#Dissertations: academic libraries and social media

In the #uklibchat session on library/information student research last night, one thing that was mentioned was repositories for Masters dissertations. The Sheffield iSchool (i.e. my department) has one http://dagda.shef.ac.uk/dispub/ (it's a bit clunky, you can only search on words in the title, not in full text, but there are lots of interesting dissertations!) and it was mentioned that City University use Humanities Commons, you search https://hcommons.org/deposits/?facets[group_facet][]=CityLIS
One recent dissertation from City University, based on desk research is:
Rippon, A. (2017) An examination into the ways that academic libraries can use social media to support information literacy teaching http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6TT30 "This research provides an evaluation into the relevance of social media tools as a means of supporting the provision of information literacy in academic libraries. It uses the information literacy framework A New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) developed by Secker and Coonan in 2011 as the basis for examination and draws upon examples and studies from academic research, higher education institutions, and social media platforms. Social media is prevalent within many areas of modern life, particularly amongst younger generations. Therefore, it is important to consider whether it can be an active element to the development of information literacy skills. Typically academic libraries have used social media for marketing purposes rather than to provide study support or as information resources in their own right. This research seeks to highlight that social media platforms can be a valuable tool in developing information literacy skills in university level students. The conclusions drawn from the research provide clear recommendations for academic libraries to utilise social media to further their delivery of information literacy."
Photo by Sheila Webber: waiting for lunch at Liberty's, London, July 2017