New Library World, 105 (1196/1197) January 2004, 33-46 [ISSN 0307-4803] [online]: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=15312C711C4089A AE9F4D2F019702FCD?contentType=Article&contentId=860174 [Accessed 17 January 2005] (Also published in: ‘Coping with continual change - change management in SLIS’: proceedings of the European association for Library and Information Science and Research (EUCLID) and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) joint conference, Potsdam, Germany, 31 July - 1 August 2003; edited by Linda Ashcroft. Bradford: Emerald, 2005. ISBN: 1-84544-156-7) Impact evaluation, professional practice, and policy making Ian M. Johnson, Dorothy A. Williams, Caroline Wavell, and Graeme Baxter Aberdeen Business School, The Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen AB10 7QE, Great Britain (i.m.johnson@rgu.ac.uk) Abstract This paper examines the relationship between research into the evaluation of the impact of library and information services, policy making in the field, and professional practice and education. The paper first summarises the background to a recent critical literature review undertaken on behalf of Resource: the Council on Museums, Archives and Libraries. The review was intended to identify any published evidence that Museums, Archives and Libraries are making a contributory impact to developments in the British Government’s key policy areas. Except in the field of learning, little supporting evidence was found. Methodological weakness undermined the validity of much of the related work identified by the review. After considering approaches to ensuring the impact of research on policy making, including a more appropriate publication strategy and greater face-to-face dialogue, the paper discusses the attitudes of LIS practitioners towards academic research and the need for closer collaboration. Finally the paper speculates on some of the implications for LIS educators in developing future researchers better equipped to identify the contribution that libraries make, and more effective in influencing policy makers. Introduction Michel Menou, who has worked on some of the most high-profile international attempts at impact evaluation, has defined the need for evaluation of the impact of library and information services as meeting 3 principal requirements:  the scientific need to understand what information is and how it affects human behaviour;  the managerial need to prove information is a critical resource;  the political need to provide a rationale for policies and justify investments and thus to secure popular support (Menou, 2001). The first of the aims outlined by Menou acknowledges the potential for undertaking both pure and applied research that is available to the LIS research community, and for blending these 1