Is there a CoW in the Library?
Issues and solutions in providing
library services for research
Moira Bent
National Teaching Fellow
Faculty Liaison Librarian

Today’s talk
• Who are “researchers” and what
do they do?
• The 7 ages model of research
• Where do libraries fit into the 21st
century picture?
• Issues and solutions- do we
need a CoW?
AHIS Dublin June 2009

What is research?
Researchers said ..
Research is
• Theory-led; Data-led; Scholarship
• Grounded in disciplines; multi / inter
disciplinary
• Investigation; interpretation; gathering
evidence
• A holistic activity; a set of transferable
skills
• Collaborative / solo activity
• Related to self
• Validated by peer group
• Made meaningful by an external audience
AHIS Dublin June 2009

What are researchers?
Researchers said..
Researchers are:
• Usually recognised within organization
• People who find out new things, reflect and take action
• At different levels and career stages
• Working in different disciplines
• Keen/ obliged to share what they find
• Ready to be challenged
• Making connections
• Passionate
• Ambitious
A researcher is someone with “enthusiasm, an
almost insane desire to know more about what
you are interested in…”
AHIS Dublin June 2009

The 7 Ages of research
• Masters students
• Doctoral students
• Contract researchers
• Early career researchers
• Established academic staff
• Senior researchers
• Experts
New Review of Information Networking
(2007) 13 (2) : 81-99
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Early
• Apprenticeship - influenced by supervisors / tutors /
mentors
• Skills and competences are defined (also funded
and monitored)
• Different levels of control
• Transition from structured learning to self-
organization
• Managing different roles e.g. other jobs, developing
teaching skills
• Information consumer, objective is production
“I reckon I spent nearly all my first year reading journal
articles.” [Computing Sciences Final year PhD]
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Mid
• Moving field / moving role / learning a different
landscape
• Balancing teaching/ mentoring with research
• Situating yourself / making your name / establishing
credentials
– Locally/ wider research community
• Need to be adaptable / avoiding isolation
• Starting to supervise other researchers
• Starting role in management / administration
• Information production and consumption
• Shift from systematic to pragmatic information
retrieval
“I hardly ever use databases, probably because I’m not
usually starting from a position of knowing nothing. I
tend to start with a few key papers and then follow up
their references.”
[Senior lecturer in
Biology]
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Late / Senior
• Significant role in research leadership and
administration
• Leading research teams / research centres / research
projects
• Supervising and examining theses
• Teaching research methods
• Plenary conference speaker
• Editorial board of journals etc.
• Refereeing / peer reviewer / specialist assessor
• Disseminating research practice or defining their field
• Information producers
“These days all my papers are invited plenaries and similar
tertiary reviews”
[Retired Professor of Chemistry, UK]
AHIS Dublin June 2009

How is research changing?
Researchers said…
• More accountability / Fewer blue sky
opportunities
• More targeted outcomes
• More collaboration (UK, overseas, across
different types of organisation)
• Multidisciplinary research areas
• Data archives – data mining, data storage
• E science / grid
• Repositories / Open access mandates
• Harder to know all that is happening, especially
in China, India etc
AHIS Dublin June 2009

What is the library role in supporting
research?
Librarians said…
• Research methodology - how to do it
• Updating skills for older/
experienced researchers
• Awareness of needing to know
• Understanding scholarly
communication issues
• Effective use of sources, inc people
• Supervisors & librarians - skills
assessment
• Access to resources
• Separate study spaces
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Researchers said
I have concerns about
• Resources: No full text access /Missing /
unavailable material
• Space: Access/ Noisy study spaces
• English as language of scholarship
• Management of data
• REF/ measuring my impact
• Publishing – where and how
• Repositories, keeping track of my publications
accurately, organising information
• Time wasting, quantity/ quality of information
• “E” limits research to what is easy
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Where can librarians contribute to the
research process in future?
– Everything we do now….
– More involvement in research proposals
– More information literacy development
– Understand REF/ personal impact measures/
metrics
– Access/ resource sharing (SRX, UKRR)
– Help researchers to publish
– Develop expertise in data mining/data storage -
E science / grid
– Support Repositories / Open access mandates
– Collection development – less western centric
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Types of publication
• Book
• Book chapter/section
• Conference paper/proceedings
• E-article
• E- book
• Book review
• Journal article
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article
• Wiki
• Report
• Thesis
• Webpage
• Presentation
• Handout
• Personal communication (letter, blog, email,
discussion list, chat room…)
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Why do people publish?
• Expectation of the job
• Condition of the funding
• Pressure to publish
• Contributing to debate/ body of knowledge/
networking
• Passion
• Research informed teaching
• Intellectual challenge
• Personal profile
• Sense of achievement/ enjoyable
• Advance career
• Income generation
• Develop skills
• Clarify thinking
AHIS Dublin June 2009

What stops them?
• RAE/REF can skew priorities
• Lack of motivation
• Don’t have to do it
• Other (work) commitments
• Too busy to get started
• Lack of support
• Confidence in own ability
• No ideas to write about
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of open criticism
• Lack of knowledge of how to start
• Language skills
• Information Literacy ability
AHIS Dublin June 2009

So publication can be:
• Subject based
– Peer reviewed paper
• Philosophical
– Opinion piece
– Letter to editor
• Pedagogical
– Audit of practice
– Reflective piece
• Whimsical
– Laurie Taylor in THE
AHIS Dublin June 2009

How can LIS get involved in the
publication process?
• What do we do now?
– Personal examples?
– Do we do it well?
• What else might we do?
– Ideas/ inspirations
• What is stopping us
– Barriers to effective support
• What do we need to help us?
– Apart from more money….
AHIS Dublin June 2009

“One thing”
The Librarian’s perspective
• Advice & support, mentoring
• Resources/collection development
• Services
• Training opportunities
• Promote yourself
• Use of other services
• Use of other academic staff
• Networking
• Lead by example
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Case studies
• NUI Maynooth www.anltc.ie
• MMU
• Northampton Open Access
Journals
• Newcastle Research Training
programmes
• JISCiPAS IL researcher leaflet
AHIS Dublin June 2009

Some further thoughts
• Who else in our organisation is
researching/ writing?
• Who else is supporting?
• Who else do we need to talk
to?
AHIS Dublin June 2009