Action Research in the Library:

Method, Experiences, and a

Significant Case

Ilaria Moroni

This project resembles "a mirror reflecting our work", or "a cake
that is made up by many ingredients, and raises them"; this work-
ing group resembles "a ring-a-ring-a-roses of people stepping syn-
chronously to the center", or "an orchestra in which each instrument
has to tune up with the others, producing something harmonious,
led by the director". These are some of the metaphors used by
some librarians who have agreed in participating an action research
project that was aimed to improve the perception of public services
in a university library. The project turned out to be an important
occasion for professional growth, both for individual participants
and for the organization.
To understand what kind of work was carried out, we shall overview
the theoretical principles of the action research method; we will then
analyze the domains of its application in a library; and we finally
shall expose an experience from which some "good practices" can be
drawn and applied to other organizational contexts.

[Link]. Vol. 2, n. 2 (Dicembre/December 2011).

DOI: 10.4403/[Link]-4702
I. Moroni, Action Research in the Library

The Action Research Method

What is action research? The answer is not easy, because different
meanings – both practical and theoretical – have been developed in
the 65 years since the term appeared in the scientific literature. Yet,
we will try to offer the essential coordinates to answer the question.
"Intervention research", which according to some scholars is a broader
concept, has been sometimes defined "participation research" or "col-
laborative inquiry", stressing the importance of sharing the process
of exploration aimed to introduce novelties and changes into the
examined context. It is evident that such mode of research can raise
interest in libraries that are most sensitive to total quality manage-
ment. If continuous improvement is the goal, research activities and
constant monitoring are means.
How was the research method created?
Caring for minorities’ problems, Kurt Lewin used the term "action
research" for the first time in 1946, with the goal of promoting social
action together with research in social psychology. Ideas of carry-
ing out a "field research" with mainly qualitative techniques (such
as observation, interviews, focus groups, diaries), of involving the
subjects directly on the studied topic, and of identifying collegially
what changes should be made, has been developed not only by
psychologists, but also by educationalists, since 1970s-80s.
Since 1990s literature on the topic proliferated and differentiated on
a geographical basis: whereas Europe deepened the psychoanalitic
stream applied to public and private organizations, in North Amer-
ica the partecipative and empowerment approach found ground in
the study of communities. Moreover, as the employment of action
research spreaded worldwide, it assumed peculiar forms in educa-
tional, training, and school contexts. However, such peculiarities
are not the focus here.
Rather, it is appropriate here to specify the phases of the action

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Figure 1: The five phases of the action research process

research process. The three identified by Kurt Lewin (planning,

execution, evaluation), have become four or five; five phases are the
most credited in recent literature, and they are (figure 1):

1) diagnosis: identification or definition of a problem, by means

of documentation, comparative analyses, and survey with
different techniques (interviews, focus groups, observations,
questionnaries etc.);

2) planning: elaboration of an action plan for one or more inter-

ventions in accordance with the research done;

3) action: realization of the interventions;

4) assessment: gathering of feedback about the realized interven-

tions by means of qualitative and/or quantitative techniques;

5) critical reflection and communication of learning: reflection upon

the experience, which may bring to the realization of further

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actions; identification of results reached, and sharing of the

experience both within the context and outside, towards the
relevant scientific community.

Research techniques must be chosen as a function of the goal

and of the examined context, but qualitative ones are usually more
suited to analyze the problems in deep, and to stimulate reflections
that are useful for promoting changes.
From the operational point of view, it is fundamental that a small
work group (maximum ten people) be created, coordinated by an
expert in the research techniques with good relational skills and an
educational attitude. Indeed, task of the researcher is to accompany
the group’s evolution, fostering the acquisition of awareness which
is the first requirement for self-education and further developments.
In accordance with the complexity of the project, an action research
can last months or years, during which the group meets once a
month or every fifteen days, and is supposed to do some work be-
tween one meeting and the following. It is easy, then, to guess that
the coordinator needs to not only be prepared methodologically, but
also be able to manage group dynamics, including conflict, and to
negotiate and communicate effectively; above all, she must be able
to listen and foster the inner growth of every group member.
Changes that are expected in action research, indeed, are both indi-
vidual and collective and are established by the involved subjects
themselves. Within an organizational context, aims of the action-
research might be the resolution of problems, the improvement
of work processes and users’ perception, but also the increase of
awareness in people who are involved, their understanding of an
examined topic, and their training.
Reflection precedes and follows action, generates learning-by-doing,
and produces knowledge which is agent of change. So there is
a tight interconnection between theory and practice, analysis and

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action, knowledge and change. The process is defined "cyclic" or

"spiral" because, indeed, results of a phase feed the subsequent one,
and assessment of intervention can translate into novel learning or
activities.
Writing is an excellent tool for expliciting reflections and perceptions,
for fixating acquired knowledge, and for keeping track of it for a
re-reading after a while, in the perspective of continued monitor-
ing. Moreover, some training techniques belonging to the narrative
and autobiographic approach can favor self-reflection, confronta-
tion among points of view, and exchange of experiences within the
group and with different stakeholders who are in contact.1 The
construction of knowledge is thus participated, as emphasized by
the constructivist approach in social sciences.
The resulting knowledge is relative to a specific context, and is valid
insofar as it is useful, appropriate, and shared in there. Results of an
action research are not generalizable, as positivism would require,
but a detailed description of the work done can allow the iden-
tification of "good practices" which are transferable in analogous
situations.2

1 Autobiographical educational techniques aim to improving self-awareness by

proposing stimuli to narrating cognitive and emotional personal experiences, orally

or by writing, possibly with the help of drawing, photographs, objects, etc.; subjects
are involved both individually (writing, biographical interview) and collectively
(small group activities and group sharing). The autobiographical and the narrative
approach develop in educational sciences most of all since 1990s, referred in particular
to education in adulthood. There is a wide reference literature (Atkinson; Demetrio;
Formenti; Moroni, Bambini e adulti si raccontano; Smorti).
2 Scentific criteria recently proposed for action research are the following: explicit

statement of goals and modes of research, including the kind of collaboration be-
tween researchers and operators, techniques for data gathering and analysis etc.;
transferability, coming from a detailed description of the situation so that one can see
himself in the reported case studies and transpose some methodological elements;
adequacy of the research from the stakeholders’ point of view. Other authors propose
the following reliability criteria for action research: democratic validity: degree of

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Actors who are involved in the process are thus supposed to account
for the experience and to communicate it outside, so expressing the
dynamic and social development potential wished by Kurt Lewin.
Indeed, the exercise of democracy which is necessary in the action
research group, the assumption of responsibilities in the planning
and realization of interventions, and the commitment to sharing
and diffusing contents and processes, represent attitudes which are
expendable in many organizational and social contexts. In other
words, if a small group worked well serving many, why not tak-
ing cue from such experience to realize similar activities in a larger
group?

Action Research in Libraries

A question should follow: what action research experiences
have been realized in libraries? Which topics have been explored,
and with which results? To answer such questions, a bibliographic
research was carried out using the main sources of information
in the field: the database Library and Information Science Abstracts
(LISA) and the open archive E-prints in Library and Information Sci-
ence (E-LIS).3
Such research yielded 260 results consisting in theoretical informa-
tion science studies or in accounts of experiences in various con-
texts (companies, public bodies, communities, universities, etc.);
the oldest document dates back to 1978, but the great majority (216
participation an collaboration between researchers and operators; result validity: effec-
tiveness of the realized interventions in light of the research; process validity: relevancy
of the methods, techniques, and procedures chosen in relation to a problem; cathalitic
validity: degree of deepening of the issue and potential for change; dialogue validity:
degree of peer communication, internal sharing and extenal diffusion (Gilardi and
Bruno; Pickard).
3 The bibliographic research was carried out in July 2011.

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publications) start with year 2000.

By focusing the specific context of libraries, 61 documents have been
found, 25 of which are relative to university libraries, 19 to school li-
braries, and 17 to public libraries which should include also libraries
in hospitals, prisons, companies etc. The large number of documents
concerning educational contexts (school and university) may be due,
on the one hand, on the psychopedagogic research field, and, on the
other hand, on universities’ own vocation for research.
Given that below we shall illustrate the experience realized in a
university library, we now deepen the research results concerning
academic cases (which are 27, because we included two documents
that are cited in an authoritative essay on the topic) (Pickard).
Publications years that are relative to university libraries begin with
1991, and concentrate in 2005-2010 (as much as 17). Places where
experiences have been carried out touch on all continents: 14 in
Europe (8 just in Great Britain, 3 in Italy, and single cases in France,
Holland, and Portugal), 10 in America (6 in USA, and single cases in
Argentina, Brasil, Canada, and Colombia), 2 in Oceania (Australia)
and one in Asia (India). The prevalence of English and American
experiences can be explained by historical-cultural factors: Kurt
Lewin, who was hebrew born in Germany, emigrated in the US in
1933, and beginning with 1950s the English psychologists at Tavistock
Institute carried out various organizational analyses with the Action
research method.
As for the subjects involved and the topics considered, many action
research projects in academic libraries (13 out of 27) involved the
users in the analysis of perception and usage of library services,
some projects (9) involved the staff in the diagnosis of working pro-
cesses and relational dynamics, and other projects (5) involved both
staff and users on topics like Information Literacy and digital library.
Information Literacy is the most frequent topic (as many as 9 cases),

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this may be attributed to the training dimension of action research

we cited above; sometimes, an impact evaluation is done of user-
addressed training activities, whether in person or in distance (e-
learning platforms, tutorial); sometimes, longitudinal inquiries are
done to measure the increase of university students’ information
skills with reference to specific training programs.
In some cases, the participated inquiry is focused on a particular
service, such as reference or document delivery; in others, it is con-
centrated on electronic resources or open access; in only one case
the library services, settings, and technologies are examined.
Researches involving directly the library staff have addressed topics
like organizational climate, empowerment, leadership, and internal
communication; sometimes, they considered back office or front
office working processes, other times they were tied to training or
organizational development projects.
The main research techniques adopted have been interview and
observation, but questionnaires, focus groups, and diaries too are
used for gathering staff’s and users’ opinions, experiences, and per-
ceptions.4
On the one hand, action research activities are reported as useful
for the improvement library services, with particular reference to
educational service; on the other hand, they stimulate a reflection
on working processes and relational dynamics, opening new per-
spectives or mobilizing novel attitudes.
In some articles, the method’s effectiveness is emphasized from
different perspectives:

- it develops empathy and ability for listening colleagues and

users, thanks to the thick confrontation within the organiza-
tion, and to the opening to external opinions, suggestions, and
4 Foran overview of qualitative research techniques see Cardano (La ricerca qualita-
tiva) and Silverman (Doing qualitative research : a practical handbook).

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good practices;

- it can extend the increase of involved people’s motivation

and awareness to the professional community, provided that
internal and external communication is taken care of;

- - it improves professional practices or offered services, by fol-

lowing a development plan which derives from deep analysis
of reality and shared individuation of solutions.

Moreover, authors of action research theoretical or experiential

contributions often wish action research to be spread and used more
in library contexts, not only for its validity but also for its timeliness.
Indeed, at present, the public sector features an unprecedented ten-
sion to continuous improvement, to total quality management and
resource saving (economic, temporal, human, etc.), by means 360◦ .
measurement and assessment activities. The action research method
tends right to a complete analysis of what is at issue, going through
diachronic comparison of organizational data, benchmarking with
analogous organizations, and gathering of new information from
various stakeholders.
The recent years, following books by Donald Schön, have seen the
figure of the "reflective professional" being emphasized in several
domains. Action research concretely pushes abilities of learning by
reflection on one’s own conduct, an attitude to continuing research
and development, and field learning both individual and collective.
Finally, seeing – like action research does – quantitative and qualita-
tive research methods as complementary (as opposed to antagonis-
tic), and employing qualitative methods for a deeper analysis, are in
line with the most recent literature in social sciences.
In light of the survey above, and of the latter considerations, we
decided to give attention to this research method, and to present

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hereafter a recent experience that has turned out meaningful in

several respects.

An Action Research Experience: the Case of

Milano-Bicocca
The action research done in the Milano-Bicocca University Li-
brary began at the end of 2009, and ended at the beginning of 2011;
the activity was carried out in the context of a biennial project whose
goal was the improvement of the perceived quality of services.
The project was entrusted to a work group composed by librarians
from the three bases of the University Library, and coordinated by
the present writer as an expert of qualitative research. In order to
analyze the usage and perception of the offered services, and more
broadly of the library, many students, teachers, and researches of
all the Faculties in the University were contacted. So the experience
involved both staff and users, focused the library as a whole, and
combined qualitative and quantitative research methods taken as
complementary.
In illustrating the job done, we shall follow the five-phases articula-
tion of the action research process. However, we have to point out
that the "critical reflection and communication of learning" was not
limited to the final part: it was carried on throughout the process.
By the way, it is appropriate here to specify some methodological
aspects that contributed to the project’s success. Six librarians par-
ticipated voluntarily all the way through, whereas three others only
in the initial part. Motivations to participate were made explicit
in the first meeting, along with initial expectations, and can be so
summarized: the possibility of confronting with colleagues who are
different from the ordinary job, the desire of learning something

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new most of all about research, and the wish of doing something
useful to the library.
The first meeting was also occasion to remind some lessons from
Project Management and Membership, such as the importance of
timing, monitoring, and sharing activities, as well as of taking care
of integration and information exchange among the group compo-
nents. In the same meeting the project was laid out, first impressions
about it were gathered, and the first activities to be performed were
defined and assigned to a couple of subgroups just in order to favor
confrontation and cooperation. Always varying the composition of
micro-groups turned out an effective idea also for the improvement
of organizational climate into the group, and for the increase of
motivation.
The work group met once a month with a similar agenda: each
micro-group explained the work done and communicated about the
experience (possibly encountered difficulties, reasons for satisfaction
or unsatisfaction, etc.), considerations were shared, and the follow-
ing tasks were planned. In a couple of meetings the participants
were asked to express sensations and thoughts about the project or
the work group, also by metaphors, drawings, and brief texts, taking
inspiration from the autobiographic approach in education which is
aimed to foster individual and group self-awareness.
A further tool for critical reflection that turned out useful for im-
proving the project and group management in progress was an
anonymous questionnaire, administered at four times in the course:
the group components were asked to assess various aspects of the
project manager (managerial, relational, motivational, etc.), to make
suggestions for improvement, to communicate perceptions about
the project (timing, work load, tasks, etc.) and about the work group
(cohesion and integration, organizational climate, internal communi-
cation, etc.). Some group components were wavering and skeptical

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at the beginning, but, once they saw improvements as answers to

their feedback, they got more trustful and all were satisfied by the
360◦ .5
But which activities have been done in relation with the various
stakeholders? Let us revisit the work done following the action
research phases.

1. Diagnosis
The so-called "identification of the problem" have been divided
in two parts:

I. documentation, self-training and benchmarking on the

library services;
II. double inquiry (quantitative and qualitative) addressed
to the users.

The first part was realized between november 2009 and march
2010 by the following activities:

- bibliographic research and examination of the literature

concerning library services;
- study of several international surveys about users of uni-
versity libraries;
- benchmarking among Italian university libraries in re-
spect to services, with particular attention to book loan;
- comparison between interlibrary service practices across
the three bases of the library;
- analysis of quick reference requests received most fre-
quently by the institutional email boxes throughout the
previous year;
5 TheUniversity Central Administration asks the project manager to assess the
group components.

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- careful reading of feedback given by aide students in the

last periodical surveys (self-interviews at the end of each
150-hours collaboration, comparable to a questionnaire
with many open questions).

The second part may be summarized as follows:

- analysis of the results of 776 questionnaires about ser-

vices, resources, and tools of the library, administered to
students and teachers in the Good Practices Project from
July to October 2009;6
- realization and analysis of 47 interviews to a meaning-
ful sample of students, teachers, and researchers from
February to April 2010, aimed to understand in depth the
results of the questionnaires, and to make improvement
suggestions emerge from users.

The double research yielded some data which are important

to better understand the subsequent interventions: the per-
ception of the library is very positive, as testified by scores
from medium to high concerning services, resources, and tools,
with peaks of satisfaction regarding electronic resources ac-
cording to teachers, and regarding human resources according
to students; more worrying data revealed poor usage of the
website, of the digital library, and of some advanced services
(reference, interlibrary services), resulting from ignorance of
them or from scarce awareness of their potentialities; users
6 Good Practices is a project managed by Business School del Politecnico di Mi-

lano (MIP) realized every two years (since 1999), aimed to compare efficiency and
effectiveness performances of supporting services (such as supplies, bookkeeping,
personnel management, research and didactic support services) to central adminis-
trations of universities. In 2009 experimental Laboratories on Libraries, Building and
Governance have been carried out (Catalano).

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suggested most of all to increase the promotion of services and

the training in bibliohgraphic research.
Results of questionnaires and interviews were shared first with
the workgroup, then with the rest of the library staff, and fi-
nally with all users and potential stakeholders, since research
reports were uploaded on the website (Biblioteca di Ateneo
di Milano-Bicocca, Indagini sui servizi bibliotecari per migliorare)
and pointed out in a newsletter to all institutional users.

2. Planning
The work done by micro-groups in the first phase was made to
merge into the elaboration of an action plan, which was then
submitted to the persons in charge of the library in order to
obtain their feedback. Once designed and approved by the
library director, the action plan was shared with all the staff
(37 units) by email.

3. Action
Realization of interventions in light of the diagnosis have em-
braced the period between May and December 2010. The work-
group implemented some 20 interventions relative to library
services and their promotion; moreover, it communicated to
other colleagues the wishes for improvements concerning re-
sources (both in paper and electronic) and tools (computers,
copiers, etc.).
The realized interventions may be classified in the following
areas:

- promotion: elaboration of a monthly newsletter drawing

the attention upon a couple of news published on the
website, and emphasizing some of the offered services;
arrangement of news about library services for the Bic-
occa University newsletter (BNews); review of all Faculty

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and Deparment websites, and consequent request for the

insertion of a link to the library where absent; creation of
a promotional poster of the digital library, posted up in
the most strategic points of university buildings; realiza-
tion of colored bookmarks with promotional slogans con-
cerning some services (personalized loan functions, loan
extension for graduating students, electronic resources,
reference, etc.); enhancement of presentations of library
services in occasion of first-year students meetings or-
ganized by Faculties at the beginning of the academic
year;
- information literacy: activation of monthly interdisciplinary
seminars about books and articles search, and enhance-
ment of Faculty-specific seminars; creation of an ad hoc
website subsection into the "services" section (page il-
lustrating training activities in person and at distance,
guides for general and disciplinary bibliographic searches,
calendar of training activities done and coming, programs
and didactic materials of the training activities of the cur-
rent year, online form for seminar enrollment);
- reference: creation of specific maps for each of the six
Faculties afferent to the Central Library, in order to fa-
voring orientation and fruition of the library collection;
elaboration of many standard answers to most frequently
asked questions incoming in institutional email boxes, for
the optimization of answering times and the form and
content standardization;
- loan: introduction of double loan renewal for undergrad-
uate, graduating, and graduate students, in light of the
results of interviews and benchmarking with other uni-
versities with size (by number of enrolled students) com-

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parable to Milano-Bicocca;
- interlibrary services: predisposition of an automatic an-
swering message to confirm the request and make explicit
the clearing times for the Central Library, in order to im-
prove perception of the service; elaboration of standard
answers or written communications (email, fax) com-
mon to the three bases, following from a careful exam
of different case records; creation of four flux diagrams
(active and passive Inter Library Loan and Document
Delivery) for illustrating the ongoing process, with pos-
sible differences across the three branches, as well as for
individuating transferable good practices and areas for
improvement;
- reading Rooms: predisposition and posting of several signs
for inviting users to keep silence as a form of respect of
people who are studying, most of all in the Central Li-
brary and in the Science Library where the main discon-
tent had been noted; movement of books on the most
congested shelves, for reducing disorder which had been
complained of; constant monitoring of temperature and
prompt reports to the technical office to obviate discom-
fort from cold which had been noticed.

Then, as a function of the contents expressed in the most recent

self-interviews filled out by aide students, a midterm meeting
was introduced (after about 75 hours out of the 150 of total
collaboration), in order to point out some aspects (received
training, internal communication, working loads, working
practices, etc.) and to gather a first feedback to be used with the
same group of students. To improve fellow students’ training
– and, consequently, the information given by them to users –
but also to enhance their motivation in working in the library,

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since 2010 a seminar was instituted, where all the functions

of the Bicocca-Insubria online catalogue – including Dewey
Decimal Classification search – are illustrated, the main Italian
catalogues (Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale, MetaOpac Azalai
Italiano and Archivio Collettivo Nazionale dei Periodici) are
showed along with the possibility of searching by subject, and
the functioning of interlibrary services is explained. The same
seminar is periodically proposed to users, alternated with the
one centered on article search through the digital portal of
Milano-Bicocca library.
All the actions realized by the group in collaboration with
other colleagues were summarized in a report which was sent
around inside and outside the library: all the staff were invited
to a meeting to share considerations, and the same report
was emphasized with a news on the website (Ricerca-Azione
in biblioteca) and in a newsletter addressed to all institutional
users.
The diagnosis operated within the Front Office Project also
had a "long wave" of subsequent actions: indeed, in 2011 the
University Library has included among its goals the writing
of a new Service Charter, the Front Office riorganization, and
the improvement of the Educational Sciences collection – an
area where citicalities was pointed out in the interviews.

4. Assessment
Since a complete assessment of all the interventions realized
was not possible, it was decided, on the one hand, to concen-
trate on some strategic services such as reference and Informa-
tion Literacy, and, on the other hand, to monitor the perception
"in the round" of the library, by means of different quantitative
and qualitative tools.
Concerning reference, a survey work was carried on as an ex-

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periment on one disciplinary area in 2008, and then extended

to other areas in 2009 and 2010: the email administration of a
questionnaire after a lapse of time after the session, allowed a
feedback about several aspects (information, training, relation,
timing, etc.) and also an assessment of its impact, highlighting
the acquired bibliographic research skills. The outcomes of the
surveys of the two-year period are very positive, and the rea-
sons given for the grades have allowed the full understanding
of the gathered data. Efficiency and effectiveness of the service
do not have allowance for improvement; the only element on
which more work might be done is promotion, but as long as
the amount of human resources dedicated to the service can-
not be increased, an excessive visibility would run the risk of
just worsening the perception, due to the inability of fulfilling
a large number of requests (Moroni, Valutazione del servizio di
reference specialistico: indagini per aree disciplinari).
As for Information Literacy, a light questionnaire was created
for being administered at the end of each seminar (disciplinary
or interdisciplinary). It yields a numerical and verbal "on the
spot" feedback about liking and learning; the questionnaire
also asks an overall evaluation of the library. Again, the as-
sessment of the offered service was rewarding (an average
of 8,5/10, and very positive comments on the usefulness of
gained information, and on the clarity of exposition); more-
over, some users’ suggestions were useful for improving the
teaching effectiveness of the subsequent seminars. The statis-
tical assessment of the service, compared with the previous
years, is surprising: the number of users involved was five
times (a hundred compared to about five hundreds units), and
this was due both to offers enhancement (seventy hours of
training led by a couple of librarians in 2010), and to the care

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for in loco and online promotion (signs around in the library,

announcements on the website, newsletters, etc.) (Valutazione
dei seminari sulla ricerca bibliografica anno 2010).
The overall perception of the library that resulted from the
questionnaires administered at the end of seminars is quite
positive, and above the level that was found in the question-
naires and interviews we mentioned in the diagnosis section.
An analogous judgement came out from the self-interviews
filled out, again, at the end of seminars. These comprised
the same questions that were asked de visu to students and
teachers, in order to get information about satisfaction and
use of services, resources, and tools, as well as suggestions to
improve the library and its promotion (Indagine sulla Qualità
percepita: la biblioteca vista dagli utenti). Certainly, the strong
appreciation of training activities which were organized by
librarians influenced the overall assessment of the library, but
it would be hasty to hypothesize that Information Literacy
could impact on the perceived quality, since the users that
are reachable through such service are but "a drop in the sea"
given the large number of institutional users (over thirty-five
thousands).
Rather, it will be interesting to get the results of the survey
tied to the Good Practices Project 2011, although the posed
questions differ from those in 2009 concerning library services.
Furthermore, considering that a great part of the most sig-
nificant interventions of the Front Office Project concerned
promotion and education – as a function of what was brought
about by the inquiries – a proper impact evaluation would
require other criteria for surveying. An increase in the use of
library services and resources, for example, might be tied to
the promotional operation carried out in 2010; but, in order to

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know in depth the efficacy of communication activities and to

identify possible areas for improvement, interviews and focus
groups would be necessary. Finally, in order to test the training
efficacy of seminars after lapses of time, it would be interesting
to observe the behavior of users searching for books and arti-
cles. However, you can easily guess that the realization of such
hypothesized survey projects would require much time and,
at the present moment, the few resources that are available are
concentrated on other duties.

5. Critical reflection and communication of learning.

After the assessment of interventions tied to the object of ac-
tion research, let us examine the assessment of the project by
the involved subjects, which has been gathered through auto-
biographical inputs proposed during some meetings, as well
as with a periodical feedback questionnaire about the project,
the work group, and the project manager. Remember that
training and research tools that were used were aimed to favor
critical reflection, to elicit improvement areas, and to stimulate
self-awareness on the progress done.
In light of all this, in particular of the last meeting featuring an
overall review of the experience, we may say that an emotive
and cognitive evolution of the group components took place.
The beginning was marked by fear of confrontation with new
people, and dismay or anxiety for the unusual tasks or timings;
with the passing of time, however, a more peaceful and pleas-
ant climate spread, and eventually resulted in enthusiastic
statements about the work accomplished, profitable collabo-
ration with colleagues, and a coordination function that had
been always goal-focused but sufficiently flexible and caring
for each one’s needs. From the cognitive point of view, some
have emphasized the necessity of concentrating on the project

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 [Link]. Vol. 2, n. 2 (Dicembre/December 2011)

and of having a mental strategy, others have appreciated the

self-reflective component which exploited their daily activity,
and still others declared to have learned much from confronta-
tion, realized activities, and employed methodologies.
Some images and phrases used by the group components dur-
ing the last meeting speak to emotional intelligence and deliver
with immediateness what we have tried to synthesize: "At the
first meeting I felt like a child at her first school day, and asked
myself: how will my colleagues and leader be?"; "For me this
has been similar to climbing a mountain: at the beginning I
wasn’t able to measure the effort and didn’t see the top, then,
when we started to make interviews, I saw the landscape in
its entirety, the cooperation with colleagues has been like a
downhill slope, and the goal became the valley beyond!"; "It’s
been like a trip by train, in which I saw many landscapes, met
different people, and discovered interesting things. . . now I
feel like telling to others!".
The sharing of learning with colleagues, users, and with the
librarians community has been in part realized, and is in part
in progress. The possibility of treasuring this experience now
depends on readers. . .

4702E-21
I. Moroni, Action Research in the Library

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I. Moroni, Action Research in the Library

I LARIA M ORONI, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

email [Link]@[Link]

Moroni, I.”Action Research in the Library: Method, Experiences, and a Signifi-

cant Case”. [Link] Vol. 2, n. 2 (Dicembre/December 2011): 4702-1–4702-24. DOI:
10.4403/[Link]-4702. Web.

A BSTRACT: This article aims to promoting action research in library contexts by

illustrating the method and its applications in library, and by presenting a mean-
ingful case. Action research, devised in 1950s, was spread in information sciences
since 1990s, with results that have been interesting in promoting change of involved
people and organizations. The method is based on engaging a group coordinated
by a researcher. Problem analysis is functional to realizing improvement interven-
tions, in a recursive process of reflection, action, evaluation, and result sharing. The
action research case at the University Milano Bicocca Library is meaningful under
various aspects: increase of motivation and awareness in the working group that
was responsible of improving the perception of library services; complementary use
of quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to analyze users’ service
utilization and satisfaction; realization of many interventions, coherent with research
results, aimed to enhance service usage and perceived quality; self-reflection and
reflection on the organizational context, benchmarking with other libraries and as-
sessment of the realized activities in the perspective of continuing improvement;
internal sharing and external diffusion of the project to the advantage of librarians,
users, and researchers.
K EYWORDS : Action Research; Research Methods; Qualitative Research; Continuos
Improvement; Users.
A CKNOWLEDGMENT: Credits for English translation to Emanuele Serrelli, Postdoc,
"Riccardo Massa" Department of Human Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca.

Submitted: 2011-08-29 / Accepted: 2011-11-

04 / Published: 2011-12-01.

4702E-24