Research and practice: findings from the Interactions project

This article reports on findings from a consultancy project commissioned by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of a broader study on library, archive and information management research and academics, and their interactions with practitioners. This article does not necessarily represent the views of the AHRC. The project was carried out between February and June 2006, and involved a number of focus groups with academics and practitioners from both domains, and across sectors, supplemented by a series of interviews with key library and archive professionals and researchers. These explored issues of good practice as well as barriers to the successful uptake of research by practitioners and communication between academics and practitioners. Findings indicate that there are – still – key perceptual and practical issues which work against practitioner access to and uptake of research that comes from the academic community. However, examples of good practice and suggestions for closer contact and co-operation suggest that there are ways to overcome some of these barriers.