A well-established postgraduate researcher development program has existed at De Montfort University for many years. Library and Learning Services include modules on literature searching skills and critical appraisal. However, we recognized that researchers seemed to be disengaged with the services on offer. This concern informed a research project that considered the ways we could communicate better with researchers based on their needs. This paper explores the essential components of successful communication, such as context, timeliness and communication channels. An action-research approach was taken including focus groups and online surveys. The outcomes highlighted three significant crisis points, emphasizing the key times when researchers might need some intervention. The findings of this research identified the distinct needs of Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) and how relevant and timely communication from the library can meet these needs. It also considers the impact of how communication has improved with researchers as a result of some of our interventions. Keywords communication; doctoral research; academic librariesto justify the continuation of such programs: an experience which seems to hold for other institutions (Bussell, Hagman, & Guder, 2015). This lack of engagement seemed to imply that PGRs did not perceive LLS as a key touch point for their development as researchers.An opportunity was offered in 2013, via internal funding, to review our communication strategy and to improve the levels of engagement LLS had with PGRs. To help us do this, we took an actionresearch approach (Costello, 2003) to better understand how PGRs viewed and understood communication from LLS, and how significant our provision was against the backdrop of their research. Drawing upon phenomenological influences, we ran a series of focus groups with PGRs to understand the perspective from "inside" the PhD. We then thematized some of the major challenges that our PGRs had encountered (Howitt & Cramer, 2011). This article offers an overview of the literature surrounding communication and an outline of how we coordinated our focus groups. It also presents our findings as a sequence of three crisis points that PGRs identified as integral to their research process. They have provided us with rich insight into how and when LLS communication needs to be more meaningful, timely, and reciprocal as well as how it can benefit from the active involvement of supervisors. We finish the article by documenting the changes we have since made to our communication strategy, and present the results of a recent questionnaire that invited PGRs to review the effectiveness of our communication two years' on.

A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. IntroductionSilver (2014) has recognized the need to augment perceptions of academic libraries by working with users as a means of "understanding their needs and practices, and establishing collaborative partnerships that serve to empower student learners and enhance scholarly productivity" (p. 9). Silver's perspective provides a useful mantra to define a two-year project that has involved a team of librarians and learning developers at De Montfort University (DMU). The focus of the project has been to review the way Library and Learning Services (LLS) communicates with Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs). DMU, Leicester, is a large "post 1992" university with over 16,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. The number of PGRs has grown in recent years, currently with 700-750 PGRs enrolled. DMU offers researcher development support through its Graduate School Office, Research, Business, and Innovation Department and via faculty-based doctoral training programs. Collaborating with these partners, a well-established development program for PGRs has existed in the library for many years, including a compulsory module on Literature Searching skills, and an optional module on Critical Approaches to Research. Despite receiving positive feedback from PGRs, attendance was often poor at these sessions, making it difficult for us to justify the continuation of such programs: an experience which seems to hold for other institutions (Bussell, Hagman, & Guder, 2015). This lack of engagement seemed to imply that PGRs did not perceive LLS as a key touch point for their development as researchers.An opportunity was offered in 2013, via internal funding, to review our communication strategy and to improve the levels of engagement LLS had with PGRs. To help us do this, we took an actionresearch approach (Costello, 2003) to better understand how PGRs viewed and understood communication from LLS, and how significant our provision was against the backdrop of their research. Drawing upon phenomenological influences, we ran a series of focus groups with PGRs to understand the perspective from "inside" the PhD. We then thematized some of the major challenges that our PGRs had encountered (Howitt & Cramer, 2011).This article offers an overview of the literature surrounding communication and an outline of how we coordinated our focus groups. It also presents our findings as a sequence of three crisis points that PGRs identified as integral to their research process. They have provided us with rich insight into how and when LLS communication needs to be more meaningful, timely, and reciprocal as well as how it can benefit from the active involvement of supervisors. We finish the article by documenting the changes w...

This article draws on the idea of the elusive obvious as a useful way of examining how creative arts practitioners can make sense of their practice through expressive writing. Defining the elusive obvious as that ethereal aspect of creative arts practice that is often palpable to the practitioner but equally hard to pin Keywords elusive obvious writing writing out JWCP_4.2_Igweonu_225-238.indd 225 JWCP_4.2_Igweonu_225-238.indd 225 12/20/11 8:31:48 AM 12/20/11 8:31:48 AM Kene Igweonu | Brian Fagence | Melanie Petch | Gareth J. Davies 226 down within the creative process, the article argues that expressive writing enables the creative practitioner to engage with their practice in insightful ways that integrate theoretical insights and help to reveal the elusive obvious, which in turn gives life to what is being explored. It examines ways in which expressive writing could be used to facilitate practitioners' experience of their creative practice and facilitate a better appreciation of the interconnectedness of practice (doing) and theory (critical reflection and analysis) in the creative arts. The article draws on discussions on practice as research to highlight the distinction between 'writing out' and 'writing up'; where 'writing out' calls attention to the idea of 'searching' within the creative process, while 'writing up' is firmly located in the recording and documentation phase of that practice. It argues that it is within this process of 'writing out' -of searching -that the elusive obvious can be revealed. The article also illustrates how reflective practice/writing can be understood through drama. It examines how reflective practice/writing can often lead to 'eureka' moments when, by personalizing their practice within the creative working environment, practitioners suddenly discover the elusive obvious. Through the ideas explored in this article, we invite a consideration of how expressive writing can act as a vehicle through which meaning could be found. This article argues, therefore, that expressive writing is not an end in itself, but is exploratory and transient in nature, and a rich terrain for the elusive obvious to be revealed.

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