translating interests in collaboration
DESCRIPTION
I am interested in studying collaboration between research and practice and one of the fields of interest is LIS. I present you a toolkit for impact studies of library services on patient care. This toolkit is the product of collaboration and I argue that it can act as a boundary object, able to travel across healthcare libraries and the research-practice divide.TRANSCRIPT
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Marisa Ponti & Diane H. SonnenwaldGöteborg University & University College of Borås
Sweden
Translating Interests in Collaboration: Library Services and Patient Care
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Introduction •Library & Information science (LIS) - Historically a practice-oriented field - Currently co-presence of academic research community and practice-research community.
• Challenge facing LIS:
- Bridging the practice-research gap
Collaboration informed by evidence-based research to support professional practices and legitimate professional role in the eyes of service funders.
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Research Question & Methods• Question - How do information professionals and researchers translate their interests in a collaborative project?
• Research Methods - Informed by Actor-Network Theory/ Callon’s model of translation of interests (1986) - Case study approach - Data for this case study:
5 semi-structured interviews 30 documents, e.g., including project documents, annual reports, etc.
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Case: Overview of IMPPRO
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Case: Stakeholders and Interests
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
The Toolkit – Developing Infrastructure (Star & Ruhleder, 1996)• Not a neutral instrument - Organizing entity merging human and nonhuman actors - Sunk in established practices of impact studies - Value-laden choice of what stakeholders want to obtain
• Transparent - Provide ready to hand principles and methods
• Can be learned as part of membership - Association with a CoP
• Multifunctional
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Conclusion and Future Considerations
• Toolkit as a: - Immutable mobile (Latour, 1987) - Potential ”black box”, if it is valued and widely used But: • Reshuffle of interests may be needed as competing
forces arise
4S Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, August 20-23, 2008
Acknowledgments
Our thanks to the study participants
This research is funded by the Center for Collaborative Innovation and
the Bengt Helmqvist Fund