Ethnographic approaches to the practices of scholarly communication: tackling the mess of academia

In my anthropological research in academic libraries, and in higher education generally, I have encountered a contrast between the ways that institutions approach the information systems they build and buy, and how people use those systems. Confronting the ‘mess’ of people’s everyday practice is a necessary first step towards more effectively connecting people to the resources they want and need. Here I discuss some of the ways to visualize and embrace the actual practices of people, in physical and digital contexts.Based on a breakout session presented at the 39th UKSG Annual Conference, Bournemouth, April 2016