Tillgänglighet, närhet och synlighet – gemensamma utmaningar för LUB-nätverket för att möta forskares behov av stöd vid Lunds universitet

This report presents a project at Lund University Libraries (LUB) during the fall of 2012, with the object to identify areas where the present research support services ought to be developed and strengthened. The project is three folded and contains a) a literature review focusing on definitions and examples of research support services as well as researchers’ needs and experiences of support services, b) a survey to get an overview of the support services offered today at LUB, the decentralized library network at Lund University, and c) focus group interviews with researchers, one group from each partaking faculty, to investigate key obstacles in their research processes. In all three parts a model of the research process schematically divided into four phases was applied; to start a project, to collect material, to process/analyze/write and to communicate the results.

The first two stages of the project, the literature overview and the survey, form a background and both show that many support services are concentrated around the phases to collect material and to communicate results. The findings from the focus group interviews point to common needs and issues as well as special needs and issues related to different ways of doing and communicating research. Common for most researchers is limited time, a need for funding and an everyday fragmentation. They talk about the importance of networks, their efforts to navigate in an abundance of material and ways to find it and a need for overviews and help to understand new ways and demands to communicate. Most concern is expressed in the phases to start a project, to collect material and to communicate results. A major conclusion is that the research support services need to be available, visible and in close proximity to the researchers. Further, the development of support services needs to take into consideration both common traits as well as local variations in research practices. Therefore, discussions concerning LUB as a whole, need to be related to discussions at the single faculty libraries. Apart from knowledge about how to address the research support services at LUB, the project generates a model for how librarians can understand the research community that they are working with and with whom to create networks and partnerships for the future.