Research in library and information science in the United Kingdom: a great leap backwards

For twenty-five years the British Library was responsible for sponsoring research programmes aimed at developing and improving the body of knowledge and the practice of librarianship and information science. During that time a community of competent researchers in academia and among practitioners was nurtured and an influential corpus of research results published. The Library and Information Commission aimed to continue and develop that position through a new national research strategy. Responsibility for research and the associated funds have now passed to Resource, the Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives, which has announced that research is now a strategic tool to support its own annual workplan. This will have a negative effect on research generally and on practitioner based research in particular.
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