DCDC21 | The role of research libraries as active participants & leaders in scholarly research

Academic and research libraries are increasingly taking a more active role as partners in, and leaders of, high-quality multi-disciplinary academic and scholarship research. In doing so, they bring a multitude of skills, knowledge and expertise to the scholarly research practice, crossing disciplinary boundaries, and enabling the involvement, communication, and dissemination of research with diverse audiences, and supporting the ‘real world’ applicability of research outputs.

However, a number of barriers exist which can prevent research and academic library colleagues acting as full and embedded partners within scholarly research projects. These barriers can be internal within the library, be rooted within its parent organisation, be associated with academic behaviours and perceptions, and the terms and conditions of research funding.

In January RLUK, working in partnership with the AHRC, commissioned EvidenceBase to undertake a major scoping study to examine the role of academic and research libraries as partners in, and leaders of, scholarly research, and the barriers and challenges which might prevent or hamper this. The research report, published in June 2021, explores these issues and makes a series of recommendations regarding how these challenges might be overcome.

This highly-interactive longtable session will include a short commentary by Christopher Smith (Executive Chair, AHRC) and Jessica Gardner (RLUK Chair) on the high-level results of the project before members of the audience are invited to join our panellists in a lively interactive discussion of the results of this research, the report’s recommendations, and the potential of collective action between institutions, sectors, and professions.