Description
Book SynopsisThis book looks at the rise of electronic media and changes in the dissemination of research; outlines the problems and concerns of researchers/librarians/publishers; discusses research practices across scholarly disciplines; and investigates the biases/intentions of practitioners.
Trade Review"Every professional researcher, and many amateurs, too, will be interested in this scholarly but very readable book. The author, Professor Jack Meadows, is a scientist who has contributed to several areas of human endeavour, including astronomy, the history of science and information and library studies. The volume represents distilled wisdom about the history of research communication, where we are now and where--very likely--we are going. The book is admirably endowed with quotations and informative tables. The over-abundance of facts in the literature has been with us for some time now--and it is getting worse; Jack Meadows has described how much more serious the problems will be in the future but perusal of his excellent book will give clues as to what both professional and amateur researchers should do about it. I commend the book very warmly indeed." --SIR ARNOLD WOLFENDALE, UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, U.K. "An important contribution to a neglected field--the generation, transmission, and use of scientific information. This is sociology of science at its best." --LEWIS WOLPERT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON MEDICAL SCHOOL, U.K. "This would be an excellent textbook for a course on the subject and a superb primer for administrators and faculty who want to learn about the underlying pressures that threaten the research endeavors of our universities. Any academic librarian will benefit from reading it and will be better grounded when explaining the crisis we face in scientific publishing to faculty, administrators, and the public." --William Gray Potter, The University of Georgia, Athens in COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES "All 'stakeholders' in the communication field--such as authors, editors, users, publishers, database producers and hosts, librarians, and those nameless ones whose activities generate the Internet--could benefit from reading Meadows' rounded view of their environment and his discussion of their problems. So too could students of information science. I wish the book every success." --Brian Vickery, Oxford, in JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTATION, Vol. 55, No. 1, 1999
Table of ContentsChange and Growth. Research Traditions. Who Does Research and with What Results. Channels for Communicating Research. Making Research Public. Finding Out about Research. Postscript. References. Index.
