Dr Melanie Benson Marshall

BA (Nottingham), MA (Sheffield), PhD (Sheffield)

Information School

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Melanie Benson Marshall
Profile picture of Melanie Benson Marshall
m.benson-marshall@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Melanie Benson Marshall
Information School
Room C600
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
Profile

After completing my BA, I worked for a major academic publisher for several years in acquisitions and project management, across several areas of Engineering and Computer Science, before moving to Sheffield to undertake the MA Librarianship course. I then completed a PhD in the Information School, in the area of migration and information behaviour, and have since been teaching and working on a range of research projects in the School.

I am currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow on VOICES: The Value of Openness, Inclusion, Communication, and Engagement for Science in a post-pandemic world. The project seeks to investigate and share new empirical evidence of the value of opening science, to other scholars and to the public, during and beyond the pandemic. Employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods from social and information sciences, the project explores the long-term value of openness, inclusion, and equity in the communication of science. My work particularly examines how the pandemic has affected the discourse and debates on openness among key stakeholders in science, including academics, publishers, policymakers, the media, and the public.

Committee membership:

  • EDI Operations Group (Research Staff Rep)
Research interests

My research focuses on information behaviour in migration; my PhD thesis examined the role of information in the migration experience of young Polish women in the UK. I have also undertaken or contributed to research in the areas of space and place, including use of academic libraries and other campus learning spaces; library design, architecture, and spatial considerations; and the use of visual and creative methods.

Publications

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

  • Benson Marshall M & Cox A (2014) Visual and creative methods and quality in information behaviour research. Information Research: An International Electronic Journal, Vol. 19(4) RIS download Bibtex download

Reports

Teaching activities

I teach primarily on modules within the Librarianship and Library and Information Services Management programmes, as well supervising postgraduate dissertations.

  • INF6005 Management for Library and Information Services
  • INF6031/INF6531 Public and School Libraries
  • INF6041 ICTs, Innovation and Change
  • INF6340 Research Methods and Dissertation Preparation
  • INF6501 Personal and Professional Development Portfolio
  • INF6511 Information and Knowledge Management
  • INF6513 Leadership, Strategy and Change