News

The Council of Atlantic University Libraries/Conseil des bibliothèques universitaires de l'Atlantique (CAUL-CBUA) is pleased to award its inaugural Collaborative Research & Innovation Grant.

The CAUL-CBUA Collaborative Research & Innovation Grant is intended to encourage collaborative research across the academic libraries in the region, proposing solutions to practical questions as well as projects which involve structured evidence-based research. Identification of projects of regional interest, which can prove useful in developing research partnerships between practitioners, educators and students is also encouraged.

We would like to congratulate our grant winners, Laura Syms of Cape Breton University and Kathleen Gadd, University of New Brunswick (Saint John).

Laura Syms, MLIS, and Margaret Dechman, PhD, of Cape Breton University were awarded a grant of $1000 for their study entitled, Factors Influencing Undergraduate Social Science Faculty Members’ Decision to Use Quantitative Data in the Classroom. The qualitative study will explore why faculty members choose to use quantitative data in research and instruction, with the aim of informing the development of a data literacy program that can be easily transferable to other institutions, including those in CAUL-CBUA.

Kathleen Gadd, MLIS, along with the research team of Robyn Butcher, MLIS, Martin MacKinnon, MD, and Denise Leblanc-Duchin, PhD, of the Horizon Health Network were awarded a grant of $1000 for their study evaluating point-of-care medical applications for mobile devices. A collaborative study involving librarians and medical residents, it aims to determine the most effective point-of-care mobile applications. The researchers hope that both the results and the methodology will be applicable to other CAUL-CBUA libraries supporting a medical program.

The CAUL-CBUA Collaborative Research & Innovation Grant was established in 2011 to encourage and support collaborate research undertaken by practitioners in CAUL-CBUA libraries. CAUL-CBUA awards two grants of up to $1000 annually. For more information on the grant, visit http://caul-cbua.ca/research_grant or contact Gillian Byrne, Manager of CAUL-CBUA at gbyrne@caul-cbua.