LIRG Student Prize 2008 Winner
The Library and Information Research Group (LIRG) awards a student research prize each year for a research-based project. Typically it will be a Postgraduate dissertation or a final year Undergraduate project. Each type will be given appropriate consideration. Each School of Library and Information Studies is invited to nominate one of their students' projects for the award.
LIRG offers the prize to promote a greater awareness amongst students of the importance of research and to facilitate the dissemination of the results of outstanding projects.
LIRG is pleased to announce the winner of the 2008 prize:
Joanna Bryant, formerly of Loughborough University, for her dissertation 'An ethnographic study of user behavior in Open3 at the Pilkington Library'.
Previous winners of the award have included:
- Catherine Parkinson, Loughborough University: Website accessibility statements; a comparative investigation of local government and high street sectors (2007)
- Neil Parkinson, City University: What's so special about special collections? (2006)
- Louise Glen, Sheffield University: The creativity of reading fiction (2005).
- Jonathan Back, Loughborough University: An evaluation of relevance ranking techniques used by Internet search engines
- Amanda Tinker, Loughborough University: Automatic abstracting: a review and an empirical evaluation
- Nicholas Lewis, Thames Valley University: Level 4 Information and Library services NVQ: and alternative route to professional status in the ILS sector
- Alyn Jones, of Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh: The Corporate Internet
Details of the 2009 student prize will be announced later this year
LIRG STUDENT PRIZE: Procedures and Conditions 1. Prizes will be awarded to students completing courses leading to a first professional qualification recognised by CILIP in Schools/Departments of Library and Information Studies.
2. The value of the award is £300.
3. The work of one student may be submitted by each of the Schools/Departments of Library and Information Studies with a short (no more than 200/300 word) supporting recommendation.
4. The closing date for submission is 31st March 2008. Work completed and assessed in the past twelve months is eligible.
5. Projects to be submitted shall be ones completed as part of normal course requirements in a course leading to a first professional qualification and shall be of the level which might be called "dissertation", "major project", etc.
6. Research is to be interpreted broadly but must include some original work.
7. A Panel will be appointed by the Library and Information Research Group to judge entries and award prizes. The Panel's decision will be final. The Panel will publish a general summary of the strengths and weaknesses of entries in order to encourage the quality of student research.
8. The Library and Information Research Group will from time to time publish a set of criteria for the judging of entries.
9. Prize winners shall agree to:
9.1. Give a short presentation on their projects at a special LIRG meeting, when the prizes will be awarded;
9.2. Write a short summary for the LIRG journal Library and Information Research
10. LIRG may wish to negotiate publication rights with the prize winner's department or school. Alternatively, LIRG will advise prize winners on the publication of suitable work.
11. Applications should be sent to:
Dr Jean Yeoh
Director ISS Corporate Services
Information Services & Systems
King's College London
4th Floor Waterloo Bridge Wing
Franklin Wilkins Building
150 Stamford Street
London SE1 9NN
jean.yeoh@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 1844
The work will be returned to your School/Department after judging.
Previous winners of the Award have included:
* Catherine Parkinson, formerly a student of Loughborough University: Website accessibility statements; a comparative investigation of local government and high street sectors
* Neil Parkinson, formerly of City University for his study, What's so special about special Collections?
* Louise Glen, formerly of the University of Sheffield for her study, The creativity of reading fiction
* Cheryl Twomey, formerly of the University of North London, for her study, An analysis of the design and quality of patients information leaflets supplied with medicines sold by pharmacists in the United Kingdom
* Alyn Jones, formerly of Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh, for his study, The Corporate Internet (Undergraduate winner)
Judging Criteria
Is the topic appropriate?
Have the objectives been clearly stated?
Have the objectives been met?
How good is the background information?
How thorough is the literature search (if appropriate)?
Is the topic, and the problems associated with it, understood?
Is the research well designed?
Is the methodology (including any statistical techniques used):
* Appropriate?
* Understood?
* Correctly applied?
Has the proposition been well argued?
Are the conclusions consistent with the findings?
Is the report well presented (in terms of clarity, layout and
readability)?
Is good use made of diagrams, supporting illustrations?
Does the work show evidence of originality?
Was the project successful or worthwhile?
Is the work of professional relevance?