Reconfiguring the researcherlibrarian relationship evaluating South Africas Library
Reconfiguring the researcher-librarian relationship: evaluating South Africa’s ‛Library Academy’ experience Colin Darch and Karin de Jager University of Cape Town
Context: Research Libraries Consortium • Project funding – Carnegie Corporation of NY • Two 3 -year cycles – 2006 -09, 2009 -12; – Cape Town, Kwa. Zulu-Natal and Witwatersrand – Pretoria, Rhodes and Stellenbosch • Further expansion unlikely (design too specific) 2
Context: Research Libraries Consortium • Commons (physical space) • Portal (virtual space) • Academy and US Internships (librarians) – – No direct equity component Intensive Transformative But inadequate in isolation • Question: what is the character of the intervention? 3
More Context: South African Research • Need to improve research output – Is a Government policy objective – Innovation economic development • Cadre of aging researchers – not being replaced – not demographically representative – gender, race, language • Crisis of secondary education • Reconfiguring of HE landscape 4
More context: South African LIS education • Mostly undergraduate professional degrees – B. Bibl. , B. Tech. • Weak subject domain knowledge • LIS schools closing down • LIS schools shift towards teaching – IT skills – Knowledge management – Little disciplinary content • One (LIS education) size fits all – academic specialisation , research skills 5
The Research Commons and the Portal • Overall RLC objective: “to improve support for researchers in South African university libraries” – Dedicated virtual space – Research Portal – Dedicated physical space – Research Commons 6
. . . and a Library Academy • Aimed at mid-career librarians – – – Improvement in subject knowledge Personal experience of research Growth in confidence Leadership Able to support research • How to achieve this? 7
The Academy and the US Internships • Our solution in two parts: – – Residential Academy, two weeks Not about skills or training Exposure to research journeys in different domains Exposure to epistemology (not all positivism) • The US internships – Selected from Academy participants – Mortenson Center at UIUC, as group, two weeks – 4 -6 -week individual placements at ARL libraries • Lots of report-back channels 8
The Academy Venue Montfleur Conference Centre, near Stellenbosch 9
The Library Academy as a Concept • Partly an intervention re: LIS education in SA – LIS schools not producing academic librarians – Very little debate • Partly a conventional CPE intervention – educational activities. . . designed to keep practicing. . . professionals abreast of their particular domain. . . and to provide them with training in new fields (Pors and Schreiber 1997) – writing a paper. . . considerable research and study. . . integral part of CPE (Weingand 2000) – mentoring. . . necessary for successful CPE (Houle 1980) – varied and complementary learning patterns (Houle 1980); wide range of activities. . . designed to meet identified. . . needs (Varleijs 2008) – broadening of content to include. . . recreation (Houle 1980) 10
The Academy Throughput • Four Academies have been held – Some attrition (11 participants have left) • Fifth is in process (October 2011) Total Women (%) Black (%) 2007 20 80% 55% 2008 18 89% 66% April 2010 20 85% 10% Oct. 2010 20 85% 30% 2011 20 95% 65% TOTAL: 98 87% 45% 11
Writing a Paper: Experiential Learning • Required of all participants – Potentially publishable. . . – Any topic: LIS, non-LIS • Difficulty in identifying a research question • Unprepared for peer review • Outcome: range of published papers; special issue of Innovation 12
Some Academy Participants, 2010 13
Medium-term evaluation • Self-evaluation not sufficiently objective • Some quantifiable data required • Library Directors or Deputies charged with RLC liaison have clearest insight into changes of attitude and behaviour in the workplace – Best able to provide impact assessment • Online instrument developed • Each respondent answered questions about their own individual staff members - by name • Data collected about 67 participants 14
Survey instrument • Structured according to RLC key target areas: – Personal development: • Increase in confidence • Leadership development – Research proficiency • Increased contact with researchers • Development of subject knowledge • Conference presentation; and Publication – Professional development • Pro-active use & promotion of new technologies • More effective communication with library staff • Job promotion 15
Personal development • Have the participants shown an improvement in leadership since the Academy? • In your judgement, have the following participants shown a significant increase in professional and personal confidence since participating in the Academy? Leadership 56 84% Much more confident 48 72% Slightly more confident 15 22% (n=67) 16
Research proficiency • Since the Academy, have the participants become pro-active in pursuing closer contact with researchers and/or graduate students, up to and including active collaboration in research projects? • Have any of the persons listed taken steps to improve their subject knowledge or expertise since they attended the Academy? • Have any of the participants presented a paper at an academic conference, either on LIS or in another discipline, since the Academy? • Have any of the following participants published an article since participating in the Academy? 17
Perceived research proficiency Active contact with researchers 44 66% Informal gain in subject knowledge 43 64% Conference presentations 20 30% Publication 18 27% Promotion 17 25% Some contact with researchers 15 22% 18
Professional development • Have the participants shown an improvement in communication skills and sharing with colleagues since the Academy? • Since the Academy, have participants pro-actively used existing or emerging Web or Internet technologies to promote library or research activity? • Which Academy participants have been promoted since attending, and as a consequence of the Academy? 19
Perceived professional development Promotion of new technologies 40 60% Active communication 28 42% Proactive communication 24 36% Job promotion 17 25% Passive communication 13 19% BUT: “[t]he promotions are not necessarily a consequence of the Academy. They are part of a larger library reorganization exercise as well as an appointment to a vacant management position. The Academy experience may have contributed but it is difficult to establish the link. ” 20
Constraints • Research libraries under threat in SA: – Researchers don’t all view libraries as essential – Researchers don’t need librarians (or think they don’t) – Many academic librarians have little subject knowledge – Often unable to provide specialised research support • Time frame of our investigation fairly short 21
Conclusion Yet our results show that a short, intensive intervention can make a measurable difference: – to the way librarians perceive their role – to the way they work – to the way they engage with their clients Which can also have an impact on the national research enterprise. Thank you 22
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