Cox, A.M. orcid.org/0000-0002-2587-245X and Verbaan, E. (2016) How academic librarians, IT staff and research administrators perceive and relate to research. Library and Information Science Research, 38 (4). pp. 319-326. ISSN 1873-1848
Abstract
Academic libraries are changing how they support research. For example, their involvement in Research Data Management (RDM) implies a much deeper relationship with researchers throughout the research lifecycle. Perhaps we are witnessing a shift from support to partnership. The study reported here examined how librarians, IT staff and research administrators see research and their own relation to it. Within an interpretative methodology, twenty semi-structured interviews with librarians, IT staff and research administrators were analysed thematically. Librarians often talked about research via the discourse of research-led teaching. They also conceived of it via notions of collection and to a lesser extent through reference work or copyright expertise. They saw some of their own continuing professional development or service development work as akin to the work of university researchers, but at the other end of a spectrum. Some saw a categorical difference and considered that research was only conducted by people who had a job title of researcher. IT managers tended to see research via infrastructure or specialist expertise. But at least one IT staff member saw himself as both partly a researcher and a bridge between research and support. Research administrators tended to see research through the roles of administrative support and policy influence. In summary, seven broad narratives about research were identified, namely: influencing researchers to align with policy; being a researcher; being a bridge with research; offering expertise; providing infrastructure; supporting a research/teaching nexus; relieving researchers of administrative burdens. As institutions develop research partnerships, e.g. around RDM, training and curricula will need to expand existing conceptions and build deeper empathetic relationships with research.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 Elsevier Inc. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Library & Information Science Research. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jun 2016 11:52 |
Last Modified: | 23 Nov 2017 01:38 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2016.11.004 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.lisr.2016.11.004 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:100511 |
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