Understanding the “Complexity of Experience”: Modeling Faculty Research Practices

Despite the amount of research that faculty do and the influence they have over their students' use of the library, faculty research is not well understood by the academic libraries trying to support it. Rather “research” is often considered synonymous with information seeking and other information behaviors. This grounded theory study interviewed nine internationally recognized scholars about their research practices, and proposes a model of research that is complex and intimately connected to the other areas of academic practice (teaching and service). This model includes information seeking as one aspect, but also considers social, environmental, organizational, and dissemination components, and how those components interact. Having a better understanding of research equips academic libraries to better support faculty, and through the faculty, their students.