LEARNING AND TEACHING VS RESEARCH HOW CAN SUBJECT

LEARNING AND TEACHING VS. RESEARCH: HOW CAN SUBJECT LIBRARIANS SUPPORT BOTH? Feedback from three regional events organised by the WHELF Research Group Presented by Bronwen Blatchford, Susan Glen and Beth Hall at the Gregynog Colloquium 2016

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Demonstrated the ability of manuka honey to potentiate conventional antibiotics and suppress antibiotic resistance in MRSA UWIC, Cardiff School of Management by TECU Consulting UK, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? The knowledge of and access to suitable rice varieties for resource-poor farmers in India and Nepal North Wales. Old College, Bangor University, Upper Bangor, Gwynedd by Denis Egan, licensed under CC BY 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Research into homicide and police homicide investigation ATRiu. M by Wojtek Gurak, licensed under CC BY-NC 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Islam in cyberspace Lampeter University by Marek Isalski, licensed under CC BY-SA 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Improving HIV/AIDS education and support through comics writing Main Building, Cardiff University by Jeremy Segrott, licensed under CC BY 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? To investigate the effect of solar material as it interacts with planets, and how it affects the loss of planetary atmospheres, particularly at Venus Old College by Colin Paterson, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? An intelligent kitchen to help those who have Alzheimer's disease remain in their own home Wales' Newest University by Geoff Evans, licensed under CC BY-SA 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Comparing the tithe system with modern agricultural websites National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth by Hoops Hooley, licensed under CC BY-NC 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Research into Retro swimwear RWCMD by Andy K, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Effects of a 12 -week community exercise programme on older people Swansea University Bay Campus by Steve Williams, licensed under CC BY-NC 2. 0

WHICH WELSH UNIVERSITY? Manufacturing of mass spectrometers The Open University in Wales National Centre by The Open University, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2. 0

INTRODUCTION Effect of research agenda on libraries; Changing role of subject librarian; Developing How role of research librarian; confident do subject librarians feel in supporting research?

Susan Mc. Connell and research librarian Tom Bonanno locate Aylmer in a historical atlas by Elgin County Archives, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2. 0

ABOUT THE EVENTS WHELF Research Group organised three regional events in North, West and South Wales covering: � The evolving nature of the subject librarian � Introduction to the open access agenda � The researcher as social butterfly Pre and post-attendance survey sent to attendees.

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS How long have you held your current role? 16 14 14 11 12 10 8 8 6 6 4 2 0 Less than 1 year 1 -5 years 6 -10 years Over 10 years

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS Has the role changed since you have been in post? 25 21 20 15 11 10 5 5 2 0 No Yes, a little Yes, somewhat Yes, completely

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS How has the amount of time spent supporting researchers changed? 4 Decreased Increased 28

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS Do you feel that you have the confidence to deliver a research support role? 18 16 16 15 14 12 10 8 5 6 4 2 2 1 0 No, not at all confident Yes, slightly confident Yes, moderately confident Yes, very confident

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS Do you feel that you have the necessary skills to deliver a research support role? Pre-event 5 17 Somewhat Yes

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS: ROLE CHANGES “ The job has become much more diverse as time has moved on and expectations on what we provide (from employer and customers) have raised considerably. The split between learning & teaching support, collections management and research support, and in addition a local site role and involvement in numerous project and working groups means there are so many demands on my time that it can be difficult to be properly prepared and knowledgeable in all these areas. In fact, it is nigh impossible! ”

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS: ROLE CHANGES “ I feel that to be truly effective in a research support role that some degree of specialization is necessary - I don't think that being a 'jack of all trades' gives you the confidence or credibility to undertake a meaningful role in this field. And I think that the researchers deserve to have a 'specialist' to look after them ”

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS: ROLE CHANGES “ “ “ No cataloguing or classifying duties, stock now arrives shelf ready ” There is a greater emphasis on information literacy so my training role has increased ” I now find less time to deliver research skills sessions. More of my time seems to be spent in meetings or working on projects ”

ASK THE AUDIENCE How much of your library service is geared towards researchers and research students? � Less How than 10%? Up to 50%? More than 50%? many of you have dedicated research support librarians in your library?

FEEDBACK “ More like this, please! It’s really helpful to have the opportunity to step out of the office and share experience, worries and ideas with others ”

FEEDBACK “ “ I would like to be involved in research myself and think it would be very useful if discussions could take place about how to get involved in such research and the steps/methods used to undertake the research ” From today's session what came up the most was that as librarians we haven't experienced the research process and knowledge of this would be useful ”

TRAINING/SUPPORT Training budgets need to be protected; Face-to-face meetings valuable; Learning from colleagues/sharing experience; “More events like this one please”; Mechanism to share resources e. g. JISCmail; Keep each other up to date; Use social media.

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS What skills do you think you will require to deliver your research support role in the future? Copyright Subject knowledge Metadata skills Referencing software REF Teaching/presentation skills Systematic review skills Repositories Search skills Research data management Social media Technology skills/knowledge of tools researchers use Relationship with researchers, research office, academics Almetrics/bibliometrics Research process e. g. bid preparation, publishing Open access 0 2 4 6 8 10 12

WHAT COULD WE GIVE UP? Less enquiry desk, more virtual support (but do we lose visibility? ); Online teaching tools; Train the trainer; Less collection management? Increase efficiency by using more email templates? Target areas we can offer expertise and learn to say no; Be more user focused: find out what user needs not what we think they need; Delineate roles better so we can concentrate on core activities and bring in ‘expert/specialist’ when required.

INCREASING CONFIDENCE Understand researcher and where we can help researchers; Won’t understand their research area like they do but we shouldn’t feel intimidated; we need to communicate how we can help their daily activities; Researchers are suffering from information overload and are overwhelmed by tools available to them; Gather examples of their appreciation of our support; Use skills we already have.

INTEGRATE WITH RESEARCHERS Understand researchers and being in their spaces; Building partnerships with researchers; Do we all need to have Ph. Ds? !

ASK THE AUDIENCE How do you think we can integrate more with researchers?

VALUE AND IMPACT Providing evidence of how we support researchers: keep useful statistics (KPIs? ); Promote our skills; Rebranding our services and roles: partners in the research process; Look at communication methods: how do researchers get in touch with us? � “researchers currently have to admit a weakness for us to go in and provide support”

WHELF RESEARCH GROUP Suggestions for training/events and social media/blog activity (RDM training planned, previous events including OA publishing); Rebrand/reconfigure subject librarian role? Partners in research process rather than providing support; Value and impact: can WHELF help explain to researchers what librarians can do for them? In a visual way? Provide evidence about how we help the research process? Case studies?