The needs of researchers in key disciplines are changing rapidly and this has important implications for the library’s role in enhancing research productivity and impact. Librarians can build a roadmap for supporting 21st Century research needs that draws on both published research sources and institution-specific user research. Several key trends from recent studies and ideas for institution-specific user research tools are highlighted within.

1. Understanding the 21st Century Research Landscape:
Emerging Trends and Needs Within and Across
Disciplines
Charleston Conference 2011
Mike Diaz, Executive Director, Marketing

2. Session Objectives
 Spark a conversation that surfaces current
and emerging research needs across
disciplines
 Identify strategies for translating this insight
into better support for research-intensive
users.

3. Agenda
 Studies and key themes relating to
researcher needs
 Specific insights on research needs from our
expert panel
 Trends in research needs across
disciplines
 Broad subject area and discipline-specific
trends
 Recommendations for librarians
 Q&A

4. Related Research

5. Research Information Network
 Patterns of Information Use and Exchange
Across Disciplines (Presentation From Fiesole Collection Devt Retreat)
 Reinventing Research – Information
Practices in the Humanities
 Case Studies of Researchers in the Life
Sciences (In conjunction with British Library)

6. Ithaka
 Faculty Survey
 Discipline Reports
 Education
 Economics
 History
 Biosciences
 New Discipline Studies/Reports Just Announced
 Chemistry with JISC
 History with NEH

7. Other Notable Reports
 OCLC/JISC/RIN – The Digital Information Seeker
(key insights from 12 separate user studies)
 OCLC - Scholarly Information Practices in the
Online Environment
 CIBER/UCL/Emerald - Social Media and Research
Workflow

8. Trends in Research Needs

9. Assessment and the Research Process
 Assessment demands drive a heavy emphasis on
journal citation metrics which are easily accessible
 Faculty incentives favor traditional channels for
dissemination of findings and use of journal citation
chains remains critical for research
 Implications for humanities scholars – metrics do not
offer comprehensive coverage for academic
monographs and other modes of research
 E-books could start to play a more important role in
scholarship with e-delivery and greater accessibility
via large indexes

10. Central Role of Data/Data Management
 Data has been critical for serving researcher needs
for a long time
 New applications mean that researchers aren’t just
crunching numbers (eg. datamining, visualization)
 Demand for external data sources and support for
selecting, accessing, and using the data
 Researchers need better tools for managing their
own data.
 Value of open data for society – think Genomics
 Openness constrained by competitive concerns in
some disciplines and legal/privacy considerations

11. Range of Digital Source Types is Important
 Video
 Audio
 Datasets
 Primary sources
 Documents
 Manuscripts
 Historical News
 Text becomes a dataset via text mining

12. Emerging Modes of Collaboration
 Key external factors driving need for continued
expansion of academic collaboration
 Academic collaboration often involves email and
does not fully leverage latest technologies and tools
 Very little incentive for communication beyond
traditional channels (journals, conf proceedings)
 Sciences more advanced in collaboration than the
humanities.
 Long tradition of multi-author articles in life sciences
and physics and use of social media in computer
science

13. Need for simple and fast access
 Researchers looking for a few convenient, trusted
tools with 24x7 access
 Gateway services play critical role as a starting place
(esp. Google/Scholar and cross-discipline indexes)
 Often researchers want their research experience to
be familiar - like tools they use outside of work –
Yahoo, YouTube, Amazon, Kayak
 Excellent opportunity for publishers, technology
providers and libraries to work together.

14. Significant Variations by Institution, Department…
Combine trends information with “local” insight
 LibQual
 Zoomerang/Survey Monkey
 Focus Groups
 Interviews
 Website Survey Tools such as ForeSee
Results

15. Some Questions for Interviews/Focus Groups
 What key factors come into play for your research productivity
reporting?
 How are requirements of funders changing in your field?
 How can the library help you to be more effective with your
research?
 What types of information sources are most critical for your
research and how do you access them today?
 Tell me about how you use datasets, multimedia, etc…?
 To what extent do you collaborate with other researchers?
 If so, what approaches and tools are you using to ensure that
you can manage these collaborations effectively?
 How do you stay organized and manage your research efforts?

16. Panel of Experts
 Audrey Powers, Collection Development and Research Librarian
for College of the Arts, University of South Florida
 Jason B. Phillips, Librarian for Sociology, Psychology, Gender &
Sexuality Studies and American Studies and Coordinator, Data Service
Studio, New York University Library
 Corey Seeman, Director, Kresge Business Administration Library,
University of Michigan
 Dennis Brunning, Humanities Development Librarian and
Librarian for the Herberger Institute Arizona State University