Needles and Haystacks

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Needles and Haystacks

• David Baker

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RAE 2001

• Original investigation undertaken in order to
  gain knowledge and understanding

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Elements of research

• work of direct relevance to the needs of commerce
  and industry, as well as to the public and
  voluntary sectors
• scholarship - the creation, development and
  maintenance of the intellectual infrastructure of
  subjects and disciplines, in forms such as
  dictionaries, scholarly editions, catalogues and
  contributions to major research databases
• the invention and generation of ideas, images,
  performances and artefacts including design,
  where these lead to new or substantially improved
  insights
• use of existing knowledge in experimental
  development to produce new or substantially
  improved materials, devices, products and
  processes, including design and construction

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Not included

• routine testing and analysis of materials,
  components and processes, e.g. for the
  maintenance of national standards, as distinct
  from the development of new analytical techniques
  
• development of teaching materials that do not
  embody original research

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Linked to

• Commercialisation
• Knowledge transfer
• Funding
• Competition
• Intellectual property

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For investors

• The process of gathering information for the
  purpose of initiating, modifying or terminating a
  particular investment or group of investments

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From Wikipedia

• Research is an active, diligent and systematic
  process of inquiry in order to discover,
  interpret or revise facts, events, behaviours, or
  theories, or to make practical applications with
  the help of such facts, laws or theories. The
  term "research" is also used to describe the
  collection of information about a particular
  subject

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Scholarly activity

• is activity that updates or maintains the
  knowledge of an individual or adds to their
  skills and experience. The knowledge base already
  exists elsewhere

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Overall environment 1

• More focused research assessment and allocation
  process
• Full economic costing
• Re-focusing of interest in learning and teaching
• Widespread acceptance of e-assessment and
  e-publication as the norm for quality research

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Overall Environment 2

• Real impact of top-up fees post-2009
• Next Comprehensive Spending Review
• HE more diverse and tiered
• Increased marketisation
• Convergences, mergers and acquisitions
• Collaboration on many levels
• Greater coherence between groups and areas

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Justification for Libraries

• Institutional competitiveness
• Student recruitment
• Research performance
• Commercialisation
• Knowledge transfer

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Technology trends

• Greater seamlessness, transparency and unity in
  provision
• Increased full-text availability
• Integration of various types of technology
• Look and feel at the end user terminal vital for
  take-up
• Importance of value-added services
• Personalised gateways and customisable services
• More comfortable ways of reading information from
  screens
• Pervasive connectivity providing fast, reliable
  access

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Data deluge
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Scholarly communication

• Quality assurance and integrity
• Peer review requirements in scholarly publication
  
• Quality assurance on-line
• Information overload
• Publication
• Need for pervasive and trusted quality control
  mechanisms

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Libraries and the research transformation process

• Search-discover-locate-retrieve
• Creation iteration finalisation publication
• Assessment and acquisition, organization and
  presentation
• Underpinning management processes
• Coordinating and facilitating structures and
  mechanisms
• Increased personalization and customization

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The Digital Library

• an organizational entity that brings together a
  wide range of (academic) assets including
  metadata, catalogues, primary source materials,
  learning objects, datasets, digital repositories
  in a structured and managed way.

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Organization and Presentation of Material

• Satisficing
• EDNER
• Critical evaluation of search results
• User behaviour and popular search engines
• Simplicity at point of contact
• Importance of metadata
• The unconsciously managed research environment
• Intuitive and deep search tools
• Widest possible interlinked, interoperable and
  unified access to content
• Maximum integration of physical and e-holdings
• Ability to annotate, manipulate, and follow
  trains of thought

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Digital Repositories

• Especially important for research-intensive
  institutions
• Cross-institutional?
• Inter-disciplinary?
• Discipline specific?
• Linkages with overarching strategies
• Role and scope?
• Holistic life cycle approach
• Integration of creator and core library functions
• Submission and workspace options

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Economics

• Strong and sustainable business models
• Cost-effectiveness and best return on investment
• Increased research productivity
• Ability to deal with pressure on resources and
  resource dispersal
• Long-term sustainability
• Subsidiarity between local and national activity

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Engagement and Embeddedness

• Cultural issues
• Widest possible access within publishing
  constraints
• IPR and DRM
• Management of access rights
• Middleware
• Integration
• Collaboration through enlightened self-interest
  and trust

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Forecasting the Future
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Access versus Holdings 1
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Access versus Holdings 2
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Haystack

• Big standing waves which are breaking on their
  upstream face. Many rapids will have a series of
  haystacks downstream of the main hole riding
  these is much like bouncing along on a
  rollercoaster, and can be a lot of fun.

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Some Questions 1

• How far can equity, if not equality, of library
  support for research be maintained across the UK
  HE sector?
• Who should provide the money, how much should
  they provide, and for what in terms of national
  research library infrastructures?
• How do we ensure best value for money in research
  support? Where are the real savings to be had
  through the implementation of digital solutions?
• Is the philosophy of free access at point of use
  sustainable in the longer term?

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Some Questions 2

• How will researchers buy in to new modes of
  scholarly communication long term?
• How far can integration be taken?
• Where are institutional repositories likely to be
  most effective and where might subject
  repositories be more useful?
• What role do libraries have in repository
  development?