The Future of Research and The Research Library

Jakob H. PetersenDanish Agency for Libraries and Media

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Introduction

• Danish Agency for Libraries and Media (DALM)– Government agency under the Ministry of Culture– Placed in Copenhagen– Responsible for library development and public funding for

broadcast and print media – App. 80 employees

• About myself – Head of division , daily leader of the library division

• Denmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEFF)– Organisational network with funding from national budget– Secretariat placed in the DLAM but with external steering

committee – 10 employees

Programme

• 11.00 - 12.30– The Future of Research and The Research Library

• 12.30 – 13.30 Lunch• 13.30 – 15.00 Discussion (themes)

– The library as a collection of services

• 15.00 – 15.15 Appetizers• 15.15 – 15.30 Coffee• 15.30 – 16.30 Discussion

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Contents – part 1

• Background to the study• The report

– Basic questions– Historical overview

• Research and education, current trends• Questions 1• BREAK• User needs• Library roles• Questions 2• Summing up

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The future library - no easy answers?

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David W. Lewis, Dean of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, University Library

• “For me there are five parts of a strategy for maintaining the library as a vibrant enterprise worthy of support from our campuses.1. Complete the migration from print to electronic collections and capture the

efficiencies made possible by this change.2. Retire legacy print collections in a way that efficiently provides for its long term

preservation and makes access to this material available when required. This will free space that can be repurposed.

3. Redevelop the library as the primary informal learning space on the campus. In the process partnerships with other campus units that support research, teaching, and learning should be developed.

4. Reposition library and information tools, resources, and expertise so it is embedded into the teaching, learning, and research enterprises. This includes both human and, increasingly, computer-mediated systems. Emphasis should be placed on external, not library-centered, structures and systems.

5. Migrate the focus of collections from purchasing materials to curating content.”

A Model for Academic Libraries 2005 to 2025, David W. Lewis, Dean of the IUPUI University Library

The Future of Research and the Research Library

Background to the study

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The Future of Research and the Research Library

• Research libraries as part of the research infrastructure

• Proceeds from sales of Telecom licenses (UMTS) to finance investment in research infrastructure

• The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, report on research infrastructure, 2005

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Recommendation

“An important issue in regard to the development of libraries as infrastructure for researchers is to make sure that all researchers can gain access to publicised research results. Therefore the Strategic Research Council recommends the quick establishment of a study of the libraries possibilities for servicing researchers”

The Future Research Infrastructure, p. 13

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Objective of the study

• Study financed by Denmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEFF)

• The objective of the study was to supply DEFF’s steering committee and individual research libraries with input for strategy development

• The study should also complement DEFF’s activities to promote open access

• Finally the study should form the basis for advocacy for a library role in the research infrastructure

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Carried out by the consultancy firm, LimeGuild

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The Future of Research and the Research Library

The report

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Basic questions

• Is there a future for the research library?• Which possible roles can the research library

adopt?• Can we draw a roadmap to help us move

towards a new desired future?

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The roots of the modern research library

• Late 18th century in Germany• Libraries as part of the enlightenment project – a universal

library (as opposed to the randomness of private libraries)• Modern universities organised around scarcity – one book to

serve several users• “The library as filter rather than pump”• The acquisition of books was based on validation by faculty• Importance of review journals and systematic catalogue• Faculty and the library in close interaction - what they read

were made the content of the library and the content was what they read

• The library as the only place where knowledge in its totality was present

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The origins of the modern educational system • Wilhelm von Humboldt was

Prussian Minister of Education (1809) and oversaw the system of Technische Hochschulen and Gymnasien

• Friedrich Althoff dominated the state administration of higher education in Prussia between 1882 and 1907, serving as Ministerial director over higher educational affairs

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The German research-based – Humboldtian – university• Education reform in German states and the creation of

gymnasiums at the end of the 18th century• Teachers trained at universities• Small group of students were given stipends to study and

grouped in “Seminars”, which became the origin of the disciplinary research-based departments

• Students in the seminars were required to write papers• Research was closely connected to educational needs

covering the disciplines in which degrees were given. A generic and generalized obligation connected to the need to create curricula

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Althoff system

• Named after the Prussian minister Friedrich Althoff• Consisted of

– Research based universities doing basic research– Applied science universities – especially technical universities that trained

engineers– Research institutions (the so-called Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes) – Research departments in private science-based companies like Siemens,

Hoechst, Bayer, Bosch etc. that were typically established at the same time.

• Close interaction between particularly the applied science universities and private companies.

• Research became professionalized, bureaucratic • The scientific journal replaced the monograph as basic

publication (if books were written they took the form of textbooks)

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Consequences for library developement

• Monographs journals:– The systematic catalogue was not essential to the

classification of the collection of journals in the same way as was the case for books

– Access to the relevant journals (and participation in the relevant conferences) as condition for research groups in the university.

– Creation of overviews, annual reviews and particularly bibliographies essential to keep pace with the development in the field – as a research group got more and more specialized but had to keep up with developments in the discipline in which they were obliged to teach.

• Journals ??17

Conclusions modern library development

• Co-evolution of the modern university and the modern university library

• The modern library– Infrastructure (repository of books and journals) – Co-creation -mechanism for creation of disciplines and curricula

(classification of knowledge)

• Co-creation aspect reduced with growing emphasis on pragmatic research and looser ties between teaching and research

• Trend strengthened by funding from research councils without connection to education

• Will the future library co-evolve in the same symbiotic way?

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Research and education

Current trends

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General trends

• Unbundling, fragmentation– The chapter rather than the book, the track rather than the record,

the course rather than the programme, the service rather than the institution

• Demand-pull, free choice– Mobility, digital delivery and increased transparency has increased

consumer (student) power

• Ubiquitous access– Information and service is everywhere, users expect instant and

24/7 delivery of services

• Copyright as a contested issue– Open source, open access vs. The need to be recognised for

contribution and receive revenueThe Tower and The Cloud,

Richard N. Katz

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Current trends in the research system

• Research is increasingly – Digital– Cooperative– International – Interdisciplinary– Problem based – Strategic – Cross sectoral (public-private)– Connected to innovation

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Consequences

• Research is an important part of innovation in society• The output of research is not only new knowledge but new

processes, products, business concepts, social institutions• Research communication moves outside institutional settings

on new platforms• Doctoral education as a more formalized and scholastic form

of research training• Shift in focus from the search for truth to the creation of

value. This might mean a stronger focus on supporting inspiration and new ideas

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Demands from the research system

• New forms of knowledge production and mediation– Directly on the Internet and through repositories, wikis, blogs,

proceedings, preprints, 3D-visualisation• Evidence based policies

– Public administration is dealing with increasingly complex problems and is more dependent on verified knowledge and good overview

• Innovation– The knowledge production of the private sector is increasingly

important, there is a need to learn from experience in a conceptualising way

• Access to knowledge is important– Public and private organisations are becoming increasingly knowledge

intensive and are building their own systems for storing and reusing knowledge, own library functions

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Research system concepts

• Triple Helix – The interaction between research institutions, private

knowledge based companies and government agencies is becoming so close that they even tend to exchange roles in a dynamic interaction that is then called a helix.

• Mode 1 research– Discipline based and related to a clear distinction between

basic research, applied research and development

• Mode 2 research– Problem-based and inter- or even transdisciplinary, and

focused on the problems of application, so that research takes its point of departure in attempts – and problems – of application

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Definition Related issues Primary actors

Innovation/research

Example Communication information needs

Triple-helix

interaction between researchinstitutions, companies and government agencies is becoming closer, they even tend to exchange roles in a dynamic interaction – a helix.

Global competition, knowledge economyScience bureaucracy Pragmatic

Government, universities, Business

Energy health Vestas, Novo, Lundbeck

Open access, meta-knowledge (national/international)Creative destruction of social capital, social entrepreneurship

Mode 1 research

Discipline based and related to a clear distinction between basic research, applied research and development

Close connectionbetween research/ed Doktor-vater training

Rural research areasHumboldt/Althoff system. Scholastic

Universities Natural science

Electrical industry

Disciplinary coverageClassificationInfrastructureMechanism forCreation of disciplines /curriculumBrowsing journalsScholastic function

Mode 2 research

Research as problem-based and inter- or even transdisciplinary,focused on the problems of application

Research schools

Urban research areasResearch groups, new disciplines, Pragmatic

Business,Some research areas

ITManagementStrategic research (EU)

Navision, GigaSupport industrial dev.

Problem based, fuzzy disciplinarityProcess basedNew infrastructure needsNew co-creation functionsNew search and discovery systemsKnowledge synthesis/clearing house

Infrastructure and co-creation

• Digital development opens new opportunities• Research library seems to accumulate functions

rather than spin them off (comparison with hospitals)

• Changing usage (mode 2 research)– Researchers read a wider variety of papers, and spend less

time pr. paper– Move from browsing to searching

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Questions 1

• What does mode 2 research mean for the library? • What does increased research cooperation with public

institutions and private companies mean for libraries?• What is consequence for libraries of increased emphasis on

innovation?• How will the library serve a more fragmented and multi-

facetted research system?• What will unbundling and demand-pull mean for libraries?• What will happen to the libraries’ role as information provider?• Is there still a demand for library services? Which ones?• What are the biggest threats to the library?• Where are the greatest opportunities?

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User needs

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Researchers’ Use of Academic Libraries and their Services Key Points • Electronic journals are very highly valued by researchers in all disciplines,

but as yet they attach a lower value to libraries’ current provision of other kinds of digital resources

• Increases in the scale of research and the growth of collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects present challenges to libraries in seeking to provide effective services and equitable access to resources for all members of collaborative teams

• The growth of e-research and virtual research communities has implications for how libraries can support researchers in the future. Some groups of librarians are beginning to address these issues

• There is a need for greater clarity as to the roles and responsibilities of all those involved in the research cycle – researchers, research institutions, and national bodies, as well as libraries – in managing the increasing volumes of digital research outputs

– http://www.rin.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/sarah/Researchers-libraries-services-report.pdf , 46

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Changes in education and learning

• Education Learning• Blackboard User’s information environment• Individual collective learning• Instruction facilitation• Specific skills meta-competencies• Institutional learning lifelong learning• Classroom library?• Teacher librarian?

From Teaching to Learning - A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education By Robert B. Barr and John Tagg http://ilte.ius.edu/pdf/BarrTagg.pdf

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Library roles

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New library roles

• Research library as learning centre– E-learning, making teaching materials available, operational tasks,

designing curricula

• Research library as knowledge centre– Traditional role of building collections for established disciplines

within research and teaching (scholastic function, rural research areas)

– Support for new research fields, “urban research areas” (i.e. nanotechnology, biotechnology, genetics) and their information needs and publication of preprints, proceedings, journal articles

• Research library as catalyst for knowledge synthesis– Meta-level of knowledge, validation, protocols of accepted research, clearing

houses like Cochrane

• Different target groups for each function and a role for the library as co-creator

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New roles for the library and the librarian: the touching library

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Questions 2

• What does increased collaboration between researchers mean for libraries?

• How should the library react to changes in the research process?

• How can the library support e-research?• How can libraries support learning in new ways?• How do you see the library’s future role as learning centre,

knowledge centre and knowledge broker?• What will be the role of the future library employee?• Will she be a librarian?• Which services will you provide?• How do you know that you got in right? How will you evaluate?

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Answers to the basic questions?

• Is there a future for the research library?• Which possible roles can the research library

adopt?• Can we draw a roadmap to help us move

towards a new desired future?

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Next section – Opening up the black box - the library as a collection of services

• Does it still make sense to talk of the library as an organisational entity?– Why/Why not?

• Can the library alternatively be seen as a collection of services?– What could be the advantages of such a view?– What would the drawbacks be?– Which services would form the collection?– What method would you use to select them?– What method would you use to discard present services?

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The library as a collection of services

When is a library no longer a library?

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Contents

“It is assumed in a roadmap that one knows where one wants to go. This is of course very often exactly what the problem is.”

No roadmap – strategy as process means focus on methods, questions rather than

answers• Strategy• Fit or stretch• Value chain• Organisational boundaries• NABC

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Strategy

• Different levels of strategy• Strategy as planning vs. strategy as identity

– Strategy as the emergence of organisational identity, complexity makes planned change an illusion (Ralph D. Stacey)

– Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a changing environment and to fulfil stakeholder expectations (Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes)

• Do you primarily view strategy as planning or as a process of communication?

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Strategy as fit vs. stretch

• Strategic fit – anything is possible– Developing strategy by identifying opportunities in the business

environment and adapting resources and competencies so as to take advantage of these

– Positioning the company and acquiring competencies, long term view

• Strategic stretch – competencies are given– The leverage of the resources and competencies of an organisation to

provide competitive advantage and/or yield new opportunities– Use existing resources in new ways, shorter term view– Core competencies – activities or processes that critically underpin an

organisation’s competitive advantage (robust, difficult for competitors to imitate)

• Which view do you subscribe to? Examples?• What are the consequences of each perspective for library

development?

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Choice of services – the value chain

• Michael E. Porter, 1985• The value chain describes the activities within and

around an organisation which together create a product or service

• Since much of the cost and value creation will occur in the supply and distribution chains managers need to understand this whole process– Whether they should make or buy a particular activity– Who might be the best partners– What kind of relationship to develop with each partner (e.g.

supplier or strategic alliance)

• Do you view your library as part of a value chain?49

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Organisational boundaries - which services to offer?• Four perspectives on organisational boundaries

– Efficiency - boundaries should be set at the point that minimizes the cost of governing activities (focus on transaction costs)

– Power - boundaries should be set at the point that maximizes strategic control over crucial external forces (focus on relationships)

– Competence - boundaries should be set at the point that maximizes the value of the firm’s resource portfolio (focus on possession, configuration, and deployment of strategically valuable resources)

– Identity – boundaries should be set to achieve coherence between the identity of the organization and its activities (focus on organisations as social contexts for sensemaking, a boundary decision is a choice of “who we are”)

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The “touching” library

• “The touching library”, i.e. a research library which can touch and move its users through its competence to select and qualify knowledge, and which is touched and moved by its users in order to deliver the best possible product

• The library is perhaps moving closer to research and learning processes – which services to deliver?

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NABC method

• N for Need. N is the most important factor in the method. An idea without a practical need for it remains just what it is: a good idea and nothing more.

• A for Approach. A is usually a point of departure for most activities, but with the NABC method, A always comes after N.

• B for Benefit. B stands for the innovative elements of an idea, in other words that which constitutes its uniqueness.

• C for Competition. C stands for a study of the competition existing in the area concerned. C is often mistaken for N. C, however, focuses on the reality within which a concept has to function.

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NABC method

• Your pitch should last no longer than 8 minutes in the presentation phase, no more than 5 slides

• Guidelines for your pitch:– Hook You need to grab your listener’s attention – like storytelling (24

secs)– Need A description of the need you are covering and for whom (1 min 36

secs)– Approach Description of your proposition. Explain the relevance of your

idea. What is innovative or unique about your project? (4 min)– Benefit What are the benefits gained by using your concept? (48 secs)– Competition How does your project stand out compared to other similar

projects? Are there risk factors involved? Does your project take them into account (48 secs)

– Rounding off. A summing up of all the important points (4 secs )

• A shortened English version of Kirstine Vinderskov’s work paper ‘NABC – metoden’

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Examples of new tasks

• Support for e-learning courses• Knowledge management and learning support for the

individual student or researcher• Knowledge management for the institution in the processes

between import and export of information (datasets, research communication, repositories for students papers and assignments..)

• Copyright and intellectual property rights• Research statistics - citation analysis and benchmarking • Alumni services• Digitisation • ….• Could you do a NABC-pitch for each in 8 minutes?

Questions 3 – identity and role

• What is the core of the future university library?• Is the future library an organisational entity or a collection of

services?• Which services are the most important?• How do you decide which services to provide?• What constitutes the library’s core competencies?• What will be the most important competencies in the future?• Is the development of the library deliberate or emergent?• Do you experience a direct causality between your decisions

and the development of your library?

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Questions 4 – resources and tasks

• Will your library be moving closer to research and learning?

• Why/Why not?• Is such a move in demand?• Which new services will you provide?• How will you get sufficient resources to provide new

services?• Will your library provide infrastructure/back office

functions?• Will your library engage in co-creation? • Which competencies will you need?

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Literature• Research Group CIBER (publications at University College

London)– http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber/downloads/

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future ('Google Generation' project)

• The British Research Information Network (RIN)– http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work

Researchers’ Use of Academic Libraries and their Services

• No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century, August 2008– http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub142/pub142.pdf

• The Future of Research and The Research Library– http://www.bibliotekogmedier.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/dokumenter/

bibliotek/indsatsomraader/partnerskaber/DEFF/The_Future_of_Research_and_the_Research_Library.pdf

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Literature• The Future Research Infrastructure, 2005 (Danish)

– http://www.fi.dk/publikationer/2005/fremtidens-forskningsinfrastruktur-kortlagning-af-behov/fremtidens-forskningsinfrastruktur2013kortlaegning-af-beh.pdf

• David Nicholas, The Virtual Scholar: Inaugural Professorial Lecture at University College London, 6 March 2008. – http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber/downloads/virtual-

scholar.ppt

• Organizational Boundaries and Theories of Organization, Filipe M. Santos and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt– http://www.mangematin.org/MCOI/Textes%202005-6/Eisenhardt-

OrganizationBoundarie-2005.pdf

• A Model for Academic Libraries 2005 to 2025– https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/665/A%20Model

%20Academic%20Libraries%202005%20to%202025.pdf?sequence=6

• The Tower and The cloud– http://www.educause.edu/thetowerandthecloud

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What do research libraries do?

• Three major roles:– Information supply in general– Facilitate learning

• On the institutional level (virtual and physical learning environments)

• On the individual level (information literacy)

– Facilitate research • On the institutional level (e.g. research registration and

repositories)• On the individual level

Appendix

The perspective on strategizing and road mapping in The Future of Research

and The Research Library

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A note on value creation

• “The concept of social capital here employed has to do with the advantage a group has qua its possession of certain knowledge over others”

• This is the basis of competitive advantage for private companies

• The creative destruction of this is then the function of making knowledge available in more general and public ways

• Value is conceived of both in economic and ethical terms. The value creation process is both monetary and normative

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A note on the strategy perspective

• A process oriented approach• Social constructivism as method• No privileged position from which to establish an

overview of the future• No right strategy waiting to be discovered and

unveiled • The roadmap as a learning and communication tool• Difficult to implement but useful for discussion• Suggested reading: Ralph D. Stacey: Strategic

Management and Organisational Dynamics

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Strategy formulation

1. Analysis of tensions – Decisions that creates resolutions of these tensions

scenarios

2. Phases of roadmap construction3. The dynamic roadmap

– Allows a dynamic monitoring of tensions that emerge from differences of what we used to do and what we will do (the chosen scenario)

– Values are understood both in a normative and monetary sense

– Issues for dynamic monitoring in a strategic roadmap

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1. Tensions

• The linkages between the research library and the university• The identity and scope of the library’s activities• The roles of infrastructure provider and co-creator of knowledge• The public or private identity and role of the library• The relation between a coordinated centrally provided set of

services and services and functions decided on the basis of institutional autonomy

• Organisational continuity or division of labour between old and newly created organisations

• Centralised versus decentralised functions

Choices based on resolution of important tensions resulting in scenarios

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2. Phases in building a roadmap

• Consolidation of present knowledge of the state or situation in a field• List of major challenges• Stakeholder analysis• Scenarios and criticism of scenarios – broadening and narrowing

scenarios on the basis of• judgements of relevance and potentials• Analysis of the system of priorities and principles of prioritisation• Understanding the issues connected to decisions and

implementations in a central-decentral perspective - centralized or de-centralized decision-making

• The interaction between central and de-central processes• Local, national and international alignments and coordination• Understanding investment and returns

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Issues identified (1)

• Identity of the research library – who are we now, who will we be in the future?

• Skills required for the research library. These skills range e.g. from IPR, preservation, to marketing, branding and business planning

• Partnerships desired in the research library - fostering partnerships between public and private as well as working across the organisation; what is the nature and governance of such partnerships?

• End users - a heightened understanding of the changing user base and meeting the users’ increasingly diverse needs; e.g. what are the (future) information needs of researchers and what will they need to undertake their research? What should the citizen expect?

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Issues identified (2)

• The role of the librarian - libraries are increasingly signing up people with skills in nontraditional library fields. Does this mean that librarians are becoming obsolete or do they have an alternative role that involves overseeing all these ‘specialities’ or should they endeavour to develop these skills themselves?

• Payment models – who will pay for the services of the library of the future, will it be the public, private users, a mixture of both?

• Knowledge mediation selection – who will be responsible for the selection of knowledge in the libraries of the future (e.g. publishers determining copyright regulations, user votes); will the system be more centralised or decentralised?

• Multimedia content - what will be the dominant formats of publishing research (papers, books, pictures, videos, graphics etc).

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The temporal perspective and the importance of the past (ref. slide 71)• Meaning does not arise first in each individual, to be

subsequently expressed in action, nor is it transmitted from one individual to another but, rather, it arises in the interaction between them. Meaning is not attached to an object, formed as a representation, or stored, but is created in the interaction. Mead described the gesture-response as a symbol in the sense that it is an action that has meaning. Meaning is not simply located in the past (gesture) or the future (response) but in the circular interaction between the two in the living present.– Ralph D. Stacey: Complexity and Group Processes: a Radically Social

Understanding of Individuals, side 61.

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Conclusions

• Strategy process different from traditional ones– No fixed future– No static analysis of the environment– No long term objectives and goals– Organisational identity formed in the living present as circular

interaction between past and future

• Monitoring of the movement towards chosen scenarios• Tensions analysed in two dimensions:

– Temporal (past-present) e.g. between traditional library and the new digital library

– Thematic (issues) e.g. Centralised versus decentralised functions

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