An invaluable book on the emergent field of transdisciplinarity that explains how it applies to library service and collections conceptually and identifies practical strategies for supporting transdisciplinary research conducted by faculty and students.
Transdisciplinarity Revealed: What Librarians Need to Know supplies pragmatic advice for academic librarians on working with faculty and students to promote the skills necessary for successful transdisciplinary research. It shows how to overcome the obstacles created by the ways that libraries have traditionally organized information in subject silos, offering librarians conceptual and practical guidance on transdisciplinarity. This information will enable them to support research that transcends disciplinary limits to help researchers answer the complex questions of our world today.
Part I provides an overview of the emergent field of transdisciplinarity that introduces readers to all key concepts and issues. Part II explains how transdisciplinarity applies to library services and collections, explores new strategies for supporting transdisciplinary research conducted by faculty and students, and describes how librarians can better address the unique challenges of working in the transdisciplinary research environment. Readers will come away with a full understanding of the distinctions between the four modes of knowledge production—disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinarity—and apply this knowledge to benefit their patrons’ research efforts.
Features
- Tackles the hot topics of new modes of knowledge production and the shift toward transdisciplinarity within the research community and explains the urgent need for librarians to understand transdisciplinarity and to effectively apply this concept to their work
- Supplies practical, pragmatic advice for academic librarians on how to work with faculty and students to promote the skills necessary for successful transdisciplinary research
- Clarifies the differences between multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approaches to research—key distinctions that are often subject to confusion
- Collects disparate information on transdisciplinary, transformative research approaches and the library- and librarian-facing implications of transdisciplinarity in a single source
- Offers an extensive bibliography of resources for further exploration of this topic
Victoria Martin is the scholarly communications librarian at Salisbury University Libraries in Maryland. Previously, she was the life sciences librarian at the University Libraries of George Mason University in Virginia. She holds a Master of Library Science degree from Texas Woman's University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from George Mason University. She is the author of journal articles, reviews, a book chapter, and the book Demystifying eResearch: A Primer for Librarians, which, according to Library Journal, "belongs in most academic libraries … and would make a great text for LIS students."
Reviews
"All academic libraries should consider adding this volume, in print or as an e-book, to their collections."—Technical Services Quarterly, February 1, 2019
"Martin has done a wonderful job of breaking down the extremely interconnected topics of research and the various disciplines within which librarians work. . . . Transdisciplinarity Revealed offers strategies and helpful hints to those assigned the task of working with “all” the disciplines that happen to exist at an institution, whether educational, or professional." —VOYA, August 3, 2017
"A timely resource. . . . Martin’s book will stimulate interest and provide an excellent grounding in the principles and practice of transdisciplinary inquiry among scholars and practitioners alike; the audience for her treatise is broader than the professional readers she aims to reach. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through professionals/practitioners."—Choice, November 21, 2017
"This is an engaging and thought-provoking work. When viewed in the light of its intended purpose—to illuminate the topic and identify gaps in the library science literature—it succeeds, unequivocally. For those heretofore unfamiliar with transdisciplinarity, it is an outstanding, and thorough, introduction to a topic that will continue to grow in importance for those in our profession."—College & Research Libraries, January 4, 2018
"Filled with advice on how best to 'fill in the gaps"\' of a collection that has areas of concern, as well as warnings for those who are working with patrons and students on how not to overload the patrons (as well as themselves) with information, Transdisciplinarity Revealed offers strategies and helpful hints to those assigned the task of working with 'all' the disciplines that happen to exist at an institution, whether educational, or professional."—The Free Library, January 18, 2018
"Overall, this is a very thought-provoking and timely book for academic librarians interested in and wanting to get involved and knowledgeable about the topic of transdisciplinarity."—ARBA, June 1, 2018
