This paper examines aspects of journal articles published from 1967 to 2008, located in eight databases, and authored or co-authored by academics serving for at least two years in Australian LIS programs from 1959 to 2008. These aspects are: inclusion of publications in databases, publications in journals, authorship characteristics of…

A survey of Australian academic reference librarians was conducted as part of an international collaboration seeking to identify the most important knowledge, skills and attributes now and for the next ten years. Librarians working in or managing reference-related services at university and vocational education and training institutions…

The paper describes the processes and outcomes of the ranking of LIS journal titles by Australia's LIS researchers during 2007-8, first through the Australian federal government's Research Quality Framework (RQF) process, and then by its replacement, the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The requirement to rank the journals'…

The resource typologies proposed in the new standard, "Resource Description and Access" (RDA), are evaluated in the context of a particular university library catalogue through two card-sort exercises. Although it was found that end-users recognised the content and carrier aspects of the resource types as listed in RDA, they did not…

The study reported in this paper is part of a larger program of studies designed to review and renew the curricula of Library and Information Science (LIS) and the broader Information Management (IM) courses. This paper analysed job advertisements as readily accessible indicators of the knowledge, skills, and competencies required of IPs by…

The reasons why students who already hold a tertiary qualification and wish to pursue a career in librarianship/information management choose to undertake a VET LIS para-professional qualification in preference to a postgraduate qualification in LIS have received little formal attention. This paper reports the results of research undertaken to…

Much has been written about scholarly communication with studies investigating the drivers for research and publishing. For academics in particular, publication is a major determinant of a successful case for continuing employment, promotion and the winning of competitive research funding. The purpose of this paper is to inform understanding of…

Two factors identified as contributing to the lack of communication between researchers and practitioners, terminology and relevance, are the focus of this paper. A questionnaire distributed to senior staff in academic libraries asked participants to assess abstracts from articles in top ranked LIS journals. Results indicated a relatively high…

The Federal Government is introducing a new funding model for research in Australian higher education institutions, the Research Quality Framework (RQF). This paper provides an overview of the RQF and looks at possible impacts of the RQF on academic libraries in Australia. These impacts are drawn from experience at one Australian university,…