Research Support presentation. Moira Bent. Sconul Conference 2008

1. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Researchers?
Who are they and what are their learning
needs?
Moira Bent
Newcastle University

2. SCONUL Conference June 2008
What is research?
Researchers said ..
Research is
 Theory-led; Data-led; Scholarship
 Grounded in disciplines; multi / inter /
trans disciplinary
 Investigation; interpretation; gathering
evidence
 A holistic activity; a set of transferable
skills
 Collaborative / solo activity
 Related to self
 Validated by peer group
 Made meaningful by an external
audience

3. SCONUL Conference June 2008
What are researchers?
Researchers said..
Researchers are:
 Usually recognised within organization and…
 people who find out new things, reflect and take action
 at different levels and career stages
 working in different disciplines
 obliged to share what they find – to put knowledge into the
public domain
 ready to be challenged
 making connections
 passionate
 ambitious

4. SCONUL Conference June 2008
The seven ages of research
 Masters students
 Doctoral students
 Contract researchers
 Early career researchers
 Established academic staff
 Senior researchers
 Experts
New Review of Information Networking
(2007) 13 (2) : 81-99
{
{
{

5. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Early
 Apprenticeship - influenced by supervisors / tutors /
mentors
 Skills and competences are defined (also funded and
monitored)
 Different levels of control
 Transition from structured learning to self-organization
 Interaction between personal life / prior experiences
 Managing different roles e.g. other jobs, developing
teaching skills
 Information consumer, objective is production

6. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Early
 I consider myself to be at the start of my research
career, although I have been doing research for about 4
years. [Recent PhD graduate, South Africa]
 I don’t think I was a good researcher for my PhD. You
need to have a mentor to show you the ropes and the
pitfalls. You can train for some things. The best is to
work alongside someone successful and learn from
them. [Dean of Research, UK]
 I reckon I spent nearly all my first year reading journal
articles. [Computing Sciences Final year PhD]

7. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Mid
 Moving field / moving role / learning a different landscape
 Balancing teaching and research
 support / info guiding work management in different
circumstances
 situating yourself / making your name / establishing
credentials
 locally (e.g. in department)
 wider research community
 Need to be adaptable / avoiding isolation
 Starting to supervise other researchers
 Starting role in management / administration
 Information production and consumption
 Shift from systematic to pragmatic information retrieval

8. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Mid
 I hardly ever use databases, probably because I’m not
usually starting from a position of knowing nothing. I
tend to start with a few key papers and then follow up
their references. [Senior lecturer in Biology]
 I used to be focused in my approach to finding
mainstream resources, now I’m less so, more
explorative. I guess looking for inspiration for my more
mainstream ideas. [Senior Research Fellow in creative
technologies] p.158

9. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Late / Senior
• Developing into/ having a significant role in research
leadership and administration
• Leading research teams / research centres / research
projects / mainstream management
• Supervising and examining theses
• Teaching research methods
• Plenary conference speaker
• Editorial board of journals etc.
• Refereeing / peer reviewer / specialist assessor
• Disseminating research practice or defining their field
• Different IL skillsets for range of activities

10. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Late
 I have 5 years to retirement but research is becoming
more important in my career. I still have one, even though
retirement is looming [South African researcher]
 If I couldn’t find it myself on the Internet, then I’d ask my
students first, my RAs, then I’d come to the library. The
RAs live and die finding info. [Professor of Industrial
Statistics, UK]
 These days all my papers are invited plenaries and similar
tertiary reviews. [Retired Professor of Chemistry, UK]
 As a researcher, the difference is that I know how to do
research and I am connected into all the networks. [Dean
of Research, Humanities, UK]

11. SCONUL Conference June 2008
What are researchers’ learning
needs? Librarians said…
 Research methodology - how
to do it
 Updating skills for older/
experienced researchers
 Awareness of needing to
know
 Understanding scholarly
communication issues
 Effective use of sources, inc
people
 Supervisors & librarians -
skills assessment
 Access to resources
 Separate study spaces

12. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Researchers said..
The Library is good for my research
because…
 Access - hours/ open access
 Electronic resources
 Time saving
 Friendly professionals / advice
 Speed of service
 Research library atmosphere/‘Wow’ factor
 Escape from phone/ colleagues
 Browsing/ serendipity
 Library as university “icon” – to be proud of

13. SCONUL Conference June 2008
Researchers said
I have concerns about
 No full text access
 Missing / unavailable material
 English as language of scholarship
 Access issues
 Noisy study spaces
 Management of data
 REF, measuring my impact
 Repositories, keeping track of my publications
accurately, organising information
 Time wasting, quantity of information
 “E” limits research to what is easy

14. SCONUL Conference June 2008
How is research changing?
Researchers said…
 More accountability / Fewer blue sky
opportunities
 More targeted outcomes
 More collaboration (UK, overseas, across
different types of organisation)
 Multidisciplinary research areas
 Data archives – data mining, data storage
 E science / grid
 Repositories / Open access mandates
 Harder to know all that is happening,
especially in China, India etc

15. SCONUL Conference June 2008
What I like to do most of all is
spend all day in the library and
then go home for tea
Bill Bryson (Centre for Life 2001)