doing research: an emerging task of academic librarians for university … · 2020-05-16 · 616...

To Sanya Minh Kha and Truong Thi Ngoc Mai 615

portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol. 19, No. 4 (2019), pp. 615–634. Copyright © 2019 by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218.

Doing Research: An Emerging Task of Academic Librarians for University Development in VietnamTo Sanya Minh Kha and Truong Thi Ngoc Mai

abstract: As Vietnamese universities have gradually shifted their investment into research development, the roles and duties of librarians have also changed. Academic librarians not only provide research support but can also contribute to the research performance of their university. This study explores the research participation of librarians at Vietnamese universities and the perceptions of library directors and librarians about librarians doing research. The authors reviewed 1,350 articles in two major Vietnamese library journals to identify academic librarians and followed up with questionnaires and interviews with 36 librarians from 14 universities and 17 directors from 17 universities. While most librarians feel “encouraged” to do research, only five universities have research as a “planned activity” of the library, and only two designated research as a “duty.” Becoming aware of the benefits of research and the factors that prevent librarians from doing research, the authors propose some recommendations for improving the research participation of academic librarians in Vietnam.

Introduction

Universities in Vietnam recognize that research activities have a significant impact on their educational quality. They are also aware of the value of global rank-ings by such international bodies as the Academic Ranking of World Universi-

ties of the University of Shanghai, Scimago Institutions Rankings, or the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.1 These rankings are based primarily on research activity and publications. Achieving a high ranking by these bodies gives a university a good reputation in its home country and internationally and helps it pursue its long-term goals and complete its mission. Faculty at the university are therefore expected to involve themselves in research activity, depending on their particular roles, to help This

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Doing Research: An Emerging Task of Academic Librarians for University Development in Vietnam616

achieve a high ranking. Likewise, librarians, with their expertise and skills, are expected to contribute to the research activities of the university.

Most faculty at universities in Vietnam, however, do not look at the library as a potential contributor to their research outputs. Many librarians in Vietnam have little or no experience conducting studies themselves and so lack the understanding of the research process that would enable them to appreciate the concerns of faculty in other fields who are engaged in such studies. Librarians also have little experience writing up their investigations for publication, a process which is filled with challenges, including surmounting language barriers. Another reason for librarians’ lack of research experience is the inadequate support for such activity provided by their university.

In Vietnam, few if any studies have looked at the research support provided by university libraries for faculty in other fields. Instead, some authors have suggested how Vietnamese university libraries could assist research activities to meet the increasing needs of library users.2 For example, Hiep Duy Vu, writing in Vietnamese, pointed out that the Vietnamese university libraries can only develop when they directly participate in and contribute to the general growth strategy of the universities.3

Vietnamese universities joined the global higher education environment when the country opened its economy in the late 1980s, after a strategic decision known as doi moi, or opening, which brought in foreign direct investment and initiated a transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy. Before this period, Vietnam had endured nearly 100 years of war. Its primary economic cooperation took place among European social democratic countries and socialist countries, and therefore in the languages of those countries. Vietnamese universities reflected this. The university at which these authors is employed was founded in 1997, the library opened in 2000, and research support services started in 2017.

The Denison Study

In 2016, Thomas Frank Denison, an Australian scholar, studied the resources of two major universities in Vietnam. He interviewed 19 lecturers, 4 librarians, and 2 senior staff to learn their views of library resources. He found that they saw their libraries as having insufficient resources, especially inadequate access to databases of international journals. The people interviewed also thought that libraries held limited material in terms of quality and quantity; that they lacked integrated portals through which users could access resources and services; that libraries provided no assistance for managing research data; and that librarians needed better strategies for promoting library capa-bilities. Lecturers at these universities seldom used research support services from their libraries. They did not trust the ability of librarians to assist in their research activities. Instead, they devised their own strategies for doing research or asked their colleagues at universities overseas for help in accessing databases.4

Following up on Denison’s report, a workshop was convened in Ho Chi Minh City at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. University librarians and library directors met to discuss the role of librarians and explore what could be done to support and improve university research activities. Denison shared the findings from his previ-ous study with workshop attendees. Questions raised included what support does the

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library have for research and publishing, and what are researchers’ thoughts on the role of the library in supporting research and pub-lishing? Workshop participants said that, while they expected librarians to provide them with research skills and experience, they believed that librarians did not, in fact, have those skills or experience. Librarians in Vietnam seldom do research themselves and often lack the experi-ence to work with researchers and understand their concerns.4 The general opinion was that more support was needed.5

After the workshop, the director and staff of Ton Duc Thang University Library in Ho Chi Minh City improved the library’s research support services, but the improve-ments were less effective than expected. Therefore, the authors of this article worked on their own study of the research activity of academic librarians in Vietnam. They wanted to find out how to motivate research studies that would contribute to the universities’ overall development. Besides, as academic librarians, the authors did this research to gain a better understanding of the process and difficulties of doing research themselves. This knowledge and experience will be used to create better research support services in the future. Therefore, this study is the first about the actual research activities of librarians for the overall development of universities in Vietnam.

Literature Review

The argument that a university library should be the central support for research across the university is easy to make. It can be summarized this way: The library should be the research support center of the university, its librarians should be partners in research, and the librarians must do research themselves. Librarians need support to carry out their research functions, both for other faculty and for themselves.

The Library as Research Support Center

While universities have turned their attention to and invested in research activities, the vision and mission of university libraries have also changed. University libraries are now expected to be more dynamic and diverse, especially enhancing and innovating services related to research support. Libraries are well positioned to become the learning and research centers of universities.6 Although their ability to provide research sup-port services differs, the importance of assistance by librarians to the development of university’s research activities is undeniable.1 Alice Keller pointed out that government and university policies strongly encourage research support in academic libraries. Her study revealed three measures or approaches taken by senior management to build up and sustain efficient and effective research support: “rationalization of student services, focusing activities of liaison librarians on research support and creation of subject-specific teams to achieve better effectivity and efficiency gains, and definition of new positions responsible for research support.”7

Librarians in Vietnam seldom do research themselves and often lack the experience to work with researchers and understand their concerns.

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Librarians as Partners in Research

Librarians, with their expertise and skills, should provide effective support for the univer-sity’s scholarly community and become active partners in research. They should change

from research supporters to research partners.8 Shei-la Corrall pointed out a perceived requirement for libraries to develop more specialized interventions to provide point-of-need research support and ad-vice throughout the knowledge creation cycle, from idea generation and project conception, through data acquisition, manipulation and interpretation, to the depositing of results, publication of findings, and assessment of impact.9 Academic librarians participating in any type of research would have

more knowledge and skills that prepare them to be partners than those not involved in research.10 Librarians doing research could share their experiences with researchers and also better understand the researchers’ concerns regarding publishing.11

Research data management is one of the support activities getting increased atten-tion. It stands high on the agenda leading to a reevaluation of how academic libraries assist research.12 While the numbers of librarians providing research support in data management remain low, a majority anticipate future involvement.13 Ann Morgan, Nel Duffield, and Liz Walkley Hall point out that a significant trend is for libraries to work in conjunction with other units in their institutions to facilitate research data management.14

Librarians Do Research

Librarians are moving into higher end support and adopting new service models based on deep collaboration with academic partners.9 Aside from providing research and publishing assistance, academic librarians need to publish because that is considered one of their job requirements and one of the criteria for evaluating their performance.15 Librarians not only provide research support services and act as partners in research but also serve as experts in their field. Libraries need specialized positions with one person or a group of people assigned to research and publishing. A 1980 study by John Olsgaard and Jane Olsgaard found that, while librarians outnumbered library science professors 21 to 1, the librarians published only four times as many articles as the professors.16 Later studies showed similar results.17

The arguments in favor of encouraging universities to regard their librarians as contributors to their development have implications for how universities should support librarians. Librarians should get financial support for doing research, their working time should be flexible to allow them to conduct research activities, and the activities themselves should be funded.15 Academic librarians, even when they are confident in their research, still need the

Librarians, with their ex-pertise and skills, should provide effective support for the university’s scholar-ly community and become active partners in research.

Librarians should get financial support for doing research, their working time should be flexible to allow them to conduct research activities, and the activities themselves should be funded.

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support of research tools and training.18 It is also desirable for academic librarians to do research in collaboration with another author.19

Librarians do research not just for university development but also for their own growth and to advance their careers. The majority of academic librarians continue doing research after completing their bachelor’s or master’s degree programs, but the amount of research output compared to the number of librarians is negligible.18

The Research Questions of This Study

As mentioned earlier, the study conducted by Denison in 2016 in Hanoi followed by the 2016 workshop in Ho Chi Minh City prompted the authors, who work at Ton Duc Thang University in Ho Chi Minh City, to explore in more detail the current situation of academic librarians in Vietnam. Their intention was to discover how best to motivate research activities of librarians for the overall development of universities in Vietnam. This primary question led to secondary questions, which fell into three groups. The first group of questions involved data collection. How many articles were published by librarians, and were they were published in Vietnamese or other languages? The second group had to do with perceptions. Are librarians in Vietnamese universities supported in their research? Do libraries encourage, plan to encourage, or require librarians to do research? The third group included questions asked in interviews with library directors and academic librarians about their perceptions of librarians’ research activities. Do they believe that doing research is necessary? What do they think are the purposes of research? And, finally, what obstacles or difficulties do they encounter?

These questions are especially important because there is a trend, in Vietnam as elsewhere, for universities to turn their attention to international assessments of general education quality, which include evaluation of research activity. The judgments of these international organizations are taken seriously as a guide to improving education. The second reason for studying the situation of librarians regarding research involves the overall mission of universities in Vietnam as a critical national resource. Aside from providing research and publishing support, librar-ians need to publish and share their expertise as it develops. Academic librarians in Vietnam face two demands—meeting the standards of international bodies that evaluate university education practices and fulfilling the internal role of providing a learning and research center for a university, all while engaging in research and publishing activity themselves.

Methodology

The authors collected data by different methods, such as reviewing journal articles, send-ing out questionnaires, and conducting interviews. The questionnaires were distributed first based on personal connections made at meetings and workshops; through snowball sampling, in which research participants recruited other participants for the study; by

Aside from providing research and publishing support, librarians need to publish and share their expertise as it develops.

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using university websites; and by tracking down authors of articles in Vietnamese library journals. The authors later consulted a Facebook page used by Vietnamese librarians.

Data from Vietnam Library Journals

The authors began by reviewing articles by academic librarians published in two Viet-namese-language journals, the Vietnam Library Journal (ISSN 1859-1450) and the Journal of Information and Documentation (ISSN 1859-2929), between 2000 and 2017. These journals are major Vietnamese library periodicals published with an International Standard Serial Number. In addition, since few university librarians in Vietnam have a degree in other fields, most of their knowledge involves library and information science, so their research would not be published in journals of other fields. Not all articles in the two journals were selected for review. For example, articles written as a report about a certain library, providing information about events, or translated from foreign publications were elimi-nated. This left 1,350 articles for review. The information gathered in this review was the academic nature of the topic and the authors’ occupational characteristics (that is, if they were academic librarians). The authors’ occupational information was used to choose who would be approached to answer the survey or asked to participate in an interview. This information also gave an impression of the quantity of publishing in Vietnamese.

Responses from Library Directors and Staff

Using the basic list described earlier as a starting point, responses were collected from librarians and library directors through questionnaires and interviews. The survey and interviews took place in late 2017 and early 2018. First, responses were collected through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included closed-ended and open-ended questions created based on the Google Forms feature, allowing participants to select a question package based on their position, librarian or library director. The authors then contacted the participants by phone and e-mail to ask for information.

Few libraries in Vietnam willingly share information that would expose their weak-nesses. However, this reluctance leads to a low response rate. So, aiming to increase the number of participants in the survey, the questionnaire was also posted on the Facebook page of the Information Science & Library group (Vietnam), to which many academic librarians belong. While the questionnaire clearly stated that it was for academic librar-ians only, increasing the number of participants via Facebook caused a mismatch of libraries between librarians and directors. However, this mismatch did not affect the analysis or results of this study.

There are more than 400 academic libraries in Vietnam with an average of 15 to 20 librarians each.20 The authors contacted 110 university libraries via information on name cards or library websites. Not all academic libraries in Vietnam have websites, and not all contact channels are well managed. The authors received responses from 24 universi-ties. This amounted to 36 librarians from 14 libraries (a 12.5 percent response rate) and 17 directors from 17 libraries (a 15.5 percent response rate). Only six universities (Can Tho University, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh Industrial University, Banking University, the University of Economics and Law, and Van Lang University) provided responses from both librarians and library directors. See Appendix A.

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Results

Articles by Librarians in Vietnamese Library Journals

The two journals examined to get a sense of the publishing practices of librarians in Vietnam produced approximately 7 or 8 issues per year, resulting in a total of 143 issues between 2000 and 2017. All these articles were, of course, in Vietnamese. The authors examined 1,350 articles to identify those written by academic librarians and found 130 authors who could be identified as college or university librarians. Among them, they wrote a total of 145 articles. The percentage of articles published by academic librarians in each of the two journals was similar: 11 percent of the 893 articles in the Vietnam Library Journal and 7 percent of the 457 articles in the Journal of Information and Documentation. One hundred four articles had a single author, 26 were written in collaboration with other faculty, and 15 were produced in a collaboration in which the librarian was first author. That is, the rate of academic librarians publishing as a single author was high compared to that collaboration with other authors. Publishing as a first author with other authors was rare. Since the issue here is to understand the publishing practices of Vietnamese academic librarians in Vietnamese, the 1,350 articles were not reviewed for topics, just for whether the authors collaborated with other faculty.

Librarians Doing Research in Vietnamese Academic Libraries

Table 2 summarizes the responses of the 36 librarians from 14 universities who responded to the questionnaire (see Appendix A). Open-ended questions were also used to explore participants’ perceptions of the role of research activities of academic librarians and their intentions of publishing in the future.

Of these 36 respondents, less than a third (28 percent) said they had published ar-ticles. Most (90 percent) of those intended to continue to publish. Among the remaining 72 percent of the respondents who had never published, less than half intended to do so.

Nearly all 36 responding librarians said that they felt encouraged by their universities to publish (89 percent). This was especially true for librarians who had already published (90 percent). It could be assumed (since 89 percent of librarians felt “encouraged” by their universities to publish) that those who had not yet published but intended to do so also felt encouraged. More than one-third (39 percent) had not published and did not expect to do so. They find themselves encouraged to do something they did not expect to accomplish. This leads to a question about support for research: To what extent does “encouraged” imply positive support? This is related to our primary research question, how to motivate librarians in Vietnamese universities to do research, publish, and con-tribute to the overall mission of the university.

Table 3 shows information provided by the directors of 17 university libraries. Com-ments by these directors during their interviews are recorded in Appendix B. In 12 of 17 universities, no planned activity supports publishing. Yet, as shown in Table 2, librar-ians at nearly two-thirds of universities feel “encouraged” to do research. Those in 14 of 17 libraries have no duty to publish. Five university libraries produced no published articles, and five others turned out articles only in Vietnamese.

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Table 1. Data from two library journals in Vietnam

Vietnam Journal of Library Information Journal and Documentation ISSN 1859-1450 ISSN 1859-2929 Total

Issues 65 78 143 issues Period 2005–2017 2000–2017 18 years Articles 893 457 1,350 articles Academic librarian authors 98 32 130 authors Single authors 80 24 104 authors Collaborative authors 18 8 26 authors First authors 11 4 15 authors

Table 2.Results of the survey of Vietnamese academic librarians*

Yes No

Have published articles? 10 26

Encouraged by university or library to publish articles? 32 4

Will publish an article in the future? 21 15 Librarians who have published 9 1 Librarians who have not yet published 12 14

* Responses of 36 librarians from 14 libraries.

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Tabl

e 3.

Re

sults

of t

he su

rvey

of V

ietn

ames

e un

iver

sity

libr

ary

dire

ctor

s

Libr

ary

Num

ber o

f N

umbe

r of

Num

ber o

f art

icle

s

P

ublis

hing

art

icle

s Pu

blis

hing

art

icle

s

libra

rian

s lib

rari

ans

doin

g

Vie

tnam

ese

Ano

ther

To

tal

a pl

anne

d ac

tivi

ty o

f a

duty

of

rese

arch

lang

uage

*

the

libra

ry?

libra

rian

s? Li

brar

y an

d In

form

atio

n

126

6 8

0 8

No

No

Cen

ter o

f Vie

tnam

N

atio

nal U

nive

rsity

, Han

oiLe

arni

ng R

esou

rce

35

7

9 2

1 1

Y es

No

Cen

ter o

f Can

Tho

, U

nive

rsity

Can

Tho

Libr

ary

and

Info

rmat

ion

29

4 4

0 4

Yes

No

Cen

ter o

f Ho

Chi

Min

h

Indu

stria

l Uni

vers

ityVi

etna

m M

ilita

ry

22

1 2

0 2

No

No

Tech

nica

l Aca

dem

y, H

anoi

Libr

ary

of T

ay N

guye

n

14

4 2

0 2

No

No

Uni

vers

ity, D

ak L

akLi

brar

y of

Uni

vers

ity o

f 14

5

28

2 30

Ye

s Ye

s S

cien

ce (V

ietn

am N

atio

nal

Uni

vers

ity, H

o C

hi M

inh

City

)Le

arni

ng R

esou

rce

Cen

ter o

f D

a N

ang

Uni

vers

ity, D

a N

ang

14

4 29

1

30

Y es

Y es

Ton

Duc

Tha

ng U

nive

rsity

14

3

2 5

7 Ye

s N

o Li

brar

y, H

o C

hi M

inh

City

Libr

ary

and

Info

rmat

ion

14

1

1 0

1 N

o N

o C

ente

r of D

ong

Nai

,

Uni

vers

ity D

ong

Nai

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Libr

ary

of

14

4 6

0 6

No

No

Bank

ing

Uni

vers

ity o

f H

o C

hi M

inh

City

Libr

ary

of H

CM

C (H

o C

hi

13

0 0

0 0

No

No

Min

h C

ity) U

nive

rsity

of

Tech

nolo

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duca

tion

Libr

ary

of V

an L

ang

13

2

4 0

4 N

o N

o U

nive

rsity

, Ho

Chi

Min

h C

ityLi

brar

y an

d In

form

atio

n

12

0 0

0 0

No

No

Cen

ter o

f Da

Nan

g U

nive

rsity

of

Eco

nom

ics

Libr

ary

of P

ham

Ngo

c Tha

ch

10

0 0

0 0

No

No

Uni

vers

ity o

f Med

icin

e, H

o

Chi

Min

h C

ityLi

brar

y of

Uni

vers

ity o

f 9

0 0

0 0

No

No

Econ

omic

s and

Law

(Vie

tnam

N

atio

nal U

nive

rsity

, Ho

Chi

M

inh

City

)Li

brar

y of

Inte

rnat

iona

l 6

0 0

0 0

No

No

Uni

vers

ity (V

ietn

am N

atio

nal

Uni

vers

ity, H

o C

hi M

inh

City

)Li

brar

y of

Vie

tnam

ese-

Ger

man

2

1 11

1

12

No

Yes

Uni

vers

ity, B

inh

Duo

ngTo

tal

361

42

106

11

117

5 Ye

s, 1

2 N

o 3

Yes,

14

No

*Inc

ludi

ng E

nglis

h, G

erm

an, a

nd R

ussi

an.

Libr

ary

Num

ber o

f N

umbe

r of

Num

ber o

f art

icle

s

P

ublis

hing

art

icle

s Pu

blis

hing

art

icle

s

libra

rian

s lib

rari

ans

doin

g

Vie

tnam

ese

Ano

ther

To

tal

a pl

anne

d ac

tivi

ty o

f a

duty

of

r ese

arch

l ang

uage

*

t he

libra

ry?

l ibra

rian

s? Ta

ble

3., c

ont.

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Of 361 total librarians at these 17 universities (the Library and Information Center of Vietnam National University in Hanoi accounts for 126 of these), 42 do research (6 at the Library and Information Center of Vietnam National University). The university with the most librarians conducting such investigations is Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta, with seven. Total publications by all 42 librarians is 117, of which 11 are articles in a language other than Vietnamese. None of the universities that lacked research as a planned activity reported publications in a language other than Vietnamese.

Of the 17 total universities, only 5 had research as a planned activity. Two of universi-ties that designated research as a duty were among the five that had research as a planned activity. The third (the Library of the Vietnamese-German University in Binh Duong) had it as a duty but not a planned activity, but nonetheless reported one publication in another language and 11 in Vietnamese. For the five universities where research was a planned activity, 72 articles were published in Vietnamese and 10 in another language. For the two institutions where research was a duty, the University of Science and the Learning Resource Center of Da Nang, there were 28 and 29 publications respectively, but only 2 and 1, respectively, in another language. Ton Duc Thang University Library, the library where the authors of this paper work, claimed two publications in Vietnam-ese and five in another language and reported that research was a planned activity but there was no duty to publish.

Interviews with Librarians and Directors of Libraries

The overall argument that this paper seeks to make is in favor of planned support for research, a concrete form of encouragement, at Vietnamese universities to increase the library’s competence to support other faculty in their research, to advance the experi-ence of individual librarians, and to promote the mission of the university in improving its standing in global higher education. Because of the low response rate, the authors made an additional effort to deepen the picture by interviewing some of the librarians and directors who participated in the survey. The interviewees were those who gave unclear answers to open-ended questions or responses that did not match those of their coworkers. The questions used for the interviews focused on the following issues: What was the interviewee’s attitude about librarians doing research? What were the benefits of doing research? What were the difficulties of doing research? Were there policies and sup-ports for doing research? What were future predictions about librarians doing research?

Librarians’ Perception of Their Research Activity

The majority (89 percent) of librarians think their university has encouraged their re-search. However, to better understand their perception of librarians doing research, the responses to the open-ended question in the survey were analyzed and summarized as follows:

What is the meaning of doing research for academic librarians?

• Topics selected for a journal article often relate to practical issues of the library. Doing research helps librarians get a better understanding to improve and develop library activities.

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• Doing research gives librarians an opportunity to apply their expertise to practi-cal work.

• Doing research helps librarians expand their knowledge.• Librarians would be more trusted by their colleagues if their research was pub-

lished.• Librarians’ research outputs are evidence of their value to their university.• Putting the library’s name in an article will make it better known by the library

and information science community and help improve its reputation.• Doing research helps academic librarians increase their income and prospects

for promotion.

What motivates the intention to publish articles in the future?• To gain a deeper understanding of the library’s activities for improvement and

development;• To meet the research requirements of the work;• To prove the librarians’ ability and thus enhance the trust of their faculty col-

leagues and university;• To contribute to the research outputs of the university;• To improve income and gain promotion; and• To prepare for the application procedures for postgraduate programs.

Library Directors’ Perceptions of Librarians Doing Research

Library directors’ perceptions significantly impact the librarians’ research activities. The directors decide the level of importance of the research activities of the library that they run. Asked about their views of the research activity of librarians, the directors of the libraries responded as follows (see Appendix B):

• One library director declined to comment.• One did not mention whether research is necessary for librarians, but he thought

it difficult for librarians to do research.• Two directors believe that research is not necessary for librarians.• Thirteen directors believe that research is necessary or important.

Like librarians, directors point out the benefits of doing research for the university and the librarians themselves. However, one director put it bluntly, saying that librar-ians in Vietnam do not actively participate in research activities because they are service providers, not researchers; they are not obliged to do research; and they have limited research capabilities.

Discussion

This study draws a picture of the research situation of academic librarians in Vietnam. Librarians in Vietnam are under less pressure to do research than librarians at universities in other countries. Many universities in Vietnam do not consider the library as a contribu-tor to total institutional research outputs. Just 12 percent of academic librarians at the 17 universities surveyed have published articles. The tendency of librarians to publish

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articles as single authors may affects their research productivity. Collaboration often makes articles easier to finish and results in better quality because of the mutual support of the authors. Yu-Wei Chang, in his study on librarians’ research activities, claimed numerous benefits arising from research col-laboration, such as increased productivity, visibility, research efficiency, research quality, and research vision.25 The data also show that all academic librarians who have published intend to continue to do so. Less than half of academic librarians have not published. They may be afraid to publish when they have no experience with it.

Most library directors and librarians of Vietnam universities are aware of the benefits of research activity. So what prevents academic librarians from doing research? It is impor-tant for librarians to know what the support the university will provide for their research activity. That assistance should be defined in the university’s policy and explained to librarians. About 89 percent of librarians surveyed said they had the opportunity to do research, but the university’s support for them was unclear. What they receive is usually only “encouragement” and resources available at the library. With their workload, they often lack time for research. Not many academic librarians will devote time to research for unclear benefits. Finally, librarians lack confidence about their research writing skills, although they have been trained on research since they were in university. The lack of publishing experience and limited number of librarians doing research in Vietnam make academic librarians think that writing and publishing is difficult.

The language of the article is also noteworthy. Publishing in Vietnamese limits the knowledge available to academic librarians and means that their valuable findings may not spread outside the country. One reason for this is that a librarian’s limited foreign language ability makes publishing in Vietnamese an easier choice. The requirements of foreign journals are supposed to be more difficult to meet than Vietnamese ones. Furthermore, academic librarians in Vietnam do not have the habit of writing articles. Writing skills and critical think-ing, which determine the quality of the articles, are not emphasized in traditional Vietnamese culture. Therefore, articles by Vietnamese authors will be compared to other authors’ articles from around the world, and the likelihood of the article being accepted is not high. Publishing cost is also a factor that prevents academic librarians in Vietnam from submitting articles to foreign journals. Foreign journals often require authors to pay fees instead of paying them for their work as in Vietnam.

University administrators and library directors should take direct action to elimi-nate the obstacles that prevent librarians from doing research.These barriers should be

Librarians in Vietnam are under less pressure to do research than librarians at universities in oth-er countries. Many universities in Vietnam do not consider the library as a contributor to total institutional research outputs.

The lack of publishing expe-rience and limited number of librarians doing research in Vietnam make academic librarians think that writing and publishing is difficult.

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lowered through their policies and regulations, and academic librarians doing research should have the same benefits as research faculties or scholars in other fields. Doing research should be considered a task that comes with the position of of academic librar-ians, so that they allocate time for research as part of their work. Aside from providing funding for research activity, remuneration for research activities might be included in salaries or allowances. Research productivity should also be one of the criteria for as-sessing work performance. Academic librarians should be provided with opportunities to enroll in research and publishing courses. Librarians who have never done research and publishing should collaborate with colleagues or researchers who have experience until they feel confident to publish as independent authors.

Limitations

This study has some limitations that affect its quality. The authors had valid informa-tion from only 17 directors and 36 librarians, too small a sample size to be considered as representative. In addition, the authors could not verify the information provided by the participants. In the two Vietnamese language journals reviewed, some authors did not provide occupation information. It is likely that additional authors are academic librar-ians, so the research data may not be complete. The final limitation is that the authors could not find some issues of the journals. Despite the imperfection of the research data, this study is valuable and a useful reference.

Conclusion

This research reflects the research situation of librarians at universities in Vietnam. As Vietnam’s universities and colleges join the global higher education world, librarians will become more important to the mission of their parent institutions. This will require a change in the work of academic librarians. Li-brarians need to do research and contribute to the research output of the university. With the knowledge, expertise, and experience gained from research activity, academic librarians will provide better support for faculties and researchers, thereby improving the research productivity of the university. University

administrators and library directors should design policies and regulations to encourage research by librarians and provide them with the necessary support.

In Vietnam nowadays, research and publishing are not usually important issues for academic librarians. Once they become aware of the benefits of doing research, however, they will make the effort and take the initiative to do research and publishing. Experts predict that universities will have a strong investment in research activities in the coming years. Academic librarians will need to adapt and meet the requirements of those changes.

With the knowledge, expertise, and experience gained from re-search activity, academic librar-ians will provide better support for faculties and researchers, thereby improving the research productivity of the university.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge with thanks the financial support provided by INSPiRE Library, Ton Duc Thang University. They are particularly grateful to Helena Worthen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, School of Labor and Employment Relations, for her as-sistance with English usage and editorial advice. They also gratefully acknowledge the time and effort contributed to the study by the participants and by colleagues who took part in the survey and interviews.

To Sanya Minh Kha is the assistant director of Ton Duc Thang University Library in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; his ORCID ID is https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0663-0786, and he may be reached by e-mail at: [email protected] or [email protected].

Truong Thi Ngoc Mai the director of Ton Duc Thang University Library in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; she may be reached by e-mail at: [email protected].

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Appendix A

Libraries Involved in the Survey

Library Director Librarians

Learning Resource Center of Can Tho University, Can Tho 1 2

Learning Resource Center of the University of Da Nang, Da Nang 1

Library and Information Center of Dong Nai University, Dong Nai 1

Library and Information Center of Hanoi Law University 6

Library and Information Center of Ho Chi Minh Industrial University 1 5

Library and Information Center of Da Nang University of Economics 1

Library and Information Center of Vietnam National University, Hanoi 1

Library of Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City 1 2

Library of Central Transport Career College No. 3, Ho Chi Minh City 1

Library of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education 1

Library of Ho Chi Minh City International University (Vietnam 1 National University)

Library of Nha Trang University, Nha Trang 1

Library of People’s Security University, Ho Chi Minh City 1

Library of Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, 1 Ho Chi Minh City

Library of RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) 1 University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City

Library of Tay Nguyen University, Dak Lak 1

Library of Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City 1 8

Library of University of Economics and Law (Vietnam National 1 2 University, Ho Chi Minh City)

Library of University of Information Technology (Vietnam National 1 University, Ho Chi Minh City)

Library of Ho Chi Minh City University of Science (Vietnam 1 National University)

Library of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and 1 Humanities (Vietnam National University)

Library of Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City 1 4

Library of Vietnamese-German University, Binh Duong

1

Vietnam Military Technical Academy, Hanoi 1 1

Total 17 36

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Appendix B

Perceptions of Library Directors about the Research Activity of Librarians

Library Comments about research from directors of libraries

Library of International University “Librarians should do research. This is beneficial for the (Vietnam National University, Ho research support activities of the library. It is beneficial for Chi Minh City) activities related to operation and improvement of the library’s activities and services as well.”

Learning Resource Center of Can “ Doing research is important to all university members, Tho University, Can Tho including librarians, because it contributes to enhancing the prestige of the university.”

Library and Information Center of “Research is necessary to increase the quality of library Ho Chi Minh Industrial University services. But nowadays, librarians are rarely involved in doing research.”Library of Tay Nguyen “Doing research is not necessary for librarians these days.” University, Dak Lak

Library of Vietnamese-German “Librarians need to do research to explore the progress of the University, Binh Duong library sector.”

Library of Ho Chi Minh City “No idea.” University of Technology and Education

Library of Ho Chi Minh City “Doing research is necessary because doing research helps University of Science (Vietnam librarians update and improve their professional knowledge. National University) Thus, they would better support the research activities of students, faculties, and researchers.”

Library of University of Economics “Research is necessary and deserves attention. However, and Law (Vietnam National, many librarians are not well-trained in research skills.” University Ho Chi Minh City) Library of Van Lang University, “Doing research is necessary to improve the professional Ho Chi Minh City competence of librarians, to experience the exploitation of library resources for accurate evaluation of the resources that the library recommends to the users, and to contribute to the completion of the research goals of the university. University administrators and library directors have encouraged librarians to become involved in research projects that are applicable to the library and published as an article to disseminate the results of the research project.”

Library of Pham Ngoc Thach “Doing research helps the librarians to support the researchers University of Medicine, Ho Chi in providing information for research.” Minh City

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Library Comments about research from directors of libraries

Appendix B., cont.

Learning Resource Center of Da “Librarians rarely do research because university policies only Nang University encourage but do not require librarians to do research.” Library of Ton Duc Thang, “Doing research is important because it helps librarians University Ho Chi Minh City expand their knowledge and helps the libraries improve their credibility.”

Library and Information Center of “Library directors have been aware of the importance of doing Dong Nai University, Dong Nai research. However, the university has no policy to encourage and require librarians to do research. Thus, the research productivity of librarians is very low.”Library and Information Center of “Doing research is not necessary for librarians.” Da Nang University of Economics Library of Vietnam Military “It is important but difficult to do for some reasons: (1) Technical Academy, Hanoi Librarians are service providers, not researchers; (2) Librarians are not obliged to do research; (3) Librarians have limited research capabilities.”

Library and Information Center of “Doing research is important because it helps librarians Vietnam National University, Hanoi expand their knowledge and improve themselves.” Library of Banking University of Ho “It is important. It would be good if the librarians can do Chi Minh City that.”

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Notes

1. Viviana Fernández-Marcial, Luís Miguel Costa, and Llarina González-Solar, “Top Universities, Top Libraries: Do Research Services in Academic Libraries Contribute to University Output?” presentation at 37th IATUL (International Association of University Libraries) Conference, June 5–9, 2016, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

2. Hiep D. Vu, “Tìm Hiểu Dịch Vụ Phổ Biến Thông Tin Chọn Lọc Và Việc Triển Khai Tại Các Thư Viện Đại Học Hiện Nay [Exploring the selective dissemination of information services and deployment situation at current university libraries],” Vietnam Library Journal 4 (2013): 26–30; Thuy L. Bui and Ha T. T. Nguyen, “Phát Triển Dịch Vụ Thông Tin-Thư Viện Tại Một Số Trường Đại Học Trên Thế Gió̓i: Bài Học Vó̓i Thư Viện Đại Học Việt Nam [Developing information library services at some universities in the world: Lessons from the Vietnamese University Library],” Journal of Information and Documentation (2017): 3–12.

3. Hiep D. Vu, “Phát Triển Các Loại Hình Sản Phẩm Và Dịch Vụ Thư Viện - Thông Tin Trong Các Trường Đại Học Hưó̓ng Tó̓i Mô Hình Đại Học Nghiên Cứu [Developing types of library and information products and services at universities which plan to become research universities],” Vietnam Library Journal (2015): 38–45.

4. Thomas Frank Denison, “Research Support: Vietnam—Research Findings and Activities Information Literacy for Research: Vietnam,” Information Skills in Research Conference, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2016, http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/bitstream/VNU_123/9682/1/Ky%20yeu%20Thu%20vien%20-%20ban%20chuan%281%29.pdf.

5. Thomas Frank Denison, “Research Support: Roles and Activities of Academic Libraries,” lecture, Faculty of Library and Information Sciences, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, April 4, 2016.

6. Schubert Foo, Abdus S. Chaudhry, Shaheen M. Majid, and Elisabeth Logan, “Academic Libraries in Transition—Challenges Ahead,” presentation at World Library Summit, National Library Board, Singapore, April 22–26, 2002.

7. Alice Keller, “Research Support in Australian University Libraries: An Outsider View,” Australian Academic & Research Libraries 46, 2 (2015): 1–13, https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2015.1009528.

8. Amalia Monroe-Gulick, Megan S. O’Brien, and Glen W. White, “Librarians as Partners: Moving from Research Supporters to Research Partners,” presentation at Association of College and Research Libraries Conference, Indianapolis, IN, April 10–13, 2013.

9. Sheila Corrall, “Designing Libraries for Research Collaboration in the Network World: An Exploratory Study,” LIBER Quarterly 24, 1 (2014): 17–48, https://doi.org/10.18352/lq.9525.

10. Emily S. Mazure and Kristine M. Alpi, “Librarian Readiness for Research Partnerships,” Journal of the Medical Library Association 103, 2 (2015): 91–95, https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.007.

11. Yu-Wei Chang, “Librarians’ Contribution to Open Access Journal Publishing in Library and Information Science from the Perspective of Authorship,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 41, 5 (2015): 660–68, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2015.06.006.

12. Andrew M. Cox and Eddy Verbaan, “How Academic Librarians, IT Staff, and Research Administrators Perceive and Relate to Research,” Library & Information Science Research 38, 4 (2016): 319–26, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2016.11.004.

13. Sheila Corrall, Mary Anne Kennan, and Waseem Afzal, “Bibliometrics and Research Data Management Services: Emerging Trends in Library Support for Research,” Library Trends 61, 3 (2013): 636–74, https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2013.0005; Carol Tenopir, Robert J. Sandusky, Suzie Allard, and Ben Birch, “Research Data Management Services in Academic Research Libraries and Perceptions of Librarians,” Library & Information Science Research 36, 2 (2014): 84–90, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2014.11.003.

14. Ann Morgan, Nel Duffield, and Liz Walkley Hall, “Research Data Management Support: Sharing Our Experiences,” Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association 66, 3 (2017): 299–305, https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2017.1371911.

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15. E. Emmanuel Baro and Loveth Ebhomeya, “A Comparative Study of the Publication Output of Librarians and Academics in Universities in the South-South Zone of Nigeria,” Journal of Scholarly Publishing 43, 2 (2012): 200–19, https://doi.org/10.3138/jsp.43.2.200; Joseph Fennewald, “Research Productivity among Librarians: Factors Leading to Publications at Penn State,” College & Research Libraries 69, 2 (2008): 104–16, https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.69.2.104.

16. John N. Olsgaard and Jane Kinch Olsgaard, “Authorship in Five Library Periodicals,” College & Research Libraries 41, 1 (1980): 49–53, http://hdl.handle.net/2142/40083.

17. Paula D. Watson, “Production of Scholarly Articles by Academic Librarians and Library School Faculty,” College & Research Libraries 46, 4 (1985): 334–42; Lois Buttlar, “Analyzing the Library Periodical Literature: Content and Authorship,” College & Research Libraries 52, 1 (1991): 38–53, https://doi.org/10.5860/crl_52_01_38; Yu-Wei Chang, “Comparative Study of Characteristics of Authors between Open Access and Non-Open Access Journals in Library and Information Science,” Library & Information Science Research 39, 1 (2017): 8–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2017.01.002.

18. Rhea Rowena U. Apolinario, Marian R. Eclevia, Carlos L. Eclevia Jr., Eimee Rhea C. Lagrama, and Karryl Kim A. Sagun, “Librarian as Researcher and Knowledge Creator: Examining Librarian’s Research Involvement, Perceived Capabilities and Confidence,” presentation at International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress, Lyon, France, August 16–22, 2014.

19. S. Craig Finlay, Chaoqun Ni, Andrew Tsou, and Cassidy R. Sugimoto, “Publish or Practice? An Examination of Librarians’ Contributions to Research,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 13, 4 (2013): 403–21, https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2013.0038.

20. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam, “Báo cáo tổng kết 15 năm thực hiện Pháp lệnh Thư viện [Summary report of 15 years of applying the Vietnam library ordinance],” 2016, http://datafile.chinhphu.vn/files/DuthaoVBPL/2017/05/Bao%20cao20tong%20ket%2015%20nam%20Phap%20lenh%20Thu%20vien.doc.

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