OCLC Research and ALISE name recipients of

2012 Library and Information Science Research Grants

DUBLIN, Ohio, February 15, 2012—OCLC Research and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) have awarded research grants to Abdulhussain Mahdi and Arash Joorabchi of the University of Limerick, Laura Saunders and Mary Wilkins Jordan of Simmons College, and Carolyn Hank of McGill University and Cassidy Sugimoto of Indiana University Bloomington. The awards were presented January 19 at the ALISE 2012 Annual Conference Awards Reception in Dallas, Texas.

• Abdulhussain Mahdi, Ph.D., and Arash Joorabchi, Ph.D., of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Limerick, will investigate the development of a new trend of Automatic Text Classification (ATC) systems, in the project, “A New Unsupervised Approach to Automatic Topical Indexing of Scientific Documents According to Library Controlled Vocabularies.” The goal of the research is to allow practitioners to develop effective ATC systems for scientific digital libraries, without encountering the obstacles associated with the machine learning-based approach.
• Laura Saunders, Ph.D., and Mary Wilkins Jordan, Ph.D., of Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, will examine the day-to-day responsibilities and job duties of practicing academic reference librarians to obtain their perspective on which competencies and abilities are most important to reference librarians in the field. The project, “Reference Competencies from the Practitioner’s Perspective: An International Comparison,” includes investigators from Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and more.
• Carolyn Hank, Ph.D., of the School of Information Studies at McGill University, and Cassidy Sugimoto, Ph.D., of the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University Bloomington, will perform an internal examination in the project, “The Biblioblogosphere: A Comparison of Communication and Preservation Perceptions and Practices between Blogging LIS Scholar-Practitioners and LIS Scholar-Researchers.” The research will focus on perceptions, preferences and practices as they relate to one particular unit of communication—personal biblioblogs.

OCLC/ALISE Library and Information Science Research Grants support research that advances librarianship and information science, promotes independent research to help librarians integrate new technologies into areas of traditional competence, and contributes to a better understanding of the library environment. Full-time academic faculty (or the equivalent) in schools of library and information science worldwide are eligible to apply for grants of up to $15,000. Proposals are evaluated by a panel selected by OCLC and ALISE. Supported projects are expected to be conducted within approximately one year from the date of the award and, as a condition of the grant, researchers must furnish a final project report at the end of the grant period.

More information about the OCLC/ALISE Library and Information Science Research Grant Program can be found at www.oclc.org/research/grants/. A list of previous grant recipients is at www.oclc.org/research/grants/awarded.htm.

About ALISE
ALISE (Association for Library and Information Science Education) is a non-profit organization that serves as the intellectual home of university faculty in graduate programs in library and information science in North America. Its mission is to promote excellence in research, teaching, and service and to provide an understanding of the values and ethos of library and information science. ALISE serves 500 individual members and more than 60 institutional members, primarily in the United States and Canada. For more, visit www.alise.org.

About OCLC

Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

OCLC Research is one of the world’s leading centers devoted exclusively to the challenges facing libraries in a rapidly changing information environment. It works with the community to collaboratively identify problems and opportunities, prototype and test solutions, and share findings through publications, presentations and professional interactions. For more, visit www.oclc.org/research.

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