BOOK AND SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Grant, M. J., Sen, B., & Spring, H. (Eds.). Research, evaluation and audit: key steps in demonstrating your value. London: Facet publishing, 2013. xviii, 236p. ISBN 978-1-85604-741-8. £49.95
This is a quite short book but it is a live reflection of Editors' time-tested, mature, and visionary approach on subject. The editors themselves have versatile record of contributions to library and information science. It seems to me, that the readers of the book will appreciate editors for extra-ordinary selection of contents, ways of presenting it, and particularly keeping the reader's interest alive during the course of reading. One can notice great diversity in the background of contributors - researchers and practitioners with multidisciplinary professional backgrounds listing affiliations from distinct geographical areas. This variety adds to the value of this book and enriches the reader's experience. This book is unique in the sense that it bridges long lasting research-practice gap in library and information science, suggests and enhanced participation and even offers a major role to library practitioners in research.
The editors have built their ideas on the HEALER research toolkit, which is recommended for practitioners starting a research project. They have divided the book into three parts. Each chapter addresses specific issues in research, evaluation, and audit. The first part introduces the most important stages of designing a research project and the concepts that guide this process. The second part deals with each phase in detail, explaining the role and ways of conducting a literature review, choosing a suitable method among many quantitative and qualitative methods and instruments, and the role and approach to conducting the analysis of collected data. Finally, the third part explains how to compose research texts, transform research findings into practical recommendations, implement the improvements suggested by research, and promote the project to others.
The chapters have been arranged in such a way that there is a natural flow of ideas in a sequence. Each chapter starts with an indication of key issues in the form of short questions or phrases, a short but comprehensive introduction to a chapter, and then other relevant contents. The presentation of ideas illustrated by case studies from genuine library and information science settings makes the contents easy to understand. Details about each case study begin with a short title referencing the original source of that case study. The description of each case study is practical, appealing to a common professional, and not omitting the complexities of details. Similarly, illustrations with summary tables, models, graphs, and points of reflection in chapters make contents more practicable for use. In addition, a summary at the end of each chapter and suggested readings are adding value to the book. The style of writing is motivational offers practical guidance. The writing style and the whole text are unambiguous and do not require additional attempts to understand the meaning.
I strongly recommend this book, for at least one single reading, to my professional colleagues in the working settings. I do hope that they will find it helpful and use it in 'demonstrating their value' as has been suggested by editors in its sub-title. I would also suggest this book as a source book to students and practitioners who aim to write their own text in practice or research. It is step-by-step guide in doing research or working on research project. Final term students in library and information science should not miss reading it. They will definitely like it and will keep it with them while working on the research element of their education. I hope that readers of this book will, themselves, judge its above-average contents.
