Aaron Trehub
Assistant Dean for Technology, Auburn University Libraries
Auburn University
Mallory Lucier-Greer
Associate Professor, College of Human Sciences
Auburn University
Denise Baker
Information Technology Manager, Auburn University Libraries
Auburn University
Academic libraries are seeking new ways to better align with current university research practice and to engage as vital partners in campus research. For the past two years, the Auburn University Libraries have supported the University’s research enterprise in a new way: by adopting a new collaborative model and serving as high-level information technology (IT) and data-management consultants to faculty researchers who are pursuing external funding. The Military REACH Project at Auburn University is a successful example of this model in action. Funded by the Departments of Agriculture and Defense (USDA/NIFA Award No. 2017-48710-27339), the project has resulted in an ongoing functional partnership between the library, a research team in another college, and federal funding agencies. Working closely with the Military REACH team in the College of Human Sciences, the library’s IT department contributed to the original funding proposal and has provided guidance on network architecture, web development, IT tools and solutions, sustainability, data management, accessibility, usage statistics, and automated methods for identifying recently published research. The Military REACH Project is now in its third year at Auburn University and seems likely to continue; indeed, it has highlighted the library’s value as an IT partner and led to research partnerships and collaborative funding proposals with other units on campus. Associate Professor and project Principal Investigator Mallory Lucier-Greer will describe the functional partnership between her college and the library from the researcher’s perspective, with input from library IT managers Denise Baker and Aaron Trehub. We believe that this project briefing will serve as a useful segue into the one-day Mellon-funded symposium on “Critical Roles for Libraries in Today’s Research Enterprise” on Wednesday, December 11.