Bibliometrics and Research Data Management Services: Emerging Trends in Library Support for Research

Developments in network technologies, scholarly communication, and national policy are challenging academic libraries to find new ways to engage with research communities in the economic downturn. Librarians are responding with service innovations in areas such as bibliometrics and research data management. Previous surveys have investigated research data support within North America and other research services globally with small samples. An online multiple-choice questionnaire was used to survey bibliometric and data support activities of 140 libraries in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, including current and planned services, target audiences, service constraints, and staff training needs. A majority of respondents offered or planned bibliometrics training, citation reports, and impact calculations but with significant differences between countries. Current levels of engagement in data management were lower than for bibliometrics, but a majority anticipated future involvement, especially in technology assistance, data deposit, and policy development. Initiatives were aimed at multiple constituencies, with university administrators being important clients and partners for bibliometric services. Gaps in knowledge, skills, and confidence were significant constraints, with near-universal support for including bibliometrics and particularly data management in professional education and continuing development programs. The study also found that librarians need a multilayered understanding of the research environment. Introduction The purpose of the academic library has traditionally been presented as supporting the curriculum and scholarship of its parent institution. LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 61, No. 3, 2013 (“Research Into Practice,” edited by Sheila Corrall and Barbara Sen), pp. 636–674. © 2013 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinoiss 637 emerging trends/corrall, kennan, & afzal The mission of university libraries in the contemporary digital world continues to be characterized as supporting learning and research activities (Gumpenberger, Wieland, & Gorraiz, 2012), and the dual functions of contributing to instruction and contributing to research tend to feature equally prominently in the published mission statements of research libraries (Aldrich, 2007). However, the service environment of academic libraries has changed radically, as a result of developments in technology, automation of operations, diversification of media, reduced purchasing power, and evolving scholarly communication (Ball & Tunger, 2006). Library support for research has traditionally revolved around information discovery, collection development, and some elements of information management (Auckland, 2012), but the shift from print to electronic materials has made the library and its services virtually invisible to many faculty and other researchers, so they are “perceived by users to be more geared to supporting teaching and learning activities” (Bent, Gannon-Leary, & Webb, 2007, p. 82). Institutional administrators have disputed the use of subject librarians in the Google age (Jones-Evans, 2005); others have questioned the continued value of large academic libraries in hard times (Bourg, Coleman, & Erway, 2009), and many such libraries have suffered staffing cuts since the economic downturn of 2008 (Nicholas, Rowlands, Jubb, & Jamali, 2010). In consequence, as observed by Wood, Miller, and Knapp (2007, p. 3): Academic libraries are in trouble . . . They have been edged out of the top spot as the “go-to” place for virtually all aspiring researchers by the delicious (if deceptive) convenience and immediacy of the Web. Worse yet, some funding entities now view academic libraries more as bottomless pits than as what economists call a “self-evident good.” Libraries have responded to the situation energetically by launching multiple efforts to prove their worth; evaluation of libraries and assessment of the impact of their services has become a growth industry in recent years (Heath, 2011; Mays, Tenopir, & Kaufman, 2010; Oakleaf, 2010; Town, 2011). The roles of libraries and librarians in supporting research have received particular scrutiny, especially in the United Kingdom, with a notable focus on engagement with e-research developments (Auckland, 2012; Bourg et al., 2009; Lyon, 2012; MacColl & Jubb, 2011; RIN, 2007, 2011; Webb, Gannon-Leary, & Bent, 2007; Young & Lund, 2008). Library responses to the challenges vary. Holland (2006, p. 141) argues that “the Subject Librarian who has a broad knowledge of the organizational context in which research is undertaken, who combines this with knowledge of the information sources in the appropriate subject domain and who is skilled in one to one consultations is well placed to provide the informed individual support that researchers need.” However, CottaSchønberg (2007) reports that his library has moved away from subject638 library trends/winter 2013 specialist roles to general information specialists and stopped recruiting staff with a library-school education and/or relevant subject degree to research librarian positions. Other libraries are moving toward more specialized forms of support: several U.K. research universities employ dedicated research support librarians (Young & Lund, 2008), while Fonseca and Viator (2009, p. 81) see the way forward for academic librarians as “reinventing themselves as both subject/discipline and research methods experts,” supporting a current trend of embedding specialist library support in disciplinary or project settings, characterized as embedded librarians, informationists, or information specialists/liaison librarians in context (Carlson & Kneale, 2011; Freiburger & Kramer, 2009; Shumaker, 2012). Ball and Tunger (2006, p. 563) argue that libraries need to cease resembling museums and become efficient “business enterprises.” Drummond and Wartho (2009, p. 78) describe similar thinking in Australia, where the University of New South Wales Library adopted a “business model” for its restructure, creating a new Information Services Department that includes a Service Innovation Unit and Service Development Unit alongside an Academic Services Unit, which includes a Research Impact Measurement Service. This reflects a general trend in universities away from the traditional reference desk to more flexible service models, with “Information Services” replacing “Reference Services” as the most common name for the relevant department (Burke, 2008, p. 273). MacColl (2010, pp. 152, 161) describes the shift in terms of how “the research environment reconfigures the library,” also commenting on the interesting move in the United Kingdom by the University of Leicester to recruit “a professional bibliometrician, who will be based in the library” but noting that the University sought “a research statistician as opposed to a librarian-turned-bibliometrician.” Pan and Breen (2011) characterize library involvement in bibliometrics as “higher end researcher support.” The introduction of performance-based allocation of research funding has been a key driver of bibliometric activity in France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, and the United States, leading to renewed interest in bibliometrics as “an instrument of science management” and a growth opportunity for librarians (Ball & Tunger, 2006, p. 564). Pendlebury (2008) lists more than twenty countries worldwide that regularly use bibliometric reports or “science indicators studies” to evaluate research performance and inform resource allocation. In Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, periodic national assessments of the quality of research undertaken in universities are at least partly determined or informed by bibliometric indicators (Adams, 2007; Gibbs & Sergeant, 2009; Joint, 2008; MacColl, 2010). The 2006 announcement of the Australian Research Quality Framework (RQF) was instrumental in the development of innovative bibliometric support services by libraries at the University of New South Wales and University of South Australia 639 emerging trends/corrall, kennan, & afzal (Drummond & Wartho, 2009; Gibbs & Sergeant, 2009). The Research Excellence Framework (REF), the United Kingdom’s assessment exercise, is the main motive for researchers seeking bibliometric support from the University of Warwick Library (Delasalle, 2012). Another driver for library involvement in bibliometrics is the need to find new ways of adding value in the current environment (Ball & Tunger, 2006; Hendrix, 2010). Librarians have recognized that faculty are also being challenged to prove their worth by providing evidence of the value of their scholarly contribution and that “the expertise of librarians can be used to help our faculty . . . achieve success in their tenure process” (Kear & Colbert-Lewis, 2011, p. 470). According to Roemer and Borchadt (2012, p. 596), “many librarians have stepped forward to help [faculty] negotiate the landscape of both traditional impact metrics . . . and emerging Webbased alternatives.” National and international policy developments related to advances in e-research (networked data-intensive science) have similarly created opportunities for libraries to create value by extending their stewardship and service activities to the management and sharing of research datasets as an increasingly vital dimension of the global research knowledge base. In addition to building on library engagement with institutional repositories and open access (Macdonald & Uribe, 2008; Walters, 2009), numerous synergies have been identified with existing professional practices in collection development and service delivery, and librarians have accordingly been involved in steering committees and working groups of official bodies in Australia, North America, and Europe (Corrall, 2012). Commentators within and beyond the library community have encouraged libraries to assume a central, strategic role within their institutions (Hey & Hey, 2006; Lewis, 2010; Lyon, 2012; Swan & Brown, 2008), although others have flagged the need for more specialized domain knowledge and technical know-how, sourced from across the library, to support endto-end engagement with research workflows (Garritano & Carlson, 2009; Gold, 2007; Henty, 2008; Hswe & Holt, 2011). The ambiguity surrounding the roles and specific responsibilities of libraries, researchers, and others involved in the research cycle in managing digital data and other outputs is problematic (Lewis, 2010; Lyon, 2007; Pryor & Donnelly, 2009; RIN, 2007). Librarians in both the United Kingdom and United States have received mixed messages from researchers about the value of their support services. A RIN (2007) report revealed conflicting views among researchers, librarians, and library directors on the relative importance of suggested future roles for librarians, with library staff attaching more importance than researchers to subject expertise, information literacy teaching, metadata management, and copyright advice, although there was more consensus on library responsibility for custody of special collections, institutional repository 640 library trends/winter 2013 management, and e-resource administration. An Ithaka survey found the library’s role in e-resource procurement was increasingly valued, but faculty were unlikely to consult a librarian in person, visit library service points, or search online catalogs (Schonfeld & Housewright, 2010). Research in the United Kingdom and United States concluded that “researchers have little interest in the support services libraries have built for them in recent years, yet they are aware of support needs that are not being met” (MacColl & Jubb, 2011, p. 10). Libraries in the United States have been quicker than elsewhere in responding to the changing research landscape. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries “created a research group in 2002 to design and develop tools to support discovery, offering a new vision of the role of the librarian on campus as research partner and innovator,” strengthened research partnerships on campus, and redefined subjectspecialist roles to shift their emphasis from collections and reference to “services and tools” (Duranceau, 2008, p. 256). A survey by the Association of Research Libraries in 2009 found twenty-one libraries already providing infrastructure or support services for e-science, with another twentythree intending to do so (Soehner, Steeves, & Ward, 2010). The National Science Foundation (NSF) announcement that researchers must submit data management plans with their grant applications prompted another surge of library initiatives around data management planning (Hswe & Holt, 2011). Relevant developments have taken place in other countries, though to a lesser extent: Auckland (2012) confirms that research libraries are shifting their focus from traditional forms of support for researchers toward data management and curation, and also bibliometrics, citing examples from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, among other countries; however, she also notes significant skills gaps and shortages among U.K. research libraries that may hinder further development. There has been no comprehensive study of research data management services in academic libraries outside North America, nor any systematic investigation of library involvement in bibliometric support, representing another significant opportunity for strategic service innovation. Within the context outlined, the present study sought to investigate and illuminate issues surrounding the development of research services related to bibliometric support and research data management in the academic libraries of Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The study population was selected because of growing evidence of activity in the area that required substantiation and because of its accessibility to the research team through established professional networks. The gaps in previous research suggest the present study has much to contribute in terms of baseline data and areas for future research and development, including education and training to meet needs arising from 641 emerging trends/corrall, kennan, & afzal new roles for librarians and different relationships with researchers and other stakeholders. The research reported here aimed to discover the following: • What specialist research support services are academic libraries offering and planning to offer in the future in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom? • Are libraries and library staff constrained in providing specialist research support services? • Do library staff require additional education, training, and support in their research support roles? • How might library and information science (LIS) schools respond to the evolving role of research support services in academic and research libraries? The next section reviews the literature that formed the background to the present study and informed the design of the research instrument. The subsequent section explains the design of the study and composition of the sample, followed by presentation of the main findings and observations on their significance. The conclusion then summarizes key findings and suggests lines of inquiry for future work.