Recounts the personal experience of developing research support services at an academic library

1. | 0
A research affair:
confessi♥ns of an
ex-librarian
Lucia Schoombee, Former librarian and Customer Consultant:
Research Intelligence Solutions (Elsevier); SARIMA Workshop,
Pretoria, 26 Augustus 2014

2. | 1
Contents
1st stage: Getting acquainted
2nd stage: Pursuit
3rd stage: Commitment
4th stage: Disillusionment
5th stage: Finding the balance

3. | 2
1st stage: Getting acquainted
Characterised by introduction;
awakening, awareness and kindredness
Two important factors:
• The role of the Carnegie Research Libraries
Consortium (RLC) Project (2006-2012)
• Professional / academic literature

4. | 3
Research Libraries Consortium
Four components:
• Research portal
• Research Commons
• Library staff development
• Digitisation
Each component a clue in determining the
parameters for advancing scholarship

5. | 4
Benefits of the RLC
• Improve understanding of the
research process
• Emphasise importance of communication
between researchers and librarians
• Emphasise the importance of subject expertise
• Create enthusiasm and confidence
• But, lacked skills transfer; disconnect between
attendees and management; US vastly different
context; abrupt end

6. | 5
Professional Literature

7. | 6
Academic Literature

8. | 7
2nd stage: Pursuit
Characterized by the exploring of
prospects; contemplation of possibilities and
delving into mutualities
Important factors:
• Global change agents
• New modes of research
• “New Science”
• Socio-political imperative
• National and institutional research agendas
• New funding model

9. | 8
Global forces
• Changing technologies
• Abundant digital information
• Increased understanding users
• Evolving research methods
• Scholarly communication

10. | 9
New modes of research
• Different conceptual
schools
• Well-known models include:
• Dr. Michael Gibbons’ New
Production of Knowledge Mode 2
(1994)
• Drs. Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff
Triple Helix (1998)

11. | 10
New science
• Problem-orientated
• Application-based
• Team-driven, partnership-based
• Multi-disciplinary, Interdisciplinary
Transdisciplinary
• Heterogeneous, multi-cited
• Awareness of impact
• Social useful
• Beyond peer-review

12. | 11
Socio-economic impetus
“…higher education and research contribute to
the eradication of poverty, to sustainable
development and to progress towards
reaching the internationally agreed upon
development goals, which include the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
Education for All (EFA)”
2009 World Conference on Higher Education: The New
Dynamics of Higher Education and Research For Societal
Change and Development (UNESCO, Paris, 5 – 8 July
2009)

13. | 12
National Imperative
Goals include:
• Increased targets for high publication output rate
• Increased enrolment in science, engineering and
technology
• Increased enrollment Masters and doctoral enrolments
• Increase number of HE permanent staff with doctoral
degrees
Pertinent documents:
•1997 White Paper on Higher Education
Transformation
•2001 National Plan for Higher Education
•2012 Green paper for post-school education and training
•2012 National Planning Commission – Vision 2030

14. | 13
New funding model / world rankings
• Ministry of Higher Education and Training's
(MHET) , 2004
• New funding framework (NFF):
(a)actual totals of research graduates and
research publication units for the year
(b)total research outputs
• Academic ranking of world universities
heavily based on research output / citations
/ postgraduates / PhD’s etc.

15. | 14
Institutional agendas
• Decrease ratio between undergrad and
postgrad
• Increase through-put rate
• Halve the completion time of masters &
doctoral
• Increase numbers of PhDs
• Increase research output
• Increase ratio of staff with PhD

16. | 15
3rd stage: Commitment
Characterised by a decision to be
together; defining boundaries and
establishing communication and
behaviour patterns
Important factors:
• The research life cycle
• New models of service delivery (from
pre-publication to post-publication
services)

17. | 16
16
Research life cycle
Prepare
Gather
Research life
Create
Preserve
Measure
Share
cycle

18. | 17
17
Prepare
Gather
Create
Preserve
Measure
Prepare
• Background reading/ looking for ideas
• Deciding on a topic
Share
• Formulating a research question
• Securing funding
• Planning the project
• Identifying skills deficits & planning for workshops
Library response, e.g.
• Redesign orientation programmes to match research steps
• Make available referral information for each research step
e.g. where to find funding info; other workshops on camps
• Scival Spotlight used to show research trends – students
looking for topic

19. | 18
Prepare
Gather
Create
Preserve
Measure
Share
• Literature review
• Research design
• Research method
• Research proposal
• Ethical compliance
• Data collection
Library response, e.g.:
• Expand workshop portfolio (advanced, different formats,
finding open data etc.)
• Expand and promote literature about research steps
18
Gather

20. | 19
Prepare
Gather
Create
Preserve
Measure
Share
• Data analysis
•Writing
• Edit/proofreading
• Bibliographic management
• Comply with copyright & plagiarism
Library response:
• Partner with Statistical Consultation Centre, Writing lab
• Introduce new reference managers e.g Mendeley
• Promote colloboration – video conferencing, spaces
• Promote academic networking sites e.g Mendeley
• Relevant workshops
19
Create

21. | 20
Prepare
Gather
Create
Preserve
Measure
Share
• Managing and preserving research
output and data
• Research outputs
• Research data
Library response, e.g.:
• Institutional repository
• Mandatory self-archiving of research
output
• Research Data Management
20
Preserve

22. | 21
Prepare
Gather
Create
Preserve
Measure
Share
• Publication in books
• Publication in traditional journals
• Open access publishing
• Conference papers
• Publication in social media
Library response:
• New workshops – Where to publish ; choosing the
right journal; Open Access vs Commercial
publishing, etc.
• Open Access funds
21
Share

23. | 22
Prepare
Gather
Create
• Evaluating impact; showcasing; motivating for funding,
looking for collaborators)
• Determine journal impact
• Profiling to increase visibility
• NRF ranking applications
Library response:
• Guides and workshops on citation analysis, h-index,
Preserve
Measure
Share
impact factors; altmetrics, impact factor.
• Services to provide metrics about journal impact, article
level impact and author level impact
22
Measure

24. | 23
New paradigms of service delivery

25. | 24
4th stage: Disillusionment
Characterized by conflict, power
struggle, challenges and transgressions
Important factors:
• Defining “research librarianship” -
opposing views of colleagues
• Overlap in roles of stakeholders
• Understanding user needs

26. | 25
Defining “research librarianship”
• Focused on advanced subject searches for
postgraduates and researchers?
• Focused on postgraduates and researchers per se
across entire research life cycle?
• Focused on post-publications services e.g.
research performance measurement?
• Primary contact for research office and other
researcher-specific matters in an institution?
• Subject librarian vs Research Librarian (where are
the boundaries?)

27. | 26
Centre for Student Counselling and Development
Writing lab
Postgraduate &
International Office
Innovation
Division
African Doctoral
Academy
Graduate Schools per
Faculty
Research Development
Library
CREST
IT Division
Various stakeholders
Institutional Planning
Technology Transfer
Office

28. | 27
Understanding user needs
• “It’s almost impossible to find out what
[researchers] want” (RIN & RLUK, 2007)
• “It’s easy – they want to do their research, read
and write about it, share it with others, and keep
up in their fields! (Foster & Gibbons, 2005)

29. | 28
Obstacles in the research process
The Curious Instance of the Library's
Travelling Poll: Determining Obstacles in
the Research Process. 2014 IATUL
Proceedings

30. | 29
5th stage: Finding the balance
Characterized by acceptance,
respect and contentment
Important factors:
• Acknowledge and accept
• Demarcate and remove bias
• Partner and collaborate
• Communicate
• Empower yourself and one another (Using the
right tools, correctly)

31. | 30
Acknowledge and accept
• Enough evidence exists to indicate that a
new service paradigm is required to address
transformation related to socio-economic
expectations; global changes in science
practice and national/institutional objectives

32. | 31
Demarcate and remove bias
• “Research librarian” = misnomer. Means too
many things to too many people
• Not a specific role but rather a strategic
approach underlying various roles
• Not superior to teaching-related activities

33. | 32
Collaborate and partner
• “Advancing scholarship” has many stakeholders
• Library central and neutral - presents unique
position to facilitate integrated service
experience for users
• E.g. expose funding opportunities; provide career-related
information; create awareness for
mentorship programmes; host industry talks and
soft skills workshops; and provide opportunities for
young scientists to create support structures
among themselves.

34. | 33
Communicate
• Create forums among library staff; among
stakeholders; with researchers and research
groups
• Survey users; conduct focus groups; listen to
users and what they are asking

35. | 34
Empower yourself and the user
• Use the right tools correctly!

36. | 35
Bibliography
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41. Thank you!
Dankie!