A talk delivered by Louise Clarke at the Anybook Oxford Libraries Conference 2015 - Adapting for the Future: Developing Our Professions and Services, 21st July 2015.

1. Strategic Direction for the Bodleian
Social Sciences Libraries
Louise Clarke, Head of the Social Sciences Libraries and Research & Learning Support, Bodleian Libraries, 2015

2. Social
Science
Library
(SSL)

3. Bodleian Law Library

4. Sainsbury Library (Business School)

5. Education Library

6. Tylor Library (Anthropology)

7. Latin American
Centre Library
(St Antony’s College)

8. Rewley House Library
(Dept for Continuing Education)

9. A watershed moment
Nine Standards Rigg, 2,172 ft, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, 1992

10. SSG Strategy Workshop
June 2014, Education Dept

11. Qu 1: What services should the library
develop in support of the research lifecycle?

12. Qu 2: How will open access information
change the roles of librarians?

13. Qu 3: How might libraries add value to
the teacher and learner interaction?

14. Qu 4: What is the purpose of library space
in an increasingly digital environment?

15. Signpost 1: partnership & collaboration

16. Social Sciences Divisional Research
Strategy, 2015
• Strategic Aim 2: To strengthen collaborative
research capacity both as a source of
innovation and a means of improving the
quality and success of large grant applications.
• Strategic Aim 4: To extend the impact and
influence of Oxford’s social sciences research
beyond academic communities through more
effective engagement and communication.

17. Signpost 2: adding recognisable value
• Provide solutions to the problems researchers
care about, e.g.
– Research data management, archiving and sharing
– Open access and scholarly communications
– Impact of research outputs
• Technical infrastructure and services

18. Strategy day outcomes
Direction Service Development
Q1. Research Lifecycle
- Resource discovery
- Research methods
- Research data
- Interdisciplinary
1.1 Bodleian Data Library
1.2 Research Data Management
1.3 Doctoral Training
Q2. Open Access
- Dissemination & research impact
- Scholarly record
2.1 Open Access Support
2.2 Services for the REF
Q3. Taught Courses
- Mobile devices & laptops
- Reading lists
3.1 Digital Content
3.2 Reading List Management System
Q4. Library Spaces
- Zoned learning spaces
- Sense of community
4.1 Innovative Learning Spaces
4.2 Opening Hours
4.3 Community Events

19. Data

22. Example Library Workshops
Social Science Data archives and statistical databases
Turning a research question into an effective search strategy
References and Reference Management for Social Scientists
Working with Sensitive or Confidential Research Data
Keeping current in your research field
Your thesis, copyright & ORA
Finding and Converting Geospatial Data

23. Open access

25. Taught-courses

27. Learning spaces

28. Image of the proposed reconfigured entrance to the Law Library
Pringle / Richards / Sharratt Architects

29. Quantitative and qualitative research
methods hubs

31. Staffing strategy
• Pooling expertise to achieve depth & breadth, e.g.
– copyright expertise in the Law & Business Libraries
• Subject liaison and functional expertise combined in job
descriptions, e.g.
– Economics, Sociology and SPI Librarian is our Data Librarian
– Education Librarian is our Information Skills
Co-ordinator for the Doctoral Training Centre
• Senior Library Assistant roles recast for modern
scholarship practices
– Serials to Scholarly Communications
– Cataloguer to Meta-Data and Research Data Support
– Technical Services to Digital Services

32. Skills Development
• Preserving research outputs
• Data management and curation
• Compliance with mandates of funders, e.g. OA
• Data manipulation tools
• Data mining
• Metadata
RLUK, 2012, Re-Skilling for research: an investigation into the role and skills of subject and liaison
librarians required to effectively support the evolving information needs of researchers, Mary Auckland

33. Robin Hood’s Bay, North York Moors, end of the Coast to Coast Walk (193 miles)
Thank-you