Researchers’ Behaviours, Needs and Expectations: Some Challenges Michael Jubb Research Information Network The Changing Face of Learned and Professional Society Libraries 5 August 2009
May 16, 2015
Researchers’ Behaviours, Needs and Expectations:
Some Challenges
Michael JubbResearch Information Network
The Changing Face of Learned and Professional Society Libraries
5 August 2009
Some propositionsthe volume of research undertaken worldwide has increased, is increasing, and will continue to increase
and more of it will be done collaboratively
researchers are both producers and consumers of research outputs
but they don’t necessarily share the same interests
Governments invest in research because they believe it has a positive impact on society and the economy
and they want to maximise that impact
the costs of research, and of higher education, have increased, are increasing (and ought to be diminished?)
cost-effectiveness an increasingly-dominant theme in current economic climate
The Role of Information in Research: a crude model
defining a set of research questions, issues or problemsidentifying relevant existing knowledgeaccessing, analysing, and evaluating existing knowledge and datadesigning a methodology for generating new knowledgeapplying the methodology and discovering new knowledgecombining old and new knowledge to answer research questions and to enhance understandingdisseminating the outcomes of research in a form that is both sustainable and retrievable
Information in the Research Processgather
evaluate
create
analyse
manage
transform
present and communicate
The Research Process:Animal Genetics
The Research Process:Transgenesis and Embryology
The Research Process:Epidemiology
The Research Processdiffers even in apparently similar areas of work, and also between teams………
Composition of Research Groupsbig science vs small science
small teams typical in life sciencesamorphous and overlapping associations with other teams“primary research engagements tend to be local”
divisions of expertise, labour and knowledge exchange
PI/leader, senior researchers/lecturers, associates, computational specialists, postdocs, PhDs, technicians………dangers of surveys that look at individual responses divorced from context
Key issues
Skills
Services
Content
Who provides what and how?
Is that provision sustainable?
What are researchers’needs?
How can they best be met?
Content: what do researchers want to find and use?
Research Resources Yes No
Journal articles 99.5% 0.5%
Chapters in multi-authored books 97.0% 3.0%
Organization’s web sites 90.8% 9.2%
Expertise of individuals 90.1% 9.9%
Conference proceedings 85.8% 14.2%
Monographs 83.3% 16.7%
Datasets – published or unpublished 62.0% 38.0%
Original text sources, e.g. newspapers, historical records 61.5% 38.5%
Preprints 54.7% 45.3%
Non-text sources, e.g. images, audio, artifacts 47.0% 53.0%
Other 18.0% 82.0%
Content: user expectations and needs
published and non-”published”grey literature, reports, working papersdata: raw or refined? mine or yours?websites, blogs, wikis, emails
quality-assured and non-”quality-assured”?the good-enough source and/or version?pre or post-publication peer review?
digital and non-digitalperdurance of the book?role of digitisation
Data sharing: motivations and constraints
Evidence of benefitsCitation esteem and good evaluationExplicit rewards AltruismReciprocityEnhanced visibilityCultural/peer pressuresOpportunities for collaboration, co-authorshipEasy-to-do
No clear benefits/incentivesCompetition; desire to extract maximum valueDesire for/fear of commercial exploitation Access restrictions desired or imposed Legal, ethical problemsLack of time, funds, expertise Sheer size of datasetsNowhere to put it
Content: who provides?changing roles of
researchers and research institutionspersonal websites, repositories etc
publishers and aggregatorsdirect relationship with authors and readers
who aggregates?
librariesfrom ownership to licensing
consortia as aggregators?
Content: costs and sustainabilitycontinued growth in the volumes of research constrained university budgetssustainability of the publishing business under challenges of
“green” OA“gold” OA
1.9
3.4
0.70.1 0.2 0.1
6.4
0.53
0.82
0.17
0.03 0.05 0.03
1.63
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7 .0
8.0
9.0
Researchfunders (peer
rev iew noncash cost)
Academicsubscriptions
Othersubscriptions
Author-sidepay ment
Adv ertising Membershipfees &
indiv idualsubscriptions
Total cost
£ B
illi
on
s
Current Funding Difference between scenarios
Increases in research funding and article production over 10 years: funding
Sources of funding and other contributions
00
-318
-273-758
-288
935 00
-983
-556
-1,600
-1,400
-1,200
-1,000
-800
-600
-400
-200
0
200
£ million
Researchproduction*
Publishing&
Distribution
Accessprovision
User searchand print
cost
Reading Total
Impact of moves to e-only and gold OA publication
move to gold OApublicationmove to e-onlypublication
Increases in research funding and article production over 10 years: costs
Publishing and distribution costs
Real terms increase of £1.6bn (25%)
1 .9 1 .8
3.7
1 .0 1 .0 0.8
6.4
0.5 0.5
1.0
0.5 0.3 0.2
1.6
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Non-cashpeer rev iew
Direct fixedcost
First copycost
Variable cost Indirect cost Surplus Total cost
£ B
illi
on
s
Current funding Difference between scenarios
Services: user expectations and needs
researchers as creatorsquality assurance and enhancement
distribution and marketing
researchers and others as consumersquality assurance
search and navigation services
access, 24x7 and permanent
links and interoperability
text mining (published text as data)
funders and research institutionsassessment and evaluation services
Services: who provides?publishing services
still needed?
competition from other providers
search, navigation, access & preservation overlapping roles of
search engines
individual libraries and consortia
individual publishers, aggregators etc
Services: sustainabilitysearch, navigation and access
invigorating competition or wasteful duplication?levels of usage of services provided by publishers and libraries
sustainability/preservation of digital contentroles of publishers and librariesgrey literature, websites, blogs, wikis, emails…….
increasing interest in assessment and evaluation services
RAE/REF in the UK; ERA in Australia
Skills, expertise and competences: user expectations and needs
specialist research skills and specialist information skills
what’s easy, and what’s notand how that changes
‘information literacy’ approaches and their limitations
enhanced needs in some areaseg business, management and communication skills; bibliometrics
Skills, expertise and competences:who provides?
differences of view as between researchers, librarians and publishers
changes in views over time
de-skilling, up-skilling and complementarity
Skills, expertise and competences:sustainability
continuing need for professional/skills development for both researchers and information providers and specialists
generic and specialist skills
complementarity
engagement and communication
Some conclusions: seeing through a glass darkly
1. Users (creators and consumers) they are (or should be) the drivers
but we are only beginning to understand how they use information resources and services
imperfect understanding of the digital information environment; but they want content and services that
are quick and simple to use
are as comprehensive and interoperable as possible
provide for both quality-assured and non-quality-assured content
there’s an increasing demand for assessment and evaluation services
Some conclusions: seeing through a glass darkly
2. Providersgrowth in concentration of resources and services
growth in overlaps (and competition?) between different types of provider
researchers and research institutions
libraries and library consortia
publishers and aggregators
search and navigation services
complementarity and skill sets
Some conclusions: seeing through a glass darkly
3. Sustainabilityconstraints on university funding, and need for a value proposition
while research volumes continue to increase
growing interest in the overall costs of the scholarly communications process, and in the (cost-) efficiency of the research process as a whole
growth in support from Governments and funding agencies for “gold” OA policies; and from universities and research institutions for “green” OA
growing concerns about the pace and the costs of transition
A particular view………..from Microsoft
Questions?
Thanks
Michael Jubbwww.rin.ac.uk