re-skilling for research : mary anne kennon

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School of Information Studies, Faculty of Education

Emerging Trends in Library Support for Research Re-skilling for Research seminar – Brisbane February 2013

Based on research conducted by: Mary Anne Kennan (CSU), Sheila Corrall, University of Pittsburgh, and Waseem Afzal (CSU)



BackgroundTraditional Library support for research

• Information discovery

• Collection development

• Information management (Auckland 2012)

Shift to electronic made library services invisible

Responses (“environment reconfigures the library” McColl 2010):

• Study of impact of services, ways of adding value

• Engagement with scholarly communication, repositories, e-research, informetrics/research evaluation support

• Dedicated research support librarians



Issues

Ambiguity about roles (researchers/librarians, IT ...) (RIN 2007)

Shift towards new roles• Bibliometrics/informetrics/altmetrics – moving from

informing collection development etc to supporting the analysis of research output – strategic role

• Repositories/open access

• Data management and curation

• Skills gaps



Educational issues- Metrics

•Bibliometrics (where it is taught) - collection development & journal evaluation

•Importance of advanced numeracy, quantitative data management and analysis and statistics

•Growing importance of theories

•Many LIS research methods texts and courses omit bibliometrics



Educational issues -Research data

•Shorter history in LIS

•Education preparedness of RDM roles reported as an issue in the literature

•Discussion of who does what roles – researchers, librarians, other specialists?

•Only 16/52 LIS schools in US (Harris-Pierce & Liu (2012))

•In Australia, NZ & UK?



Educational issues - both

Educating and training new graduates

Up-skilling existing work force

Need for formal training to be associated with “real-life situations and practice” (Pryor & Donnelly 2009, p.166)

Experiential learning – e.g. Internships, field experience etc.



Research design

The research took a pragmatic approach, employing an online questionnaire survey analysed with descriptive statistics. The instrument contained 35 questions in four main sections:

•About you and your organization•Research support services – Bibliometrics•Research support services – Research data management•Research support services – Future plans.

•Focus here on background and education



SampleAppropriate person from each institution:

• CAUL

• CONZUL

• SCONUL

• CONUL



Bibliometrics services %

Bibliom

etric

s tra

ining

/bibl

iomet

rics

litera

cy

Citatio

n Rep

orts

Calcula

tions

of r

esea

rch

impa

ct

Grant

app

licat

ion s

uppo

rt

Evalua

tion

of c

andid

ates

for r

ecru

itmen

t

Discipl

inary

rese

arch

tren

d re

ports

h-ind

ex c

alcula

tions

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

100.00%

Current 2012



Bibliometrics Services %

Bibliom

etric

s tra

ining

/bibl

iomet

rics

litera

cy

Citatio

n Rep

orts

Calcula

tions

of r

esea

rch

impa

ct

Grant

app

licat

ion s

uppo

rt

Evalua

tion

of c

andid

ates

for r

ecru

itmen

t

Discipl

inary

rese

arch

tren

d re

ports

h-ind

ex c

alcula

tions

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

Planned



Research Data Management Services %

Assist

ance

with

tech

nolog

y, in

frast

ruct

ure

and

tools

Data

litera

cy e

duca

tion

and/

or tr

aining

Suppo

rt fo

r dat

a de

posit

in in

stitu

tiona

l rep

osito

ry

Suppo

rt fo

r dat

a de

posit

in e

xter

nal

data

arc

hives

Finding

relev

ant e

xter

nal d

ata

sets

Techn

ical a

spec

ts o

f digi

tal c

urat

ion

Develo

ping

data

man

agem

ent p

lans

Develo

ping

tools

to a

ssist

rese

arch

ers

man

age

data

Develo

pmen

t of i

nstit

ution

al po

licy

to m

anag

e d

ata

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Current



Research Data Management Services%

Assist

ance

with

tech

nolog

y, in

frast

ruct

ure

and

tools

Data

litera

cy e

duca

tion

and/

or tr

aining

Suppo

rt fo

r dat

a de

posit

in in

stitu

tiona

l rep

osito

ry

Suppo

rt fo

r dat

a de

posit

in e

xter

nal

data

arc

hives

Finding

relev

ant e

xter

nal d

ata

sets

Techn

ical a

spec

ts o

f digi

tal c

urat

ion

Develo

ping

data

man

agem

ent p

lans

Develo

ping

tools

to a

ssist

rese

arch

ers

man

age

data

Develo

pmen

t of i

nstit

ution

al po

licy

to m

anag

e d

ata

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Planned



Constraints on Bibliometrics Services %

Bibliom

etric

s ar

e no

t a p

riorit

y

Bibliom

etric

s ar

e no

t per

ceive

d as

libra

ry ro

le

Differ

ent l

evels

of d

eman

d

Differ

ent s

pecia

list n

eeds

Staff

equir

e ad

dition

al kn

owled

ge o

r skil

ls

Staff

requ

ire a

dditio

nal c

onfid

ence

0

20

40

60

80

100

120



Constraints on Research Data Management %

RDM n

ot a

prio

rity

for o

ur lib

rary

Differ

ent l

evels

of d

eman

d

Differ

ent s

pecia

list n

eeds

RDM is

not

per

ceive

d by

oth

ers

as a

libra

ry ro

le

Staff

requ

ire a

dditio

nal k

nowled

ge o

r skil

ls

Staff

requ

ire a

dditio

nal c

onfid

ence

to w

ork

in th

is ar

ea

Other

(main

ly va

rious

reso

urcin

g iss

ues)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120



Constraints – further discussion

In the comments field – the other major constraint identified was resourcing

As a practitioners and educators we know that confidence is highly correlated with knowledge and skills



Education for new services delivery

Most (~80%) reported staff learn bibliometrics and RDM “on the job”

For bibliometrics – also training from vendors

In Australia – ANDS

Areas of skills needs reported different for Bibliometrics and RDM tho some overlap



Source of staff education or training

Australia Ireland New Zealand UK

Bib

(n=34)

RDM

(n=32)

Bib

(n=8)

RDM

(n=7)

Bib

(n=8)

RDM

(n=7)

Bib

(n=69)

RDM

(n=54)

Prior to joining, as part of their LIS or other education

14.7 31.3 0 14.3 25.0 28.6 15.9 29.6

Within the library, through in-service training or seminars

85.3 65.6 75.0 42.9 100 57.1 49.3 48.1

Are self-trained 67.6 71.9 100 71.4 50.0 57.1 81.2 61.1

Learn on-the-job 85.3 81.3 100 85.7 100 85.7 81.2 77.8

Library-funded external professional development

47.1 59.4 37.5 57.1 50.0 42.9 36.2 57.4

Other 23.5 12.5 25.0 0 0 28.6 8.7 14.8



Areas where additional knowledge and skills needed - BIBLIOMETRICS

Australia(n=35)

Ireland(n=9)

New Zealand

(n=8)

UK(n=76)

Knowledge of different purposes and applications of bibliometrics (e.g. research evaluation, collection development, benchmarking)

85.7 88.9 87.5 88.2

Skills in quantitative methods and statistics82.9 77.8 62.5 82.9

Knowledge of bibliometrics tools and techniques (e.g. citation analyses, impact factors and associated indices)

88.6 77.8 87.5 97.4

Required subject and/or disciplinary knowledge60 44.4 50 26.3

Other14.3 22.2 0 6.6



Areas where additional knowledge and skills needed - RDM

Australia(n=35)

Ireland(n=9)

New Zealand

(n=8)

UK(n=71)

Data curation skills 94.3 88.9 100 87.3

Technical and ICT skills 80 88.9 87.5 76.1

Required subject and/or disciplinary knowledge

57.1 44.4 37.5 36.6

Knowledge of research methods 68.6 44.4 50 71.8

Knowledge of research processes 77.1 66.7 62.5 84.5

Other 20 0 0 4.2



LIS Education and CPD?Research Service

Perceived Educational

Need

Australia Ireland New Zealand UK

Bibliometrics Part of Core Curriculum

12 (34.3%) 5 (55.6%) 3 (37.5%) 27 (30.3%)

Bibliometrics Part of Elective Subjects

23 (65.7%) 4 (44.4%) 5 (62.5%) 55 (61.8%)

Bibliometrics No Need 0 0 0 7 (7.9%)

Research Data Management

Part of Core Curriculum

17 (47.2%) 3 (33.3%) 3 (37.5%) 31 (36.9%)


Part of Elective Subjects

19 (52.8%) 6 (66.7%) 5 (62.5%) 50 (59.5%)


No Need 0 0 0 3 (3.6%)



Critical areas for education

Bibliometrics and impact measures (particularly UK)

Understanding of the research environment at macro (university and government agendas) and micro (research processes, methodologies and workflows)



Comments – RS growth areas

• E-research, data intensive science, digital humanities support

• Scholarly communication and publishing

• Intellectual property and licencing

• Research assessment/evaluation

• Higher education policy and direction

• Development of, and assistance with, data management policies, procedures and plans



Conclusions• Bibliometrics regaining prominence with research

assessment exercises - INFORMETRICS

• Emergence of new measures and tools

• RDM driven also by policy AND emergence of new tools and technologies in research

• Libraries have been able to connect RDM with historical areas of professional practice, including • materials selection and collection management,

• cataloguing/metadata,

• reference and information literacy services, and

• scholarly communication, open access and institutional repositories



RDM subject @ CSU• Overview of data, data librarianship, data curation

• Role of data in research

• Data-driven scholarship and statistics

• The data life cycle

• Data archives and repositories

• Intellectual property issues in data

• Public policy for research data

• Data curation

• Data management plans and planning

• The role of libraries and archives in data management

• (Developed by MAK, Bob Pymm and Sigrid McCausland)



Other

•MOOCS etc as alternatives???

•JISC RDM Rose

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/di_researchmanagement/managingresearchdata/research-data-management-training/rdmrose.aspx

http://rdmrose.group.shef.ac.uk/




http://rdmrose.group.shef.ac.uk/



References• Auckland, M. (2012). Re-skilling for research: An investigation into

the roles and skills of subject and liaison librarians required to effectively support the evolving information needs of researchers. London: RLUK Research Libraries UK. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from RLUK Web site: http://www.rluk.ac.uk/content/re-skilling-research

• Corrall, S. Kennan, M.A. & Afzal, W. (forthcoming May 2013) Bibliometrics and Research Data Management Services: Emerging Trends in Library Support for Research Library Trends 61:3,

• MacColl, J. (2010). Library roles in university research assessment. Liber Quarterly, 20, 152-168. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from http://liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/7984/8299

http://www.rluk.ac.uk/content/re-skilling-research

http://liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/7984/8299



References• MacColl, J. (2010). Library roles in university research

assessment. Liber Quarterly, 20, 152-168. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from http://liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/7984/8299

• Pryor, G., & Donnelly, M. (2009). Skilling up to do data: Whose role, whose responsibility, whose career? International Journal of Digital Curation, 4(2), 158-170. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from http://www.ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/126

http://liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/7984/8299

http://www.ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/126



Thank you Discussion & questions?Acknowledgements:

The authors acknowledge with thanks the financial support provided by the Information Studies Research Priority Area, Information Infrastructure Program, Faculty of Education, Charles Sturt University. They also gratefully acknowledge the time and effort contributed to the study by the participants and colleagues who advised on design of the survey instrument.

re-skilling for research : mary anne kennon

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