Possibility and imagination: a personal exploration of research and librarianship

Libraries and research have a symbiotic relationship. Researchers depend on libraries and the collections and information services we curate and libraries depend on researchers and writers, and their publishers, to deliver the stuff that we make available. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between research and practice.

This paper reports the author’s perspective as a librarian with nearly four decades in practice who has undertaken a variety of research throughout his career.

Identifies the need for a more systematic relationship that will encourage better practice in research and lead practitioners to draw on the findings of more reliable research to inform their practice, test possibilities and stimulate imagination.

Tracing the intertwining of research and practice through one career, the paper presents a uniquely detailed perspective.