This inspiring book will enable academic librarians to develop excellent research and instructional services and create a library culture that encompasses exploration, learning and collaboration. Higher education and academic libraries are in a period of rapid evolution. Technology, pedagogical shifts, and programmatic changes in education mean that libraries must continually evaluate and adjust their services to meet new needs. Research and learning across institutions is becoming more team-based, crossing disciplines and dependent on increasingly sophisticated and varied data. To provide valuable services in this shifting, diverse environment, libraries must think about new ways to support research on their campuses, including collaborating across library and departmental boundaries. This book is intended to enrich and expand your vision of research support in academic libraries by: Inspiring you to think creatively about new services. Sparking ideas of potential collaborations within and outside the library, increasing awareness of functional areas that are potential key partners. Providing specific examples of new services, as well as the decision-making and implementation process. Encouraging you to take a broad view of research support rather than thinking of research and instruction services, metadata creation and data services etc as separate initiatives. Dynamic Research Support in Academic Libraries provides illustrative examples of emerging models of research support and is contributed to by library practitioners from across the world. The book is divided into three sections: Part I: Training and Infrastructure, which describes the role of staff development and library spaces in research support Part II: Data Services and Data Literacy, which sets out why the rise of research data services in universities is critical to supporting the current provision of student skills that will help develop them as data-literate citizens. Part III: Research as a Conversation, which discusses academic library initiatives to support the dissemination, discovery and critical analysis of research. This is an essential guide for librarians and information professionals involved in supporting research and scholarly communication, as well as library administrators and students studying library and information science.

This accessible and highly practical book provides an introductory guide to the world of research support in the academic library. Academic libraries have seen huge changes in recent years thanks to the increasing availability of information online but they are now undergoing another shift. As libraries move away from providing access to existing information and towards helping users create new knowledge there is an opportunity for them to develop new services for the research community. To do this successfully libraries need to have a knowledgeable workforce who are equipped to provide the support that researchers need. Information professionals are increasingly being asked to advise their users on issues such as open access and research data management but are often doing so with little or no formal preparation. Outlining the reasons why library staff need to develop a knowledge of research support and guiding them through the key information on each topic, The No-nonsense Guide to Research Support and Scholarly Communication provides an ideal primer for those who seek to work in this area or those who have acquired these responsibilities as part of a wider role. The practical nature of the book means readers can dip into it or read it from cover to cover as needed. It includes practical checklists of knowledge and skills, international case studies by practitioners from around the globe, end of chapter references, how-to sections, activities and links to freely available online training materials. The book covers: - scholarly communication, open research and the research lifecycle - research data management - open access - disseminating research - metrics and measuring impact including the Journal Impact Factor, H-Index and Altmetrics - career paths in research support - why and how library staff at all levels can get involved in the process of doing research and sharing their outputs. The book will be essential reading for academic librarians who have had research support duties added to their role with little or no formal training or those who have taken on a newly created role and are unsure of how best to use their existing skills or develop new ones suitable for a role in research support. The book will also be of interest to public librarians who may be dealing with supporting their own research communities and those who are considering taking on a career in this growing area but are unsure where to turn for guidance including students studying for postgraduate library qualifications and those who have undertaken qualifications in publishing.

It is now held that writing influences and is influenced by the discipline where it occurs. The representations that writers employ to produce and comprehend texts are said to be sensitive to the specificities of their disciplinary discourse communities. This exposes writers to divergent disciplinary demands and expectations on what counts as good and appropriate writing in terms of generic structure, discourse features, and stylistic preferences, reflecting dissimilar practices. Because of such exigencies, academic writing seems at times to be very challenging, especially for novice scholars. Thus, any attempt to perceive the function of academic writing in higher education or to evaluate its quality should not discard the shaping force of the disciplines. Teaching Academic Writing as a Discipline-Specific Skill in Higher Education is a critical scholarly resource that examines the role of writing within academic circles and the disciplinary practices of writing in scholastic environments. The book will also explore the particular difficulties that confront writers in the disciplines as well as the endeavors of educational institutions to develop discipline-specific writing traditions among practicing and novice scholars. Featuring a range of topics such as blended learning, data interpretation, and knowledge construction, this book is essential for instructors, academicians, administrators, professors, researchers, and students.

Assessment as Information Practice provides information about a range of collection and service-based assessment approaches that can be applied in different contexts to benefit institutions and the users they serve by enhancing quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. With contributions from practitioners and researchers in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the United States, the chapters discuss practical and theoretical aspects of assessment in collecting institutions. Each chapter focuses on specific assessment approaches or contexts while providing guidance on method and use. The chapters can be read alone or as a series to gain an appreciation of assessment approaches, including assessment-oriented research; storytelling; design thinking; data visualisation; mixed methods assessment for digital resources; data for institutional repository assessment; bibliometric methods; and impact assessment. Assessment as Information Practice serves as a resource for practitioners involved in assessment activities. Detailing the processes and considerations that will contribute to more effective and sustainable assessment programmes, the book is also relevant to faculty, researchers, and students working in the information sector.

The seventh edition of this frequently adopted textbook features new or expanded sections on social justice research, data analysis software, scholarly identity research, social networking, data science, and data visualization, among other topics. It continues to include discipline experts' voices. The revised seventh edition of this popular text provides instruction and guidance for professionals and students in library and information science who want to conduct research and publish findings, as well as for practicing professionals who want a broad overview of the current literature. Providing a broad introduction to research design, the authors include principles, data collection techniques, and analyses of quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as advantages and limitations of each method and updated bibliographies. Chapters cover the scientific method, sampling, validity, reliability, and ethical concerns along with quantitative and qualitative methods. LIS students and professionals will consult this text not only for instruction on conducting research but also for guidance in critically reading and evaluating research publications, proposals, and reports. As in the previous edition, discipline experts provide advice, tips, and strategies for completing research projects, dissertations, and theses; writing grants; overcoming writer's block; collaborating with colleagues; and working with outside consultants. Journal and book editors discuss how to publish and identify best practices and understudied topics, as well as what they look for in submissions.

Effective library assessment is crucial for a successful academic library. But what do we mean by library assessment and how can it be used to improve the library service? This new book provides a practical guide for library administrators, managers and practitioners on how to make effective use of existing sources of information for assessment activities with the aim of improving academic library services. Putting Library Assessment Data to Work brings together key library assessment methodologies detailing how they can be used to improve an academic Library. The book takes common sources of data that academic libraries will already be collecting, and presents simple qualitative and quantitative techniques that can be used to evaluate and assess their services, both in detail and overall. The different assessment methods are presented from a practical perspective with a theoretical grounding, and include practical case studies to illustrate how the methodologies have successfully been applied. - The book includes coverage of: - The theoretical framework for assessment, its purpose and the tools and techniques used - Institutional, national and international student surveys and how they can be used to improve library service - The history and development of standardised library surveys (eg LibQUAL+®), how they have been used and their impact - The benefits of In house library surveys and case studies of where they gave been used - Library statistics, including standardised statistics sets and key performance indicators - Qualitative feedback in the library - Emerging techniques including UX - Taking a holistic approach to library assessment through advocacy and strategic planning This book will be essential reading for library and information service managers, administrators, assessment practitioners, educators and policy shapers. It will also be useful for students and researchers interested in library assessment.

Why do we teach information literacy? This book argues that the main purpose of information literacy teaching in higher education is to enhance student learning. With the impact of new technologies, a proliferation of information sources and a change in the student demography, information literacy has become increasingly important in academia. Also, students that know how to learn have a better chance of adapting their learning strategies to the demands of higher education, and thus completing their degree. The authors discuss the various aspects of how academic integrity and information literacy are linked to learning, and provide examples on how our theories can be put into practice. The book also provides insight on the normative side of higher education, namely academic formation and the personal development process of students. The cognitive aspects of the transition to higher education, including learning strategies and critical thinking, are explored; and finally the book asks how information literacy teaching in higher education might be improved to help students meet contemporary challenges. - Presents critical thinking and learning strategies as a basic foundation for information literacy - Covers information literacy as a way into deep learning/higher order thinking - Provides self-regulation, motivation, and self-respect as tools in learning - Emphasizes the interdependence of learning, academic integrity, critical thinking, and information literacy - A practical guide to teaching information literacy based on an increased focus on the learning process, an essential for Information literacy graduate students and higher education teaching staff in relevant fields

Libraries are places of learning and knowledge creation. Over the last two decades, digital technology—and the changes that came with it—have accelerated this transformation to a point where evolution starts to become a revolution. The wider Open Science movement, and Open Access in particular, is one of these changes and is already having a profound impact. Under the subscription model, the role of libraries was to buy or license content on behalf of their users and then act as gatekeepers to regulate access on behalf of rights holders. In a world where all research is open, the role of the library is shifting from licensing and disseminating to facilitating and supporting the publishing process itself. This requires a fundamental shift in terms of structures, tasks, and skills. It also changes the idea of a library’s collection. Under the subscription model, contemporary collections largely equal content bought from publishers. Under an open model, the collection is more likely to be the content created by the users of the library (researchers, staff, students, etc.), content that is now curated by the library. Instead of selecting external content, libraries have to understand the content created by their own users and help them to make it publicly available—be it through a local repository, payment of article processing charges, or through advice and guidance. Arguably, this is an overly simplified model that leaves aside special collections and other areas. Even so, it highlights the changes that research libraries are undergoing, changes that are likely to accelerate as a result of initiatives such as Plan S. This Special Issue investigates some of the changes in today’s library services that relate to open access.

Academic libraries have traditionally had two key functions, to support teaching and to support research. In an evolving and competitive university environment, along with the emergence of various technologies and substantial changes in scientific communication, university management has reached a turning point. Academic libraries are facing a paradigm shift in the role they need to play to achieve the research objectives of universities. Research support services in academic libraries have evolved as a response to these changes. They are heterogeneous, adapt to their university culture, adopt different points of view, take different approaches in their organizational structures, and include a diverse catalog of activities. Having an overview of different experiences will allow libraries to adopt best practices, redefine services, and even establish new management and collaboration models. Cases on Research Support Services in Academic Libraries is a critical scholarly resource that uses case studies to systematize the experiences of research support services in academic libraries for the support of higher education faculty. The cases focus on such items as the role of technology and its impact as well as how these services help to improve the excellence of universities. Featuring a wide range of topics such as library services, data management, and open science, this book is ideal for librarians, academicians, professionals, researchers, and students.

Due to the rapid acceleration of industry 4.0, it is more important than ever to understand the impact of technological revolutions on the academic library. This edited collection showcases the effects on how libraries function, manage processes and continue to deliver products and services on a day to day basis.