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The information needs of researchers and the ways in which the quality of information provision can be enhanced for researchers are currently a focus of attention globally, and are major priorities for higher education. Researchers rely on libraries to provide the information they need; equally, supporting research is a fundamental reason for libraries' existence. This book explores the crucial relationship between libraries and researchers, focusing on developing and managing effective library services to support research, and includes the authentic voices of researchers surveyed. The text considers the issues in a wider strategic context: who researchers are, their information-seeking behaviour, the resources required to support research, and the current LIS response. This title covers key topics such as: supporting research and researchers - some perspectives; current challenges for libraries and research support; defining research and researchers; collection management; the researcher's toolkit - resources; services to facilitate research; the information-literate researcher; facing the future - key challenges; and, key principles for research support. This book will inform and advise all those who work with researchers in libraries, combining practical advice with an exploration of fundamental issues relating to the relationship between research and libraries. It is essential reading for all who work in academic and research libraries, and will be of particular value to newly qualified and practising liaison and research support librarians.

Since the National Science Foundation joined the National Institutes of Health in requiring that grant proposals include a data management plan, academic librarians have been inundated with requests from faculty and campus-based grant consulting offices. Data management is a new service area for many library staff, requiring careful planning and implementation. This guide offers a start-to-finish primer on understanding, building, and maintaining a data management service, showing another way the academic library can be invaluable to researchers. Krier and Strasser of the California Digital Library guide readers through every step of a data management plan by Offering convincing arguments to persuade researchers to create a data management plan, with advice on collaborating with researchers Laying out all the foundations of starting a service, complete with sample data librarian job descriptions and data management plans Providing tips for conducting successful data management interviews Leading readers through making decisions about repositories and other infrastructure Addressing sensitive questions such as ownership, intellectual property, sharing and access, metadata, and preservation ThisLita Guidewill help academic librarians work with researchers, faculty, and other stakeholders to effectively organise, preserve, and provide access to research data.

Purpose This study aims to examine the types of documents that humanities scholars use in their publications, how humanities scholars use electronic resources during their research, and their opinions are regarding their library’s acquisition policy for electronic and printed resources. Design/methodology/approach A total of 13 university faculty members from the fields of Chinese literature, history and philosophy participated in this study. The documents cited in their publications were analyzed and in-depth interviews were conducted. Findings The results showed that books were the dominant document type cited by the participants. They frequently used electronic resources during the stages of idea generation; document search and collection; and interpretation and writing. If they used an ancient book in an electronic format, they cross-checked it with its printed version to verify the accuracy of the text. Although the participants anticipated that the university library would favour e-journals instead of printed journals, they expected the university library to continue purchasing printed books. Originality/value Many university libraries encounter difficulties in choosing between materials in electronic and printed formats, particularly in the humanities field. The study findings provide a clear understanding of how humanities scholars use electronic resources in the digital age.

It has become increasingly accepted that important digital data must be retained and shared in order to preserve and promote knowledge, advance research in and across all disciplines of scholarly endeavor, and maximize the return on investment of public funds. To meet this challenge, colleges and universities are adding data services to existing infrastructures by drawing on the expertise of information professionals who are already involved in the acquisition, management, and preservation of data in their daily jobs. Data services include planning and implementing good data management practices, thereby increasing researchers’ ability to compete for grant funding and ensuring that data collections with continuing value are preserved for reuse. This volume provides a framework to guide information professionals in academic libraries, presses, and data centers through the process of managing research data from the planning stages through the life of a grant project and beyond. It illustrates principles of good practice with use-case examples and illuminates promising data service models through case studies of innovative, successful projects and collaborations. Contributors include: James L. Mullins, Purdue University; MacKenzie Smith, University of California at Davis; Sherry Lake, University of Virginia; Bernard Reilly, Center for Research Libraries; Jacob Carlson, Purdue University; Melissa Levine, University of Michigan; Jenn Riley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Jan Brase, German National Library of Science and Technology; Seamus Ross, University of Toronto; Michele Kimpton, DuraSpace; Brian Schottlaender, University of California, San Diego; Suzie Allard, University of Tennessee; Angus Whyte, Digital Curation Centre; Scott Brandt, Purdue University; Brian Westra, University of Oregon; Geneva Henry, Rice University; Gail Steinhart, Cornell University; and Cliff Lynch, Coalition for Networked Information.

When early Christians began to study the Bible, and to write their own history and that of the Jews whom they claimed to supersede, they used scholarly methods invented by the librarians and literary critics of Hellenistic Alexandria. But Origen and Eusebius, two scholars of late Roman Caesarea, did far more. Both produced new kinds of books, in which parallel columns made possible critical comparisons previously unenvisioned, whether between biblical texts or between national histories. Eusebius went even farther, creating new research tools, new forms of history and polemic, and a new kind of library to support both research and book production. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book combines broad-gauged synthesis and close textual analysis to reconstruct the kinds of books and the ways of organizing scholarly inquiry and collaboration among the Christians of Caesarea, on the coast of Roman Palestine. The book explores the dialectical relationship between intellectual history and the history of the book, even as it expands our understanding of early Christian scholarship. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book attends to the social, religious, intellectual, and institutional contexts within which Origen and Eusebius worked, as well as the details of their scholarly practices--practices that, the authors argue, continued to define major sectors of Christian learning for almost two millennia and are, in many ways, still with us today.,

The Scholarly Communications Cookbook features 84 recipes that can help you establish programs, teach concepts, conduct outreach, and use scholarly communications technologies in your library. The book is divided into 4 thorough sections. Recipes can be used by those new to scholarly communications, early-career librarians, and more experienced professionals looking for fresh ideas for their institution.

The research landscape is changing, with key global research funders now requiring institutions to demonstrate how they will preserve and share research data. However, the practice of structured research data management is very new, and the construction of services remains experimental and in need of models and standards of approach. This groundbreaking guide will lead researchers, institutions and policy makers through the processes needed to set up and run effective institutional research data management services. This ‘how to' guide provides a step-by-step explanation of the components for an institutional service. Case studies from the newly emerging service infrastructures in the UK, USA and Australia draw out the lessons learnt. Different approaches are highlighted and compared; for example, a researcher-focused strategy from Australia is contrasted with a national, top-down approach, and a national research data management service is discussed as an alternative to institutional services. The key topics covered are: research data provision; options and approaches to research data management (RDM) service provision; a spectrum of roles, responsibilities and competences; a pathway to sustainable research data services; the range and components of RDM infrastructure and services; case studies of Johns Hopkins University, University of Southampton, Monash University, the UK Data Service and Jisc Managing Research Data programmes. This book will be an invaluable guide to those entering a new and untried enterprise. It will be particularly relevant to heads of libraries, information technology managers, research support office staff and research directors planning for these types of services. It will also be of interest to researchers, funders and policy makers as a reference tool for understanding how shifts in policy will have a range of ramifications within institutions. Library and information science students will find it an informative window on an emerging area of practice.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the use of electronic information resources and facilities by humanities scholars at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.Design methodology approach - A questionnaire survey of faculty from arts and humanities departments at the University of the Punjab was conducted. In total, 62 faculty and research staff participated.Findings - The results correspond with previous studies conducted in other countries. The humanists still stick to the printed information sources but they pay good attention to electronic resources. Most of them have access to computer and internet at office and home. They are regular users of a variety of electronic technologies. Although faced with many problems, the humanists perceive that modern technology made their work easier.Research limitations implications - The study is based only on the humanities faculty in a large university of Pakistan. The survey should be replicated on a larger sample for generalization.Practical implications - Keeping in view the positive trend of humanists towards modern technology, universities and libraries should give more funding to provide electronic resources and facilities in the arts and humanities discipline. Special training programmes for humanists should be organized.Originality value - This is the first study on this topic in Pakistan. The results can be useful to design services and facilities in humanities libraries and information centres in Pakistan and other developing countries.

This book provides strategic insights drawn from librarians who are meeting the challenge of digital scholarship, utilizing the latest technologies and creating new knowledge in partnership with researchers, scholars, colleagues and students.

Purpose - This paper focuses on the use of e-resources by research scholars of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (India). The main aim is to determine the use of e-resources, users' skills in handling e-resources, and the purpose of their use. Further, the paper aims to highlight the problems faced by research scholars in accessing e-resources, their opinions on feature of e-resources, and their views on usefulness of e-resources compared to that of conventional sources.Design methodology approach - The survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire circulated among 60 research scholars (PhD and MPhil) taken from different departments of Kurukshetra University and the response rate was 83 per cent. A stratified accidental random sample method was used for selection of respondents and interacting with them. These respondents were among those available in the university library during the survey period (18-28 December 2008). The responses received from the research scholars to 14 questions are presented in the form of tables and figures and analyzed by using a simple method of calculation.Findings - The paper concludes that electronic resources have become an integral part of the information needs of research scholars at Kurukshetra University. Further, it finds that e-resources can be good substitutes for conventional resources, if the access is fast, and more computer terminals are installed to provide fast access to e-resources. Google is the most widely used search engine for locating information electronically.Practical implications - The paper restricts the study exclusively to use of e-resources by the research scholars of Kurukshetra University.Originality value - Few attempts have been made to study the use of e-resources by research scholars and their impact in India. The paper highlights the use of e-resources in research at Kurukshetra University with some constructive suggestions for improvement of electronic resources and services.