Writing research proposals

Something of interest from the Library and Information Research Group (CILIP) which I as a member of  the committee am invovled in the Scottish workshops and thought some of you may be interested in.

Are you interested in doing some research?

Would you like to improve your success rate for your research proposals?

Do you have a great idea but do not know how to turn this into funding? … then the Library & Information Research Group have two seminars to help you. How to write a successful research proposal: secrets of success .  

Session 1 - The first half-day seminar consists of presentations by successful library and information researchers in the art of writing a successful research proposal. Providing ideas and tips in:

• writing research proposals and experiences of actually conducting the research

• using research as evidence to support your own library / service development - in benchmarking etc,

• how to use research in your library / service to contribute to the wider profession, by publishing the results in the library journals etc.

Who should attend: Practitioners, students and academics. It is particularly suitable for those who have never submitted a research proposal and/or those who are interested in submitting proposals for the forthcoming LIRG funding awards.

Duration: 3 hours Cost: £25 members of LIRG or CDG Scotland; £50 non-members.

Locations and dates:

Glasgow: 8 January 2010, 10am – 1pm Strathclyde University, 26 Richmond Street, Glasgow. This session will be held in conjunction with the Career Development Group Scotland and is eligible for the CILIP Seal of Recognition.

Birmingham: 15 January 2010, Birmingham Central Library (1pm-4pm)

London: 12 January 2010, University of East London, Docklands Campus (10am-1pm) How to write a successful research proposal: proposal workshop -

 

Session 2 - This second session is a half day workshop offering participants an opportunity to:

• discuss sample proposals

• contribute a proposal of their own for workshop discussion

• network and discuss experiences.

Who should attend: Practitioners, students and academics. It is particularly suitable for those who have never submitted a research proposal and/or those who are interested in submitting proposals for future LIRG funding awards.

Duration: 3 hours Cost: £25 members of LIRG or CDG Scotland; £50 non-members.

Locations and dates:

Glasgow: 29 January 2010, 10am – 1pm Strathclyde University, 26 Richmond Street, Glasgow. This session will be held in conjunction with the Career Development Group Scotland and is eligible for the CILIP Seal of Recognition.

Birmingham: 29 January 2010, Birmingham Central Library (10am – 1pm)

London: 26 January 2010, University of East London, Docklands Campus (10am-1pm)

Why two seminars?

The two seminars are linked – with the first providing an introduction and the second a more practical experience to develop skills. Participants may attend both or sign up for either seminar. For attendance at the second seminar, participants will be asked to bring a draft proposal for discussion in the workshop session. Reduced Rates: For attending both seminars, the cost will be: £40 LIRG and CDG Scotland members; £75 non-members.

For further details contact Alison Brettle A.Brettle@salford.ac.uk.

For booking contact Alan Poulter Alan.Poulter@cis.strath.ac.uk  Final date for booking: 6th January 2010 (for all seminars).

Welcome to the Scottish Information Literacy Project

Welcome everyone to the Scottish Information Literacy Project and weblog we are delighted with the help we received from the invaluable Warren Smith in IT in setting it up. Things are reasonably good at the moment as we are currently funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Many Thanks to this body for keeping the show on the road. However although we are funded until the end of September 2009, now is not too soon to be thinking about finding future funding. 

We have recently been doing our first piece of consultancy, some subcontracting work for Becta. This has proved to be very informative and it shows that Becta is becoming aware of information literacy or digital literacy as they prefer to call it.  There is also growing interest in the early years/parental involvement agenda, the role of information in these areas and media literacy which is something we are interested in having previously had contacts with Ofcom Scotland. It was also flagged up strongly when I visited Washington in October last year to meet US experts on information literacy. However I feel that, while LIS research is using educational findings, I do not think that, on the whole, the converse is true. I attended a discussion last month on a pre print about digital natives and although information literacy was discussed in the text there were no references to LIS journals or research.

Christine and I are currently scurrying about meeting employers' organisations, the STUC, the Employability & Skills Division of the Lifelong Learning Directorate and Skills Development Scotland who are interested in the role of IL in careers guidance.  There is no doubt at all that the skills agenda is going to play a big part in the future of IL development and it is essential that it should be seen as a discrete skill and not just buried  under umbrella terms like 'problem solving' and 'soft skills'. A recurring problem for us is that we have no policy formulated by our professional body (CILIP) to show them.  An issue for the Policy Forum?

I am a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) which has a strong interest in vocational education and skills development.  We recently had a meeting with the RSA Outreach Officer who has agreeed to promote IL awareness among IL members.

 

Best wishes

 

John Crawford

 

Project Director