1. Redefining roles: supporting researchers at York and Leeds
Janette Colclough
Research Support Manager
University of York
Pat Spoor
Scholarly Communications & Researcher Skills (ScoReS) Team Leader
University of Leeds

2. A tale of two cities Evolving roles and changing structures
Case studies from Leeds and York
Drivers for change
Wider implications for support of health-related staff and students
What does this mean for health librarians?

3. How it used to be…
Support structure based on Faculty Team/Academic Liaison roles
Single point of contact
Role included:
Liaison activities
Information skills teaching
Collection and budget management
Subject knowledge
Copyright BBC / Company Productions Ltd.

4. The impact of the change process

5. Reorganisation by function
Specialist by topic not subject
Teaching and Learning
Research Support
Collection development
Academic Liaison?
Leeds: Split between Learning Services and Research Support
York: Academic liaison posts retained but role modified and staffing reduced, HYMS Librarian post retained
New teams created from old
Change management
Staff reallocation

6. Research Support: External drivers
Researchers’ information needs
RIN/RLUK (2011) The value of libraries for research and researchers
Librarians for new roles
RLUK (2012) Reskilling for Research
Research environment
Finch report on Open Access
Funder policies

7. Research Support: Internal drivers
University research strategies
Growing demand for REF, Open Access, RDM support
Resource discovery tools e.g. Summon, Primo
Collection development tools
No funding for new staff
Bring together dispersed activities

8. Research Support Teams: Leeds
SCoReS
(7.5 FTE)
Research Data
(3 FTE)
Digital Content
(5 FTE)
Repositories – WRRO and WREO
Data Management Plans
Leeds Digital Library
Publications Database
Data curation and preservation
Digitisation Studio
Open Access
Storage
Copyright
Bibliometrics
Data catalogue
REF publication support
Data Repository
Researcher Enquiries
Researcher Skills Development
LUCID – paid for literature services
Digital Publishing

9. Research Support Team: York
One team with 4 staff
Engaging with researchers, postgraduate research students, and research administrators
Specialist areas:
Open Access
Research data management
Copyright
Bibliometrics (scoping stage)
Information skills teaching and enquiry support

10. What do the changes mean for health researchers?
Increased support to meet research needs and funder requirements
Holistic service for researchers
Share best practice and learn from health researchers
Benefit from new research-related projects
e.g. UK Medical Heritage Library digitisation (Leeds)
e.g. ORCID iDs (York)

11. Impact on other support for health
Activity
York
Leeds
Literature search support
Academic Liaison team
Learning Services and SCoReS
Literature searches
None (but CRD based at York)
SCoReS
Information skills
Tailored - Academic Liaison/HYMS Librarian
Tailored - Learning Services & SCoReS
Collection development
Reading list driven
Patron driven
Academic Liaison selection
Usage based
NHS Liaison
Academic Liaison/HYMS Librarian
Customer Services
Digitisation
Digital York/Archives
Digital Content Team

12. Next steps for research support
HEFCE OA requirements for REF
EPSRC data requirements deadline May
Review of teaching programmes Development of e-learning resources/online tutorials
New researcher spaces
Marketing and communications
Continuing change…

13. What does this mean for health librarianship?

14. Thank you for listening
Contact details Janette Colclough: Pat Spoor: