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The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of empirical research and focus on specific aspects of the data that relate to the concept of the “information rich and information poor”.

Exploratory in nature and as such utilises an interpretive, qualitative methodology. In depth interviews and focus group interviews were analysed using tools from grounded theory methodology.

There was a positive, yet ambivalent, attitude towards new information and communication technologies (ICTs) amongst the women interviewed. It is shown that although the interview data resonates with the theory, it also differs in interesting ways that are linked to everyday experience and social contexts.

It is clearly focussed on a particular group of individuals and could be developed on a conceptual level to refer to wider contexts.

It presents a “grass roots” view of responses to technological change and life in an information society, and emphasises the variety inherent in people's interpretations of and responses to ICT.

The purpose of this paper is to report on an ongoing project investigating library and information science students' perceptions of the library and information profession and their motivations for undertaking a degree in this field. The analysis presented here focuses on students' reasons for becoming involved in information work, and their motivations for embarking on a professional qualification.

The research was focused on students enrolling on Information and Library Studies programmes in the Department of Information Studies, Aberystwyth University. Students from both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses are represented over the period 2005‐2010, undertaking campus‐based and distance learning (DL) programmes. A qualitative approach, using focus groups, was taken towards data collection and analysis.

Many students followed a circuitous path into the library and information field, indicating that caution needs to be exercised when making assumptions regarding “typical” library and information workers. Similarly, motivations for attaining a qualification are a complexity of both personal and professional aspirations. Although motivations remain consistent, in line with previous studies, it is argued that “either/or” attitudes to traditional and modern aspects of information work are being replaced by a flexible understanding of the modern profession.

The paper builds on and adds new perspectives to literature on student motivations and career aspirations. The groups studied are eclectic, including PG and UG, full‐time and DL cohorts across a range of age groups.

This paper aims to report on research investigating the benefits of membership of the online community LiveJournal, for both active and non‐active participants (lurkers). It also aims to build on and develop previous research on this topic in a new context and to present some alternative perspectives on how lurking is understood by both active participants and lurkers themselves.

Data were gathered using an online questionnaire made available to members of two different LiveJournal communities.

The data indicate that both active participants and lurkers receive similar benefits from their membership of LiveJournal in terms of their sense of community and satisfaction with experience of the community. The percentage of lurkers who felt a sense of community and high levels of satisfaction was lower than that of the respondents who posted regularly to the community, but nonetheless represented the majority of the lurkers. The majority of overall respondents said that lurkers are members of the community, in contrast to earlier research in this area.

The research contributes to an understanding of the fast‐developing world of online communities, including individuals' reasons for joining and participating in communities.

The research builds on an earlier research in a new context; the findings present a different, developing understanding of how non‐active participants are viewed as part of the community of LiveJournal.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of research in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and an introduction to the papers in the special issue.

A narrative review of the previous research activities and contemporary research environment of the Department of Information Studies.

There is more to be learnt about the future of the research assessment exercise, whether it is moving to a metrics‐based system, or whether the system will look more favourably on departments that attract a range of research funding.

Identifies how changes in the scope of research activities in a department reflect changes in research funding and structures for the information sector, as well as changes in staff interests.

This paper seeks to review current approaches to learning from health and safety incidents in the workplace. The aim of the paper is to identify the diversity of approaches and analyse them in terms of learning aspects.

A literature review was conducted searching for terms incident/accident/near misses/disaster/crisis modified with learning/training and safety. Shortlisted articles were analysed by questioning who is learning, what kind of learning process is undertaken, what type of knowledge is employed and the type of problem that these incidents addressed. Current approaches to learning from incidents were critically analysed and gaps identified.

Very few papers addressed all the envisaged aspects when developing their learning from incidents approaches. With support from literature, it was concluded that all the four perspectives, namely participants of learning (participation and inclusion), learning process (single loop, double learning), type of incident and its relation to learning (Cynefin complexity framework) and types of knowledge (conceptual, procedural, dispositional and locative) are important when deciding on an appropriate learning from incidents approach.

The literature review focused on journal articles and identified keywords, which might have narrowed the scope. Further research is needed in identifying ways to embed the learning from incidents aspects in the organisation.

The framework developed could be useful by safety planners, safety managers, human resource managers and researchers in the area of organisational learning and safety.

The paper concludes by outlining key questions and proposing a framework that could be useful in systematically analysing and indentifying effective approaches to learning from incidents.