The role and contributions of the Information Specialist to the core business/functions of the University of Pretoria Suzy Nyakale: Faculty Library Manager Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment & Information Technology University of Pretoria Department of Library Services 09 February 2016

Contents The vision of the University of Pretoria University’s core business/functions Strategic goals Priorities The library as a Role Player

University of Pretoria’s Vision for 2025 The University of Pretoria wants to be Africa’s leading research-intensive university, recognised internationally for its quality, relevance and impact, and also for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally.

“Core” functions Research – main contributor to knowledge economy Postgraduate Education Developing of Academic Staff Teaching and Learning Community Engagement

Strategic goals To be a leading research institution in Africa To strengthen the university’s international profile To pursue excellence in teaching and learning To increase throughput and diversity To strengthen the university’s impact on SA economic and social development As set for UP vision 2025

Priorities Attaining significantly higher levels of high impact research An internationalisation strategy anchored in the University’s African location Improving throughput of students at all levels hybrid model using online and blended learning methodologies;

Information Specialists as Partners ‘Moving from research supporters to research partners’ (Monroe-Gulick, A, O’Brien MS & White, G. 2013)

Embedded Librarianship Interaction is key to embedded librarianship EI -Teaching models for UGs Researchers – IRTs/FRTs Bibliometric & Benchmarking tools - Incites Publishing Services – Open Access Research data management Promoting university brand We interact a lot with Education and Innovation, researchers, individually or as a group in IRTs/FRTs Create profiles Provide bibliometrics information to enable them to see how they perform against their peers

Undergraduates Improving throughput Increase usage of resources Create awareness of openly available resources Create subject guides Core database training Under budget constraints

Researchers Information specialists integrate with academic departments and IRTs Proactively help to make research visible Encourage submission to IR –UPSpace Provide UPSpace training Promote open Access Identify high impact OA journals Integration with researchers

Bibliometric & Benchmarking InCites (Thomson Reuters Web of Science) It is an analysing tool to benchmark output and productivity against peers worldwide Customized, citation-based research evaluation tool Helps with author indeces Helps identifying collaborators Helps with journal impact factors

The Leiden Ranking Measures the scientific performance of 500 major universities worldwide Use a sophisticated set of bibliometric indictors Aims to provide highly accurate measurements of the scientific impact of universities and their involvement in scientific collaboration

Publishing Populate IR to improve ranking of UP IR Encourage and support publishing in accredited high impact OA journals Biomed Central membership

University brand Maintain good relationships with stakeholders locally and internationally by marketing our services and products External users of the library Take part in community engagement initiatives and project(Mamelodi campus library)

Education and Innovation Support EI by facilitating implementation of desired teaching models e.g Online and blended learning Student focused Provide dedicated spaces for collaboration, online information resources, wi-fi for 24/7 internet access Continue to develop online access of library services

Research Commons Organizes postgraduate trainings Intellectual Property (IP) support (Patents and literature search) Liaise with BIRAP (Bureau of Institutional Research & Planning) Assist mainly with evaluation of researchers, journals & articles

Research data Research teams – integrating librarians with research teams to assist with data management and preservation

Research data management Based upon Pienaar, H., Van Deventer, M. 2009. To VRE or not to VRE? Do South African malaria researchers need a virtual research environment? Ariadne, 59, April 2009. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue59/pienaar-vandeventer/ Project management Writing proposals, reports Real time communication Training / mentoring etc Identification of funding sources (DRIS) Identification of research area Identification of collaborators Dissemination & articles IP management Literature review & indexing Scientific workflow Project closure

Identification of research area Help refine research topic Consultation sessions New students / researchers meet with research Librarian

Literature review Assist with literature searching Training users with searching very important – collaboration with Faculty Librarians Constantly update users with new resources available within research field Marketing of Library and Library resources Alerts services

Writing proposals, reports Literature Referencing Anti-Plagiarism campaigns Tools: EndNote and RefWorks and Mendeley (Open Source)

Identification of funding sources NRF/DHET Other funding opportunities through collaboration Communication: research office, using external contacts and resources

IP management Liaise with BIRAP (Bureau of Institutional Research & Planning Intellectual Property (IP) support (Patents and literature search) Prior Art Searches

Dissemination Digital Repository (Mandate) Electronic Dissertations & Theses Data Curation process

Thank you