ABSTRACT
The University of Washington (UW) is a public research university with a large, comprehensive library system and a graduate program in library and information science within an Information School (iSchool). The UW Libraries’ administration has long believed that fostering a culture of research within the Libraries enhances the services provided to the campus. Basic research in libraries is “critical if the field of library and information science ‘is to solve professional problems, develop tools and methods for analysis of organization, services, and behavior, to determine costs and benefits of our services, and, most importantly, to establish or develop a body of theory on which to base our practice.’”1 Although general staff development efforts have been beneficial for those who work at the UW Libraries,2 supporting original research by individual staff members and articulating a formal research agenda for the entire organization present unique challenges for the UW Libraries’ administration.
