The purpose of this paper is to report on the use of the critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) method as a potential tool for aiding library selection decisions.
CIS was used to model research trends in the intersection of journalism and popular culture using presentation titles collected from five years of Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference programs (2007‐2011).
CIS was determined to be effective for focusing a subject selector's current awareness activities.
Considering the limited information provided in the PCA/ACA programs, the researchers were required to analyze the intent of many of the presentations from their titles and the titles of the sessions where they were given.
CIS is a flexible means of systematically producing explanatory theories directly from the data that, while new to library and information science, is useful for modeling cutting‐edge research for current awareness activities.
