Five Years of Empirical Research in the Area of Technical Services: An Examination of Selected Peer-Reviewed Journals, 2007-2011

摘要

Through this study the author adds to the existing body of literature on library and information science research by reporting results of statistical descriptive data analysis of the empirical research studies in the field of technical services. The author used the non-probability purposive sample approach and content analysis method to collect and analyze 256 articles published in a group of 21 journals over 5-year period (2007-2011). The author aimed to answer the questions on research methods used and topics addressed by the other authors reviewed in this study. The case study and survey were found to be the two most widely used research methods; the majority of studies employed qualitative data analysis; and the topics of electronic resources management and access to the materials in online catalog were the most popular research topics during the investigated time period. The study is set in context of previous examinations of general library and information science research as well as research conducted in various sub-fields of librarianship.