Brian Lavoie
Senior Research Scientist
OCLC
Rebecca Bryant
Senior Program Officer
OCLC
Rebecca Springer
Analyst
Ithaka S+R
Jane Radecki
Analyst
Ithaka S+R
Robust, sustainable provision of research support services such as research data management, research information management, and research analytics requires careful attention to social interoperability—the creation and maintenance of working relationships between individuals and organizational units around the campus–to promote effective collaboration across internal silos. Research support is an enterprise-scale activity, involving units like the library, the research office, campus IT, and many others. This briefing will provide an overview of findings from the recent OCLC Research report “Social Interoperability in Research Support: Cross-Campus Partnerships and the University Research Enterprise.” The report explores the social and structural norms that shape cross-campus collaboration; offers a conceptual model of key university stakeholders in research support; provides an overview of the goals, interests, expertise, and crucially, the importance of cross-campus relationships for these stakeholders; and concludes with recommendations for establishing and maintaining successful cross-campus relationships. The report is based on a synthesis of information gathered from interviews conducted with practitioners from a wide range of campus stakeholders in research support. Attendees will take away a deeper understanding of the campus stakeholders involved in major categories of research support services, and learn techniques for establishing and sustaining partnerships with these stakeholders.
Research data services–support offerings which enable and improve data research–are currently provided in an ad hoc manner by a variety of campus units, including libraries, academic departments and institutes, labs, and IT or research computing units. Moreover, the provision of research data services varies significantly from campus to campus. For data-driven research to thrive, stakeholders–including academic libraries, IT departments, research offices, university administrators, and academic department leadership–must have a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape of research data services. In a cutting-edge research report (to be released concurrently with this meeting), Ithaka S+R provides the first holistic, quantitative assessment of the provision of research data services in US higher education across organizational units and institutional types. Using a novel web-based inventory methodology, we illuminate patterns and variations in the provision and organization of research data services, including the central (and often complimentary) roles of the library and IT department, the importance of faculty contributions to statistics consulting services, the concentration of research data services within medical schools, and the dearth of services focused on social sciences, business, and the humanities. This session will raise important questions about how research data services are best organized, funded, and staffed, equipping attendees to better evaluate current data services and envision future possibilities.