The objectives of the Information Policy, Law + Ethics Research Group are to: initiate and carry out fundamental and applied research in all aspects of the legal, ethical and social dimensions of information creation, dissemination and management; to carry out research in all aspects of policy formulation, and the impact of policies, regulations and legislation on library and information services and professionals; to disseminate the results of this research; and to carry out consultancy in these areas.
The remit of the Group includes developing and evaluating models and guidelines in areas of information law and e-government; to identify the ethical issues that arise in the Information Society, including access to information, privacy and information behaviour; to develop an understanding of the policy-making processes involved in areas of interest, to disseminate information about the implications of such developments, to assess the professions' and stakeholders' understanding of initiatives in the area, and to carry out comparative studies in different sectors or countries. There is an emphasis on the impact of electronic information.
Projects include doctoral, masters and undergraduate research, individual staff investigations, funded research and consultancy. The major research areas covered are: copyright; data protection; Freedom of Information; National Information Policy, including in the former Communist countries; ethical issues; content regulation on the Internet, including defamation and censorship; legal framework for information provision, and secrecy; economic issues and policy aspects of preservation.
The group works with practitioners; policy makers; and other researchers in the University, other academic institutions and other organisations.
Current activities
Access to Public Information (AHRC)
Applying bibliometric methods to investigate scholarly communication with particular focus on economics (ESRC)
Defamation on the Internet
Identification of benefits arising from the curation and open sharing of research data produced within the UK Higher Education and research institutes
Preservation of Computer Games
Recently completed projects
Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models Project (JISC)
Licence Registry pilot implementation (JISC)
International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation (JISC)
Partnering on Copyright (JISC/SURF)
Privacy Impact Assessments (Information Commissioner's Office)
Scoping and Feasability Study for a Registry of Archived Electronic Journals (JISC)
Notable past research projects
Copyright and licensing for digital preservation (AHRB)
Digitised Content in the UK Research Library and Archives Sector (JIS/CURL)
(JISC)
Economic models of the digital library (JISC)
The Economic Value of Public Libraries
National Information Policies (Re:Source)
Pricing policies for digitisation of texts (PELICAN) (JISC)
Privacy in the digital library environment (Re:Source)
RoMEO Rights Metadata for Open Archiving (JISC)
Safeguarding heritage at risk: disaster management in United Kingdom archives, libraries and museums (AHRC)
Staff Access to ICT in Further and Higher Education (JISC)
Use of copyright material in learning support (UUK/SCOP)
The use of patent information by small and medium enterprises (ESRC)
Valuation of information assets in UK companies (AHRB)
Doctoral research topics offered by group members
Information policy relating to access to information, freedom of information and freedom of expression (Louise Cooke)
Socio-economic issues in the provision of information services (John Feather)
The economics of providing e-books in public libraries, Economic value of public libraries (Anne Morris)
Information policy, Digital collection management, Preservation Management (Adrienne Muir)
Competitive Intelligence and Ethics (Derek Stephens)
Group members
(click on a name for an individual's web page and for links to their publications):
Joanna Barwick, Barbara Buckley Owen, Louise Cooke, John Feather, Elizabeth Gadd, Graham Matthews, Anne Morris, Adrienne Muir, Charles Oppenheim, Clare Ravenwood, Phillip Rhodes, Inese Smith, Derek Stephens, Carys Thomas (Computing Services).
Contacting IPLE
For further information on the Group, its research projects or inquiries concerning research or consultancy, please contact Dr Adrienne Muir on 01509-223064, e mail A.Muir@lboro.ac.uk
