LIS DREaM Report, Part 2: The Afternoon (and Lunch!)

This is Part 2 of my report - start at the beginning!


Lunch and Networking

I’ve been to a couple of events at the British Library Conference Centre before and as usual, the catering was wonderful - the Peyton & Byrne lemon curd tarts were my particular favourite, although the broccoli and Stilton tart was a close competitor.

I’ve already written a short post on how Twitter made networking with the other delegates much easier, but I just want to note again how very friendly everyone was. I don’t usually go to events that attract a lot of researchers so I hadn’t met many delegates before, but it was great to hear so much about the kind of research people were involved in and what they were hoping to achieve. As I said in my application, I’d like to get involved in research, but I’ve not done any yet, and I was still made to feel very welcome.


Breakout Sessions

It was almost impossible to choose a breakout session, as they all sounded useful and interesting, and indeed that proved to be the case when we heard the reports back. The choices were:

1. Raising your research dissemination ambitions (Philip Hills)
2. Extending your research methods repertoire (Julie McLeod, Elizabeth Lomas)
3. Stepping out of the comfort zone by collaborating across disciplines (Sara Rankin, Gina Czarnecki)
4. Cultivating networks: opportunities and challenges (Gunilla Widén)

I attended Session 3, simply because it sounded so very interesting: stem cell & leukocyte researcher Professor Rankin and frequently-collaborating artist Gina Czarnecki were to talk about merging Science and Art in their public engagement work.

And it really was fascinating. Of all the things I expected from this conference, it never once occurred to me that I might learn how to fill an enormous crystal resin fairytale castle with children’s milk teeth. Learning about the Palaces Project (and how it contributes to public understanding of science and to wider ethical discussions about consent and bodily autonomy) is exactly why I love being a librarian: the opportunities for learning about random and interesting things are unequalled. [1]

My potential-collaboration map

More importantly for LIS research, though, we also learnt about collaborations, and how it’s the personal relationship that guides the whole thing forwards. We heard about the importance of letting go of control to get the most out of a collaboration, and how to be open to the strange and unexpected directions that a great collaboration can lead you in. We drew our own maps of potential or actual collaborations (mine’s pictured), and I’m definitely going to be keeping one eye open for opportunities to engage in this kind of work.

Finally, we also learnt that a disturbing number of mothers are clinging onto really old milk teeth, but that it’s okay - Gina can rewhiten them with special powders. Knowing the vagaries of reference work, I’m sure this is knowledge that will become useful one day.


Closing Keynote: Dylan Evans, ‘The Promiscuous Researcher: Flirting Across Disciplines and Courting the Media.’

Dr Evans took us through the unusual path of his academic career so far - from Linguistics graduate through work in Psychoanalysis, to a Doctorate in Philosophy and a postdoc in Robotics (obviously!), as well as running his own businesses and working in departments with varied focuses: Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Medicine, for instance.

Of course, there was a logical developmental path to all this, and he stressed that the variety is what led to interesting research opportunities and intellectual developments. He talked about the various collaboration opportunities he’s had along the way, such as a fascinating project where an artist used mechanical engineering equipment (a 3d printer) to create a work based on the heart. This, in turn, lead to greater understanding of the potential medical uses of this kind of printing equipment. [2]

Finally, he talked about the need to promote libraries’ work and research by courting the media, and left us with an interesting insight into a side benefit of moving between fields and collaborating across disciplines: you come to realise that actually, every discipline has the same kind of problems that Professor Cronin outlined in the opening key note, and it’s only from the outside that they look more coherent!

My conclusions

As I’ve been writing this report on the conference, I’ve still not come up with an idea on exactly which area I’d like to start my forays into LIS research. However, my enthusiasm for joining in as a practitioner has definitely increased, and I’ve certainly learnt a lot about problem areas to look out for, particularly the need to focus on rigorous methodology, to root LIS work in wider areas of thought, and to firmly link any potential research I perform to the needs and experiences of practitioners.

I’m also going to be looking out for potential areas of collaboration that would serve to raise the profile of LIS research and libraries as well as produce useful and practical research outcomes. Biddy Fisher made the excellent point in Breakout Session 3 that librarians and LIS researchers are trained in thinking laterally, both across subject boundaries and in terms of understanding others, as well as in how knowledge fits together - inter-disciplinary collaboration should be something we can do well.




1. At this point, some of us privately made a mental note to reread Hogfather and look out for signs of spare belief sloshing around the vicinity of Imperial College.
2. A PDF of the project report details more information.