Collaborative Efforts in Cross-Country Studies on Information Sharing Infrastructure between China and the US: Introducing an International Cooperative Research Method.

Two studies conducted during 2000-2001 compared how information resources are shared collaboratively through electronic devices between libraries in the United States and China. The two studies, presented at the ASIST (American Society for Information Science and Technology) 2000 annual conference and 12th International Conference on New Information Technology, were the results of collaborative efforts between U.S. and Chinese library researchers. A newly developed International Cooperative Research Method was employed in both studies and was thought to be extremely useful in conducting such cross-country work. The research method comprises a combination of five tactical components: expert collaboration, participant survey, purposive comparison, global perspective, and remote scene. Through presenting the results of these cross-country studies, this paper discusses the merits and issues of employing this new cooperative research method. (Author/MES)