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Communicating Research (Library and Information Science Series) (Library and Information Science) PDF

275 Pages·1997·14.4 MB·English
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Communicating Research Library and Information Science Consulting Editor: Harold Borko Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of California, Los Angeles Harold Borko and Charles L. Bemier Abstracting Concepts and Methods F. W. Lancaster Toward Paperless Information Systems H. S. Heaps Information Retrieval: Computational and Theoretical Aspects Harold Borko and Charles L. Bernier Indexing Concepts and Methods Gerald Jahoda and Judith Schiek Braunagel The Librarian and Reference Queries: A Systematic Approach Charles H. Busha and Stephen P. Harter Research Methods in Librarianship: Techniques and Interpretation Diana M. Thomas, Ann T. Hinckley, and Elizabeth R. Eisenbach The Effective Reference Librarian G. Edward Evans Management Techniques for Librarians, Second Edition Jessica L. Milstead Subject Access Systems: Alternatives in Design Dagobert Soergel Information Storage and Retrieval: A Systems Approach Stephen P. Harter Online Information Retrieval: Concepts, Principles, and Techniques Timothy C. Craven String Indexing The list of books continues at the end of the volume. Communicating Research A. J. Meadows Department of Information and Library Studies Loughborough University Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom Academic Press San Diego London Boston New York Sydney Tokyo Toronto This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 1998 by A. J. Meadows All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Academic Press a division of Harcourt Brace & Company 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, California 92101-4495, USA http://www.apnet.com Academic Press Limited 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX, UK http://www.hbuk.co.uk/ap/ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meadows, A. J. (Arthur Jack) Communicating research / A.J. Meadows. p. cm. — (Library and information science) Includes index. ISBN 0-12-487415-0 (alk. paper) 1. Research—communication systems. 2. Communication in science. 3. Communication of technical information. I. Title. II. Series: Library and information science (New York, N.Y.) Q180.55.I45.M43 1997 001.4'01'4-dc21 97-23432 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 97 98 99 00 01 02 QW 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface ix 1 Change and Growth Early Comunication 3 The Advent of the Research Journal 5 The Role of Societies 8 Journal Layout 1 The Acumulation of Research 13 Rapid Growth and Its Implications 18 Specialization and Research 21 The Profesionalization of Research 24 Amateurs and Others 26 Information Growth and the Researcher 29 The New Electronic World 32 2 Research Traditions The Development of Disciplinary Divisions 39 Subject Development 43 The Conceptual Basis in Science 48 Science and Other Disciplines 52 Knowledge Divisions 56 Examining Subject Diferences 61 Subject and Communication Diferences 6 Communication to a Wider Public 70 Information Technology and Subject Diferences 74 v VI Contents 3 Who Does Research and with What Results? The Reason Why 79 Psychological Factors 82 Productivity 85 Quality 89 Leading Researchers 93 Age 98 The Research Community 101 Colaboration 107 The Impact of New Technology 111 4 Channels for Communicating Research Design for Reading 16 Readability of Text 120 The Act of Reading 12 Publishers 125 Libraries 129 Oral Communication 13 Conferences 137 Human Networks 139 Information Flows 143 Electronic Chanels 149 Electronic Networks and Readers 153 5 Making Research Public Types of Publication 160 Diferent Publication Outlets 164 Writing for Publication 170 Editors and Referes 17 Referes and Authors 183 Particular Problems 189 Quality Control of Books 194 Research and the Media 199 Electronic Publishing 20 Contents Vi 6 Finding Out about Research Seking Research Information 205 Information Requirements 209 Organizing Personal Information 214 The Scater of Information 217 The Age Distribution of Information 220 Implications of Literature Usage 224 Electronic Retrieval of Information 227 Electronic Communication 232 The Mas Media 237 Postscript 239 References 243 This page intentionally left blank Preface Communication lies at the heart of research. It is as vital for research as the actual investigation itself, for research cannot properly claim that name until it has been scrutinized and accepted by colleagues. This necessarily requires that it be communicated. Again, the support of research is costly. Such funding is wasted unless the results of the research are presented to their appropriate audiences. Whichever way one looks at it, efficient and effective communication is an essential part of the research process. I first became interested in the nature of research communication back in the 1960s. Research activity, especially in science, was then expanding rapidly in the Western world. The question inevitably arose—how much longer can this expansion continue? Extrapolation suggested that by the end of the century—where we are now—something would have to give. Growth in funding, and consequently in the number of researchers would have to slow down. The follow-up question, though asked less frequently at the time, was this: Given that funding would be affected, how could the money avail- able be used to produce the maximum amount of high-level research? At that stage, I was working in the Department of Printed Books and Manuscripts at the British Museum (now a part of the British Library) in London. What interested me was a particular aspect of this problem: How could the communication of research be handled most efficiently as funding slowed? The answer again seemed obvious. Computers were already being used for information handling in the 1960s. Their future development would surely allow the rapid manipulation of large quantities of information and make them increasingly effective tools for the communication of research. After the British Museum, I returned to academic life, working in astronomy, the history of science, and, finally, information and library studies. The first two fields provided an interesting contrast in how researchers in the sciences and those in the humanities handle information. Researchers in these two fields see the world from different angles; their ideas on the nature of acceptable knowledge differ, and their research communities are organized IX

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