Science Librarians in the 21 st Century Michael Leach Harvard University

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Research Librarian User Needs Analysis –Ongoing –Feeds: Collection development Search tool selection Interface and tool design Evaluation of all services Prioritization of services

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Research Librarian Scholarly Communications –Insert yourself into the debate One on one with faculty & students With committees (primarily faculty & society) In programs, forums, other public “spaces” –E.g. DASER Summits –Know your community How they currently communicate Types of barriers (political, economic, social, etc) Who are the “dissidents” & what is the “half-life” of the “conservatives”

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Research Librarian Look for Collaboration Opportunities –Be that librarian in the Elsevier posters! –“Get in” as the research goes on Go to the labs, research discussions/talks, colloquia Have your information tools on hand Take classes so you can “be prepared” Read the research groups’ prior work –Be an investigator/collaborator yourself E.g. Grid technology design

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Digital Objects Librarian The expansion beyond monographs & serials Some digital objects: –Datasets –Learning Objects –Web sites, especially content –Multimedia

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Digital Objects Librarian Will we miss the boat on datasets? NAS March 2005 preliminary report –Need for consolidation of dataset repositories –Need for integration of datasets –Need for ongoing support & preservation –Need for formulation of standards –Need for better information retrieval –There is money here as well!

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Digital Objects Librarian Aggregation of digital objects –Repositories Institutional, subject, format, etc. –Indexing/information retrieval of content Google Scholar Citesearcher “Metalib” federated searching –Support for layered/distributed applications E.g. virtual journals

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Education Librarian Science-specific information literacy –Formulate good search habits early in users –Identify “expediencies” = methods & practices for accessing & using information better Where? –In their environment: lab, office, classroom, society, meeting, etc. –Present at research society meetings Chance for you to educate yourself as well

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Education Librarian Inter/cross-disciplinary research –Learn elements of two or more disciplines –Educate one community about the other –Develop presentations & tools that will “translate” one research “language” into another –Note similarities & differences Simple example: form of citations in papers –Use your scholarly communications tools

ACRL-STS, 27 June Science Librarian = Education Librarian Know the elements of education theory –Adult learners vs students –Types of learning (e.g. text-based, visual, examples based, logic based, etc.) Develop your own teaching skills –Presentation –Speaking –Listening

ACRL-STS, 27 June A few other things, Just because I can’t resist! Visualization tools –E.g. discover emerging fields –E.g. predict awards & key papers Informatics & Data Mining –Librarian as research scholar (again) Knowledge Management –Capturing best practices & novel approaches Competitive Intelligence

ACRL-STS, 27 June Thank you!