Books

Given, L., Case, D. O., & Willson, R. (in press). Looking for Information: Examining research on how people engage with information (5th ed.). Emerald.

Book Chapters (Refereed)

Willson, R. (2022). Identifying and leveraging collegial and institutional supports for impact. In W. Kelly (Ed.) The impactful academic: Building a research career that makes a difference (pp. 13-28). Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Given, L. M. & Willson, R. (2015). Collaboration, information seeking, and technology use: A critical examination of humanities scholars’ research practices. In P. Hansen, C. Shah, & K. Claus-Peter (Eds.) Collaborative information seeking: Best practices, new domains and new thoughts (pp. 139-164). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Willson, R. & Slater, A. (2022). “If I don’t work on my project, nobody else does”: Experience of researchers in the UK taking maternity, paternity, adoption, and/or parental leave. Manuscript in preparation.

Willson, R. (2022). Keeping contact and maintaining rapport: Using the “check-in” method to follow participants over time. Manuscript in preparation.

Journal Articles (Refereed)

Willson, R. (2022). “Bouncing ideas” as a complex information practice: Information seeking, sharing, creation, and cooperation. Journal of Documentation, 78(4), 800-816. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2021-0047 

Rowley, K. & Willson, R. (2022). Scotland’s public libraries are nothing but practical when it comes to deselection. Library and Information Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.29173/lirg795

Willson, R. & Given, L. M. (2020). “I’m in sheer survival mode”: Information behaviour and affective experiences of early career academics. Library and Information Science Research, 42(2), 101014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2020.101014

Willson, R. (2019). Transitions Theory and liminality in information behaviour research: Applying new theories to examine the transition to early career academic. Journal of Documentation, 75(4), 838-856. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2018-0207

Willson, R. (2018). “Systemic Managerial Constraints”: How universities influence the information behaviour of HSS early career academics. Journal of Documentation, 74(4), 862-879. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2017-0111

Given, L. M., & Willson, R. (2018). Information technology and the humanities scholar: Documenting digital research practices. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 69(6), 807-819. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24008

Given, L. M., Winkler, D. C., Willson, R., Davidson, C., Danby, S., & Thorpe, K. (2016). Watching young children ‘play’ with information technology: Everyday life information seeking in the home. Library & Information Science Research, 38(4), 344-352. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2016.11.007

Given, L. M., Winkler, D. C., Willson, R., Davidson, C., Danby, S., & Thorpe, K. (2016). Parents as co-researchers at home: Using an observational method to document young children’s use of technology. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915621403

Willson, R., & Given, L. M. (2014). Student search behaviour in an online public access catalogue: An examination of ‘searching mental models’ and ‘searcher self-concept’. Information Research, 19(3). http://InformationR.net/ir/19-3/paper640.html

Willson, R. (2012). Independent searching during one-shot information literacy instruction sessions: Is it an effective use of time? Evidence Based Library & Information Practice, 7(4), 52–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.18438/B85323

Julien, H., Detlor, B., Serenko, A., Willson, R., & Lavallee, M. (2011). Preparing tomorrow’s decision makers: Learning environments and outcomes of information literacy instruction in business schools. Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, 16(4), 348-367. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2011.605669

Detlor, B., Julien, H., Willson, R., Serenko, A., & Lavallee, M. (2011). Learning outcomes of information literacy instruction at business schools. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(3), 572-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.21474

Willson, R., & Given, L. M. (2010). The effect of spelling and retrieval system familiarity on search behavior in online public access catalogs: A mixed methods study. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61(12), 2461–2476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.21433

Reports

Willson – Best Practices for Supporting Early Career Academics

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Thesis

Willson, R. (2016). Information in transition: Examining the information behaviour of academics as they transition into university careers. (Doctoral thesis, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia). Retrieved from https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/91133524/Willson_Rebekah_thesis.pdf

Refereed Conference Proceedings and Presentations (Selected)

Nicol, E., Willson, R., Ruthven, I., Elsweiler, D., &Buchanan, G. (2022). Information intermediaries and information resilience: Working to support marginalised groups. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 59(1), 469-473. Pittsburgh, USA. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.654

Ayeni, P. & Willson, R. (2022). Investigating open access publishing practices of early and mid-career researchers in humanities and social sciences disciplines. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 59(1), 398-403. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.641

Willson, R., Makri, S., McKay, D., & Ayeni, P. (2022). Precarity and progression during a pandemic. Preliminary findings from a study of early career academics’ information behaviour during COVID-19. In Proceedings of ISIC: the information behaviour conference, Berlin, Germany, 26-29 September, 2022. Information Research, 27(Special issue), isic2225. https://doi.org/10.47989/irisic2225

Willson, R., Buchanan, G., Burnett, G., Ellison, N., Erdelez, S., & Twidale, M. (2020). My favorite unreliable source? Information sharing and acquisition through informal networks [Panel Abstract]. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 57(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.294

 Willson, R., Greyson, D., Gibson, A. N., Bronstein, J. (2020). Pulling back the curtain on conducting social impact research [Panel Abstract]. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 57(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.427

Willson, R. & Julien, H. (2020). Precarious academics: Information practices and challenges. In Proceedings of the Canadian Association for Information Science. https://www.cais2020.ca/talk/precarious-academics/CAIS2020_paper24_Willson.pdf

Julien, H. Willson, R., Ruthven, I., & Dalmer, N. (2020). Information behaviour and practice research for social impact. Panel presentation at the Information Seeking in Context (ISIC2020). Pretoria, South Africa (Online).

McKenzie, P. & Willson, R. (2019). Transitions and social interaction: Making sense of self and situation through engagement with others. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 56(1), 459-462. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pra2.47

Willson, R. (December 2018). Precarity, managerialism, and the shifting of academic work.  Paper presented as part of the symposium “Academic Work Across the Career Stages: power and precarity at the ‘micro’ level in everyday academic life” at the Society for Research in Higher Education. Newport, UK.

Willson, R. (October 2017). Information behaviour during transitions and liminal periods: Experiences of inclusion and exclusion. Paper presented at 2017 Association for Information Science and Technology SIG-USE Symposium. Washington DC, USA.

Willson, R. (June 2017). Information in transition: The social flow of information. Paper presented at Information: Interactions and Impact (i³) 2017. Aberdeen, UK.

Given, L. M., Willson, R., Albrecht, L., & Scott, S. (2016). Information in crisis: Health & technology-related information behaviors of parents in emergency departments. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 53(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2016.14505301073

Given, L. M., Kelly, W. & Willson, R. (2015). Bracing for impact: The role of information science in supporting societal research impact. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 52(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2015.145052010048

Willson, R. (April 2015). The check-in method: Collecting salient experiences over longer periods of time. 14^th Qualitative Methods Conference. Melbourne, Australia.

Editorials

Willson, R., Julien, H., & Burnett, G. (Eds.) (2022). JASIS&T special issue on information behavior and information practices theory [Editorial]. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 73(4), 491-493. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24622

Willson, R., Julien, H., & Allen, D. (Eds.) (2021). Retrospective special issue—Information behavior [Editorial]. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Special Issue [Virtual Issue]. http://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24557