; Fax: +44 (0) 1509 223072;
Email: [log in to unmask]
The report continues the statistics of British academic book prices derived
from the Blackwell's (UK) database, which began with a base of July to
December 1984.
Average prices of USA academic books: January to June 2000
17p
LIC research report 82
LISU USA academic book prices report no. 27
ISBN: 1901786358
Available from: Publications Section, LISU, Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU, Tel: +44 (0) 1509 223071; Fax: +44 (0) 1509 223072;
Email: [log in to unmask]
The report uses data supplied by Blackwell's (NA) from their primary subject
coverage database and provides statistics on the average price of USA
academic books.
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