Can we tear down the wall between the researchers and the library?

"Can we tear down the wall between the researchers and the library? Research support services at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology" by Marius Haugen.

A long time ago, I went to a UCL DIS event into the current issues in LIS. This event really highlighted the difference between libraries in the UK and elsewhere in regards to research support services. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) it is a science and technology specific university, however, it has a humanities department. NTNU is definitely a complex institution with 12 different libraries and its rare books, special collections and a medical collection spanning 4 departments.

It was very interesting to learn the differences of librarianship in Norway. For example, focus in university research support to satisfy user needs has recently become a trend. Furthermore, from what I could understand, unlike in the UK where librarians are expected to have a LIS qualification and work experience, only the research librarians in NTNU have this. Subject librarians on the other hand, have degrees from other fields which may be completely different from LIS. Nonetheless, the need to tear down the issue of "silo mentality" of faculty vs. librarians still remains a prevalent issue in the UK and Norway.

The need for both to interact created a top-down initiative. The main aim was to ensure that information flow within the libraries is the same regardless of location or position within the university structure. Many questions were raised for the study such as:

1. What do you want the services to do?
2. How do you implement the services?

Maurius said that instead of focusing on undergraduate students, more emphasis has been placed on research and PhD students. The current plan has been to:

1. Create a course module package.
2. Imbed the course in the faculty and the students' degree programme.
3. Recreate for other researchers to follow

Results shows there were a few technicalities due to the amount of students and researchers on each module. However, success was found in embedding 4 library courses in the curriculum. There was an introductory course, information and literature search, reference management (endnote and bibtext) and publication support (open access and journal publication) courses.
Within the implementation stage attendance was an issue. This is because many students perceived their own information literacy to be high, so the need for attendance was low. As a result these modules were only implemented when needed, based on individual modules.

A conclusion drawn was that research support needs to be deeply rooted within the university. For the perceived benefits to be realised however, faculty and library staff need to revaluate their thinking. Librarians also have an important part to play in not only providing research support but engaging in research.  


Currently Marcus is participating in a library research project to assess how digitised newspapers and periodicals are changing humanities research.  


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