Transcript Slide 1

Pathways
to new academic library practices:
a South African exploration towards
21st century academic research support
Clare M Walker
Deputy University Librarian
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
IFLA CPDWL Satellite Conference, Bologna, 18-20 August 2009
Moving In, Moving Up and Moving On:
Strategies for Regenerating
the Library and Information Profession
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The Carnegie Corporation-funded Research Libraries Consortium
(RLC) project at the Universities of
Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal & the Witwatersrand,
2006-2009
1. Research Portal
2. Research Commons (a physical space
particularly for the ‘one stop’ support of
young researchers)
3. Research Librarians
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Cohort of mid-career Research Librarians more
knowledgeable about the research process in different
disciplines, and better skilled in collaborative and
support activities with researchers, than their
subject/reference librarian counterparts.
Mid 2009:
36 librarians from 3 university libraries have participated
in one of two two-week local residential Library
‘Academies’ in 2007 & 2008;
15 have further participated in internship programmes
for nine weeks each at major university libraries in the
USA in 2008 & 2009.
Collectively a “Carnegie research librarians” core team for
developing a new, higher level support relationship
with graduate research students and academic faculty
researchers at each institution.
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ASERL: RESEARCH LIBRARIAN COMPETENCIES (2000)
1. The research librarian develops and manages effective services that
meet user needs and support the research library's mission.
2. The research librarian supports cooperation and collaboration to
enhance service.
3. The research librarian understands the library within the context of
higher education (its purpose and goals) and the needs of students,
faculty, and researchers.
4. The research librarian knows the structure, organization, creation,
management, dissemination, use, and preservation of information
resources, new and existing, in all formats.
5. The research librarian demonstrates commitment to values and
principles
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Changes in the library environment, such as technological innovations
and legal limitations on the use of information, will continue to offer
opportunities for research librarians to gain and apply new knowledge.
At the same time, the expertise that librarians have developed in
organizing, providing access to, and preserving information will
become more important than ever.
The research librarian of the future will have more opportunities to
support learning, enhance teaching, and improve research, providing
services to the users of today as well as anticipating the needs of the
users of tomorrow.
ASERL Competencies, 2000
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“Getting a researcher efficiently from what he or she asks for to what is
available in a research library is a much more complex operation than
most librarians realise; it is also more complex than too many library
managers themselves seem to understand. Most of it cannot be done
remotely through searching the open internet, no matter how much
under-the-hood programming underlies the utopian 'single search box‘"
Thomas Mann: 2007
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DO OUR RESEARCH LIBRARIANS GO IN DEEP ENOUGH?
Some questions underpinning the rationale behind the
Carnegie Library Academy development
DO THEY
• surf the web in the deep sea swell of the disciplines they serve?
• know the top three burning issues/cutting edge areas of research in
their disciplines? Can they name key researchers/authors, in the field or
in the schools they serve?
• browse the top online or print journals ToCs in their disciplines and
read abstracts?
• follow breaking news of research and publications on relevant
websites?
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PROFILE OF A RESEARCH LIBRARIAN beyond the basics of
“competent information seeking for known facts”:
• professional competence in the traditional fields of
metadata and the newer fields generated by digital
librarianship and data curation
• broad and specialised knowledge of a domain, and the
initiative to update that knowledge proactively and to think
laterally across domains
• the will and initiative to engage with researchers in
their domains.
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WHAT DO RESEARCHERS WANT?
Six recent major studies (see References in full text paper)
2007:
• Mann, T. The Peloponnesian War and the future of reference, cataloging,
and scholarship in research libraries. Prepared for AFSCME 2910, the Library of
Congress Professional Guild.
• NYU 21st Century library project: designing a research library of the future
for New York University: Report of a study of faculty and graduate needs for
research and teaching.
• Brown, S. and Swan, A. Researchers’ use of academic libraries and their
services: a report commissioned by the Research Information Network and
the Consortium of Research Libraries. Technical Report. April 2007.
2008:
• Housewright, R. & Schonfeld, R. Ithaka's 2006 Studies of Key Stakeholders
in the Digital Transformation in Higher Education, Ithaka Report, 2008.
• No Brief Candle: Reconceiving research libraries for the 21st Century.
Council on Library and Information Resources, 2008.
2009
• Palmer, C.L., Teffeau, L.C, & Pirmann, C.M.(2009) Scholarly Information
Practices in the Online Environment: Themes from the Literature and
Implications for Library Service Development. Report commissioned by OCLC
Research. 2009.
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SEVEN MOST HIGHLY RANKED ROLES OF
RESEARCH LIBRARIANS
1. Custodian of print-based and digitised archives and special
collections. (72%);
2. Managers of institutional repositories of digital information
(61%);
3. Administration (purchase and delivery) of information services
(59% );
4. Subject based information expert (core role: 46%; ancillary role:
(33%.);
5. Teacher of information literacy and related skills (42% core, 39%
ancillary);
6. Manager of the vast datasets generated by e-research (33% core,
27% ancillary);
7. Technology specialist facilitating electronic access to information
resources (34% core, 37% ancillary).
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ROLES THAT RESEARCH LIBRARIANS SAW
FOR THEMSELVES INCLUDED:
• very important role as gateway for access for academics (>90%)
• providing library-based advice or formal training to researchers;
and
• providing library-based skills development for researchers
(including guiding researchers through the process from simple
information management to information dissemination, but recognising
that this may be perceived as an intrusion on the research studentsupervisor relationship).
Researchers’ Use of Academic Libraries
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HOWEVER …
...faculty increasingly valued electronic resources but perceived
themselves to be decreasingly dependent on the library for their
research and teaching and although scholars reported general respect
for libraries and librarians,
“the library is increasingly disintermediated from their actual research
process”
-in other words, researchers no longer used the library as a gateway to
information...”
Ithaka’s 2006 studies
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...researchers did not always express confidence in the
specialist subject knowledge of the librarian:
“I am skeptical that a librarian would actually be able to select a set of
books that would be more useful to me than one selected by another
computer scientist;”
“I often feel the suggestions of librarians are too broad.”
NYU 21st Century library project
“I have far more specialist knowledge than the librarians. As long as the
library continues to provide the materials that I need for research and
teaching, I am more than capable of finding what I need, either in print
or electronically.”
Comment submitted by a faculty respondent in the LibQUAL+TM survey conducted at the
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg November 2008.
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...SIX TRENDS in the academic research environment which are likely to
shape scholarship in the next decades, and therefore reflect something about
the resources scholars will use
• ascendance of science;
• development of digital humanities;
• emphasis on process over product;
• “mobile and ubiquitous” computing;
• data deluge; and
• rising costs and changing funding models – so that the library on
campus must “continuously demonstrate its value.”
(Smith: 2008, in No brief candle)
...characteristics of e-science (i.e. working on problems that have only
become solvable in recent years with improved data collection and data
analysis capabilities) [will] fundamentally alter the way in which
scientists carry out their work and “will require a corresponding change
in the ways in which libraries serve scientists’ needs...”
(Luce, R. 2008. A new value equation challenge: the emergence of e-Research and
roles for research libraries. in No brief candle)
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rather more is needed than for LIS professionals to promote their
expertise more widely if they to [sic] aspire to involvement at the
strategic and policy-making level.
For many in the profession this is likely to entail the cultivation of
new attitudes and the learning of new kinds of skills: and opening up
to new ways of thinking…
Martin, B., Hazeri, A., & Sarrafzadeh, M
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“...the level of knowledge and engagement required goes well beyond
knowledge of the literature – requires being a trusted member of the
community with recognised authority in information-related matters. This
new paradigm entails shifting library foci from managing specialized
collections to emphasizing proactive outreach and engagement
Changes in research libraries must be driven by and reflect the needs of
the research communities they seek to support, and the challenges facing
research libraries are “to articulate and advance our role and unique
capabilities into the virtual laboratory environment.”
(Luce: 2008, in No brief candle)
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Andrew Kaniki, Executive Director: Knowledge Fields Development at
the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), addressing the
Carnegie Research Librarians’ Academy in October 2008, highlighted
new areas in the research environment in South Africa in which
research librarians (and most specifically the RLC project participants)
should become informed and proactively engaged:
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• Issues related to South Africa’s international research competitiveness,
reflected in ISI citation ranking, analysis and interpretation; measuring and
providing evidence of progress and/or regression in international
competitiveness;
• Use of ISI Web of Knowledge and Scopus for collection and
interpretation of indicators, including citation metrics that are discipline
specific;
• Provision of support for the NRF application processes (researcher rating
system & grant applications);
• Provision of information and guidance on who is involved in the system
(nationally and internationally);
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• Identification of potential reviewers (for NRF rating of researchers & grant
proposals);
• Establishing a liaison with institutional Research Offices;
• Engaging with pre-evaluation of research outputs – especially books (checking
accuracy of data reported, especially bibliographic information);
• Facilitation of appropriately completed submissions for Department of Education
research publication subsidies;
• Assisting researchers with research integrity – data sources; references, etc.;
• Becoming engaged in the field of scientific data preservation and management.
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ESSENTIALS INCLUDE
• High levels of professional competence including competence in
the field of metadata (cataloguing, classification, indexing)
• Broad and also specialised knowledge of the domain to understand
the context, and the initiative to update that knowledge proactively
(including the habit of reading in the domain)
• Ability to think laterally across more than one domain if
appropriate
• Interactive and pro-active engagement with researchers and their
domain
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WHERE and HOW do professional academic librarians (and their
employer institutions) expect to acquire
• knowledge in a discipline-specific domain ?
• knowledge and in-depth understanding of the research process and
the research environment ?
• high-level technological knowledge and skills for digital research
library practice ?
• credibility as partners in the research enterprise?
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BASELINE for South African academic librarians and employing
institutions (1)
• General basic undergraduate first professional qualification:3 or 4
year degree, hybrid or LIS majors with tech emphasis; only minority
choose graduate diploma on top of 3 year, 2-major B-degree
• Very infrequently two-degree structure >> limited indepth subject
domain knowledge appropriate to academic & research libraries
• Post-basic CPDWL only as higher degree Masters, Doctoral
academic studies; limited knowledge or experience of various kinds
of research process, methodology: limited transfer into the academic
library workplace
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BASELINE for South African academic librarians and employing
institutions (2)
• Socio-economic background: first university graduates in the family
• General high school education and curriculum content tend to be
results-focused, not information-focused
• English language skills which translate into knowledge skills:
perceptions and realities in the context of academic resource material
in any subject domain
• Narrow focus: “Why do we have to read something we know nothing
about?”
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NEW PATHWAYS TO CPD
FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIANS (1)
A “studio approach” to the curriculum as described by Dillon in No
brief candle could be modified in a South African context for academic
library CPDWL:
• building on the skills and knowledge required to participate
in intelligently in the changes affecting libraries,
• working with projects involving real clients,
testing ground for ideas and potential solutions.
• opportunities for the emerging professional to
hear from the field
work with an expert
offer concrete responses.
“Coupled with strong theoretical education in human information
interactions, we would educate a class of professionals equipped to
grapple with the ill-structured problems faced by academic libraries
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this time”
NEW PATHWAYS TO CPD
FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIANS (2)
• On–the-job guided professional self-study, reading programmes,
writing circles, to instill awareness & critical debate around current
issues and developments in research libraries and the research
environment;
• Spread South African “scarce skills” by negotiating “coaching” or
shadowing programmes within and between university libraries;
engage national or international consultants to advise on this;
• engage institutionally with faculty teaching staff across schools to
create and teach customised inhouse short course programmes to
upgrade subject domain knowledge; include discipline-specific
research issues & skills such as statistics, dataset management;
• librarian participation in institutional programmes on research
methodology and research writing which target graduate students;
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NEW PATHWAYS TO CPD
FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIANS (3)
• incorporate as performance management requirements an annual
quota of events and activities designed to enhance acquisition and
application of professional knowledge: e.g. reading; attending
public or in-school research presentations; participating actively in
professional social networking; participating actively and
presenting at professional meetings & conferences; publishing and
in the literature;
• encourage all academic research librarians to acquire Masters
degrees, work towards registration for PhD degrees, to raise the
quality of academic library support for institutional research: “good
specialist research librarians get PhDs… [and] can do almost
everything a good supervisor can do for a PhD student” (Dean of
Research, University of the Western Cape);
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NEW PATHWAYS TO CPD
FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIANS (5)
• Work with South African qualifications authorities, academic library
employers, library schools, the Library and Information Association
of South Africa to develop a graduate specialist post-basic
qualification to be accommodated in the SA Higher Education
Qualifications Framework, with specialisation curriculum clusters for
advanced academic subject and research information work and
support
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NEW PATHWAYS TO CPD
FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIANS
A RADICAL DEPARTURE? Or
BACK TO THE FUTURE?
“Hiring only staff with a master’s of library and information science
(MLIS) degree is unlikely to bring in the breadth of skill and
experience that is needed… We need new career paths for people
who want to work in academic libraries, and we need the means to
support them.”
No brief candle
“The successful research library of the future will have a staff
composed of many types of librarians… Scholars with PhDs, MLISholding librarians, hybrids with both degrees, and others with
neither degree will all have a role to play. Some will be housed in
the library, some in academic departments, and some in teaching
centers. Some will be unmoored consultants.”
Rentfrow. 2008. in No brief candle
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NEW PATHWAYS TO CPD
FOR SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIANS (4)
• Design new research librarian job specifications for academic
libraries:
“University administrators and librarians should consider
new training and career paths for professionals going into the area
of scholarly communication. New leadership programmes need to be
developed that reflect the rise in collaborative research, and
integrate support services such as those provided by research
librarians into the processes and methodologies of research”
(No brief candle)
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… so in conclusion…
BEING and BECOMING A RESEARCH
LIBRARIAN
To become research librarians, present South African information
professionals need to acquire and continuously build on appropriate
high levels the following KASH characteristics
KNOWLEDGE,
ATTITUDE,
SKILLS and
HABITS
that will bring them closer to membership of the researcher team.
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No interventions have a lasting effect
unless they are internalised
How do we balance a conservative risk-averse nature
with the need to respond to a changing environment ?
New ways to do the familiar
&
New, altogether unfamiliar things to
do.
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…and finally…
LIBRARY MANAGERS HAVE A VITAL ROLE
 Setting performance goals for acquiring new knowledge and new
skills
 embedding these in a supportive and challenging work
environment
 promotion in the academic institution of a new partnership role
for research librarians
 ‘walking the talk’ while building the bridge to close the credibility
gap between the library and researchers
 using peer influence at the highest level relationship-building in
institutional academic and research structures.
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