supporting social science research key findings

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Supporting effective communication and workflows in social science research:summary of a group discussion

Charleston Conference Session, Nov 2011Bernie Folan


What’s happened and why Conversations with various librarians about challenges they face

Librarians explaining greater need for librarians and researchers to talk, with publishers listening

Informal roundtable discussion chaired by SAGE, facilitated by the RIN (Research Information Network), librarians and social science early career researchers (6-8 of each)

Article published in Serials July 2011 summarising key finding

Survey developed to test response to the challenges uncovered

Charleston Feedback Session Nov 11

UKSG Feedback Session Apr 2012

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Problems in the discovery, use and creation of research material

Key Findings

A need to combat reliance on narrow discovery methods and misunderstanding of search tools by some experienced researchers who are supervising doctoral students.

Browsing outside discipline is essential, but it is now a predominantly search culture.

A need to improve adoption of search and browse skills training amongst all researchers and appoint institutional advocates.


Problems in the discovery, use and creation of research material (continued)

Greater transparency is needed on service inclusion and overlap between widely-used services and gateways (for both researchers and librarians).

Library branding needs greater prominence on publisher platforms to highlight library value

Education on OA funding mechanics is needed at senior level in universities.

Institutions with devolved budgeting need improved systems to purchase cross-disciplinary material as well as fund OA submissions.


What librarians and researchers need from each other to improve research workflows

A need for greater attendance of librarians at departmental subject meetings and other fora to better understand researcher needs and concerns.

A need to explain the mechanics of content purchasing and its challenges to researchers.

Explanation of senior financial managers on agreed common themes (eg. finer detail of usage analysis) is required to avoid misunderstandings.


How can librarians and publishers work together to demonstrate value and impact of research material on their institutional strategic goals

Institutions require institutional-level data reporting, beyond usage statistics, (e.g. author numbers, usage patterns of institutionally generated research, and effects of purchased material on research)

Institutions can be poor at knowing and valuing what they have, for example PhD numbers.

It is essential, though challenging, for authors to demonstrate the impact of their research beyond academia.

There is a need for a single robust and universal academic ID and profile site. Numerous initiatives in existence, but there needs to be one solution that can be tied into academic appraisal and help showcase institutional output.


Resources beyond scholarly articles and chapters for research and output

Researchers are using a wide variety of alternative research resources, from blogs and Twitter to Listserves.

Libraries could optimize use and generate more revenue from their special collections and archives and market them better beyond niche research circles.

To differing degrees, and dependent on discipline, researchers are contributing beyond journal articles and book chapters. Mostly they are observing a careful balance between openness and traditional publishing.

Some librarians now get ALL of their professional information from blogs and Twitter.


Institutional mechanisms for funding open access in the humanities and social science Increased lobbying of Research Councils and other bodies required to

make funding available and access to it transparent in Social Sciences

Improved education about OA funding is needed at senior levels to ensure facilities are in place.

Greater education around what OA means and how it works is needed by researchers at all levels – many are unsure and are confusing ‘open’ with ‘free’.

Greater efforts to persuade ‘big names’ to publish in newer OA outlets are essential to move things along in favour of OA as a valid concept in the humanities and social sciences.


The library’s evolving role in providing teaching material alongside research content

Teaching materials should be available within the institutional network not at an outside link.

E-textbooks and e-books are still too expensive and DRM issues stand in the way of success.

There is a wide variance in the sophistication of reading list support tools and practices in use. Reading list compilation provides many challenges. Good practice needs to be more widespread with systems put in place to combat bad practice.

Higher education IT departments are often in institutional silos. They could work together to find solutions to challenges with more creation and sharing of open source programming solutions.


Bernie FolanSAGE, LondonEmail: [email protected]: @berniefolanLinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/berniefolan

SURVEYhttp://bit.ly/SocSciSurvey

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ARTICLE (PDF)http://bit.ly/SocSciArticle