Pathways to new academic library practices: a South African exploration towards 21 st century academic research supp

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 New academic library practices

2. The Carnegie Corporation-funded Research Libraries Consortium (RLC) project at the Universities of Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal & the Witwatersrand, 2006-2009 • Research Portal • Research Commons (a physical space particularly for the ‘one stop’ support of young researchers) • Research Librarians New academic library practices

3. 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. New academic library practices

4. 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 New academic library practices

5. 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 New academic library practices 5

6. “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 New academic library practices

7. 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? New academic library practices

8. 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. New academic library practices

9. 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.

10. SEVEN MOST HIGHLY RANKED ROLES OF • RESEARCH LIBRARIANS • Custodian of print-based and digitised archives and special collections. (72%); • Managers of institutional repositories of digital information (61%); • Administration (purchase and delivery) of information services (59% ); • Subject based information expert (core role: 46%; ancillary role: (33%.); • Teacher of information literacy and related skills (42% core, 39% ancillary); • Manager of the vast datasets generated by e-research (33% core, 27% ancillary); • Technology specialist facilitating electronic access to information resources (34% core, 37% ancillary). • Researchers’ Use of Academic Libraries New academic library practices

11. 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 student-supervisor relationship). • Researchers’ Use of Academic Libraries New academic library practices

12. 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 New academic library practices

13. ...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. New academic library practices

14. ...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) New academic library practices

15. 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 New academic library practices

16. “...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) New academic library practices

17. 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: New academic library practices

18. 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); New academic library practices

19. 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. New academic library practices

20. 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 New academic library practices

21. 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? New academic library practices

22. 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 New academic library practices

23. 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?” New academic library practices

24. 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 at this time” New academic library practices

25. 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; New academic library practices

26. 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); New academic library practices

27. 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 New academic library practices

28. 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, MLIS-holding 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 New academic library practices

29. 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) New academic library practices

30. … 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. New academic library practices 30

31. 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. New academic library practices

32. …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. New academic library practices

33. ANYONE FOR CHALLENGE? New academic library practices