Abstract
The objective of the Research Support Services of the Universidad Pablo de Olavide Learning and Research Resource Center is to contribute to the improvement of the research processes as well as to maximize the results obtained and their evaluation. To this end, it offers bibliographic information and reference services, advice on the processes of publication, and evaluation, both individual and collective; standardization and digital academic identity; and, of course, training in all these areas within the context of the intensive use of digital media. For some years now, the LRRC's training of researchers has focused on the use of digital media as a part of the research process and has also integrated into the research staff training plan of the university that manages the corresponding service with which the LRRC collaborates very actively.
TopIntroduction
The intensive use of digital tools in research processes, knowledge creation and communication are, at this stage, a reality that no researcher should ignore. However, the rapid changes that occur, both through the automation of old procedures and by the birth of new ones in the use of digital techniques can cause those researchers who do not possess the right skills to be affected and be distanced from those who do have them (JISC & British Library, 2012; Secker, 2012; Tsatsou, 2018).
University libraries, which have traditionally trained their users in managing sources and information resources, have been trying for years to improve the training of researchers in the digital field with ambitious programs and initiatives.
In 2013, the Association of College & Research Libraries of the American Library Association put the matter on the table in the so-called Intersections White Paper (Association of College and Research Libraries. Working Group on Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy, 2013) to address what was obvious: the need to try to transform the way in which competences are perceived and transmitted in information in the academic environment, assuming that what is digital permeates everything.
It is around this time that some authors began to highlight the change in the strong link between what is digital and new ways of scientific production and communication, including the movement for open access to science, as one of the most obvious manifestations of open systems (Basili, 2017; Friesen, Gourlay, & Oliver, 2013).
At this point, authors such as Smith-Rumsey started to define digital scholarship in the following terms:
What is new-model scholarly communication? By scholarly communication we mean the authoring, publishing, stewardship, and use of scholarship. Digital scholarship is the use of digital evidence and method, digital authoring, digital publishing, digital curation and preservation, and digital use and reuse of scholarship. And new-model scholarly communication is what results when we put those digital practices into the processes of production, publishing, curation, and use of scholarship. (Smith-Rumsey, 2011, p. 2).
As proof of this are the results of the study conducted in 2015 by Kramer and Bosman (2015). Moreover, recent European works have connected digital competence with the processes of scientific research and communication and, more generally speaking, with the context of Open Science, in this case from the perspective of the DigComp framework (McCaffrey et al., 2020).
This paper describes the efforts that are being made by the Universidad Pablo de Olavide Learning and Research Resource Center (LRRC) to make researchers work properly in the digital environment, through formal training plans and on-demand information actions.
TopResearch Support Services In Academic Libraries
But what form do library services take to respond to these changes?
Using as an example the case of Spanish academic libraries, there is a first work in which Varela-Prado and Baiget (2012) proposed services information search skills, advice on scientific publication, repositories and data curation, open data and linked data and cooperation and multidisciplinary actions as the future trends in research support.
Numerous later works continued in this line. One of them, published in 2015, referring to the Universidad de Navarra, lists the services that have been provided so far by thematic librarians:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital Competence: Digital competence involves the confident and critical use of electronic media for work, leisure, and communication. These competencies are related to logical and critical thinking, high-level information management skills, and well-developed communication skills.
Learning and Research Resource Centers: Is a dynamic environment that accommodates all IT and information facilities, resources and services that support learning, teaching and research within higher education institutions.
Research Support Services: A set of services, tools and facilities that aim to facilitate research tasks.
Research Assessment: A set of procedures aimed to measure the performance and quality of scientific research processes, affecting both the researchers themselves and the institutions in which they work. Research assessment embraces both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including the application of bibliometric indicators and mapping, and peer review.
Research Training: Actions aimed at training researchers.
Scholarly Communication: The authoring, publishing, stewardship, and use of scholarship.
Digital Scholarship: Is the use of digital evidence and method, digital authoring, digital publishing, digital curation and preservation, and digital use and reuse of scholarship.