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In recent years, many studies have highlighted the changing nature of scholarly research, reflecting the new digital tools and techniques that have been developed. But researcher uptake of these tools is strongly influenced by existing information behaviour, itself affected by a number of factors, particularly discipline. This article outlines findings from a recent study which used six case studies to look at the information behaviours of researchers working in different disciplinary fields or academic departments, or using specific tools. The study suggested that researchers' uses of, and attitudes towards, digital technologies are affected by existing disciplinary habits and preconceptions. Furthermore, it found that the computational and collaborative complexity of the tools that researchers used was linked to their disciplinary backgrounds. (Contains 5 notes and 3 figures.)

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The affordability of textbooks and unsustainable commercial models are issues that many libraries face. As an alternative, there is a growing movement in the United States around open and affordable textbooks. However, to date there has been less activity in the UK despite the introduction of a range of policies that encourage or mandate open access publication of research outputs such as journal articles or monographs. These policy changes have affected academics' attitudes to open access, but it is not yet clear whether the opportunity to publish in open access would affect researchers' propensity to create non-research outputs such as textbooks and learning materials. In 2017, Jisc Collections proposed a study into author incentives for textbook publishing in order to understand whether open access would motivate authors to publish learning materials and thereby support a transition to open access for e-textbooks. The study consisted of a survey, focus groups and interviews. This article discusses the results of the research and provides several key insights and future opportunities for those wishing to explore open and affordable textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective -- To test whether routinely-generated library usage data could be linked with information about students to understand patterns of library use among students from different disciplines at the University of Huddersfield. This information is important for librarians seeking to demonstrate the value of the library, and to ensure that they are providing services which meet user needs. The study seeks to join two strands of library user research which until now have been kept rather separate -- an interest in disciplinary differences in usage, and a methodology which involves large-scale routinely-generated data. Methods -- The study uses anonymized data about individual students derived from two sources: routinely-generated data on various dimensions of physical and electronic library resource usage, and information from the student registry on the course studied by each student. Courses were aggregated at a subject and then disciplinary level. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to identify statistically significant differences between the high-level disciplinary groups, and within each disciplinary group at the subject level. Results -- The study identifies a number of statistically significant differences on various dimensions of usage between both high-level disciplinary groupings and lower subject-level groupings. In some cases, differences are not the same as those observed in earlier studies, reflecting distinctive usage patterns and differences in the way that disciplines or subjects are defined and organised. While music students at Huddersfield are heavy library users within the arts subject-level grouping arts students use library resources less than those in social science disciplines, contradicting findings from studies at other institutions, Computing and engineering students were relatively similar, although computing students were more likely to download PDFs, and engineering students were more likely to use the physical library. Conclusion -- The technique introduced in this study represents an effective way of understanding distinctive usage patterns at an individual institution. There may be potential to aggregate findings across several institutions to help universities benchmark their own performance and usage; this would require a degree of collaboration and standardisation. This study found that students in certain disciplines at Huddersfield use the library in different ways to students in those same disciplines at other institutions. Further investigation is needed to understand exactly why these differences exist, but some hypotheses are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK public policy makers have a growing interest in collaborative research, where academics work with public, private or third sector partners on a joint project which supports the partner's aims. This paper reports on the findings of five case studies, looking at how information is sourced, managed, used and shared within collaborative research projects. It finds that researchers within collaborative projects have similar information management issues as are known to exist within academia more broadly, but that the specific conditions which govern research collaborations mean that interventions to improve or support information management must be carefully tailored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the possibilities and feasibility of open access monograph publishing in the humanities and social sciences (HSS), OAPEN-UK presents some initial findings from its benchmarking survey with the projects' authors, publishers and members of the steering group. The survey explores their awareness of and attitudes towards open access, their motivations for publishing and priorities in scholarly communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many studies have highlighted the changing nature of scholarly research, reflecting the new digital tools and techniques that have been developed. But researcher uptake of these tools is strongly influenced by existing information behaviour, itself affected by a number of factors, particularly discipline. This article outlines findings from a recent study which used six case studies to look at the information behaviours of researchers working in different disciplinary fields or academic departments, or using specific tools. The study suggested that researchers’ uses of, and attitudes towards, digital technologies are affected by existing disciplinary habits and preconceptions. Furthermore, it found that the computational and collaborative complexity of the tools that researchers used was linked to their disciplinary backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information is at the heart of research. Every stage of the research cycle involves discovering, accessing, generating, manipulating, interpreting or presenting information, in order to advance knowledge. Researchers operate within a complex information environment, with needs that they themselves perhaps do not always fully understand, and are dependent upon services which are fast-changing and affected by much wider social trends. This paper examines how researchers in the humanities currently access, use and share information, paying particular attention to the influence of new technologies in changing information — and consequently wider research — practices. It finds that researchers are adopting new technologies where this helps them to work more effectively, but that traditional practices still dominate in some areas. There is mixed evidence of new research questions emerging as a result of engagement with new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the technological innovations that have influenced the working practices of researchers to communicate information which include the development of tools such as web 2.0 services and electronic journals. According to the Research Information Network survey, researchers have shown interest towards adoption of social media in research practices. It informs that the global increase in the use of electronic books have made the library services less visible.