Understanding researcher needs and raising the profile of library research support

Colin Nickels; Hilary Davis

doi:10.1629/uksg.493

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Career stages of researchers interviewed in the study

Career stage	Number of participants
Student researcher (undergraduate and graduate)	2
Early-career researcher (1–5 years post PhD)	4
Mid-career researcher (6–15 years post PhD)	9
Late-career researcher (16+ years post PhD)	7

Table 2

Ways in which researchers sought help from the library

Help category	Specific ways researchers reported seeking help from the Library
Access to collections and resources	students reported using databases, journal articles, Lynda.com and books in the collection all other researchers reported using journals, government documents, standards, special collections, audio recorders, microfilm readers and the DMPTool (for developing data management plans)
Service points	across all researchers, the most common service points used were Tripsaver (inter-library loan), the Library website, the catalog, chat and e-mail
Consultations	students reported requesting help with literature searching and using statistical analysis software early-career researchers reported requesting help with research data management mid-career researchers reported seeking help with data management and storage, data visualization, web development, special collections, help finding collaborators, literature searching, bibliometrics for promotion and tenure, grant-seeking and systematic reviews late-career researchers reported seeking help with early-stage prototyping, literature searching, creating search alerts and bibliometric analyses
Course-integrated pedagogy and instruction	students did not report requesting help for instruction or pedagogical needs faculty reported using virtual reality and augmented reality services, digital scholarship, data visualization and literature search strategies as part of their instructional needs
Workshops	faculty reported recommending students attend workshops hosted by the Library
Events	faculty interviewees were the primary group that reported attending Library events and requesting help from the Library to host and produce events
Spaces	students reported using study carrels all other researchers reported using Faculty Research Commons spaces (limited to faculty only) for group project work and individual work, media labs and sound booths, the VR Studio and various Library showcase spaces

Table 3

Skills and related training topics described by researchers as important to their work

Research skills collecting and analyzing qualitative data reproducibility vs. patentability entrepreneurial research identifying topics for research IRB process reading an article	Library skills building a search strategy finding data from articles application development market research citation management tracking news
Programming and coding commenting on code database development web development intro to programming (R, Julia, Python, Go, SAS, Stata) AI and machine learning contributing to open source	Communication and data visualization how to write an abstract personal branding how to deliver an effective presentation how to justify your research animation
Programming and coding contributing to open source Internet of Things machine-text analysis	Communication and data visualization community engagement infographics data storytelling graphic design how to write a business plan grant writing how to talk to the press
Specific tools Atlas.ti Dedoose Crimson Hexagon Excel and Pivot Tables Voyant Unity Twine GIS Github Microsoft Word tips Omeka	Statistics and methods basic statistics agent-based modeling clinical interviewing dealing with large data semi-structured interviews survey design graph analysis
Teams and interpersonal relationships conflict management power dynamic ethics project management Saying ‘no’ sharing articles with a group agile methods in research	Personal development memory skills imposter syndrome networking confidently

Understanding researcher needs and raising the profile of library research support

Figures & Tables

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