Support for eResearch in a
Research Council Setting
Catherine Jones
Library Systems Development Manager,
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Contents
•
•
•
•
•
•
Setting the scene
Who are our users and what do they do?
Current service and external issues
Library strategy
Library research projects
The future
Setting the scene
Science and Technology Facilities Council
(STFC) formed 1st April 2007
Previously the Council for the Central Laboratory of
the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the Particle
Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).
STFC Mission
To promote and support:
• high-quality scientific and engineering research by developing and
providing facilities and technical expertise.
• high-quality basic, strategic and applied research and related postgraduate training in astronomy, particle physics, space science and
nuclear physics and research in any other field which makes use of
scientific facilities where access is provided by the Council.
• the advancement of knowledge and technology (including the
promotion and support of the exploitation of research outcomes) and
to provide trained scientists and engineers…to the benefit of UK
Additionally to generate public awareness; communicate research
outcomes; encourage public engagement and dialogue; disseminate
knowledge; and provide advice.
Library and Information
Services
• STFC Libraries at La Palma, Edinburgh,
Warrington & Didcot.
• For most purposes RC Libraries are treated
as academic ones, in rare cases they are
considered to be special libraries.
• Concentrating on the ex-CCLRC Library and
Information Services.
Chadwick Library
and the RAL
Library
Located, since 2006, in the Information
Services Group within the eScience
Department.
Mission is to “support staff, facility users
and visitors by efficient and effective
provision of library and information
services”
How do we differ
from academia?
• We do not teach
– Students on campus are on work-related
placements or are doing vocational
courses.
• Specialised staff: low turn-over rates
– In some areas, STFC is UK facility and the
alternative is to work abroad.
– Low turn-over rates make current
awareness of library services a challenge
• Visitors to the facilities need access to
information
• 70% Library staff are professionally qualified
Facts and
Figures
Staffing FTE 10.25, budget c£1M
2006/7 Spend
Staffing costs
27%
Pay, L&D &
travel
Infrastructure
5%
IT; furniture;
consumables;
memberships &
printing
Information
resources
61%
ePubs,
CLADDIER
and DSIC
Outreach
activities
7%
Journals, books, databases &
Interlibrary loans
How do we fit?
Who are our users?
Three main types:
1. Staff employed by STFC, c 1800
• Researchers
• Practitioners
2. Visitors (academic & commercial) to the
facilities c>4000 on site(s) in a year
3. Commercial customers on the local
campus
What do our users do
in their day job?
• Do primary research in the Physical Sciences
• Provide scientific and technical support to other
academics using our facilities for experimentation
• Provide support to the organisation
• Write journal articles, technical reports and give
conference presentations.
• Produce or facilitate the production of scientific
experimental data
What do our users
expect & how has this
changed?
• Self access databases rather than librarian-mediated (last fifteen
years)
• Journals should be electronic not paper (last five years)
• Electronic journals should be available from vol 1 issue 1 (last 2
years)
• BL ILL should be electronic delivery (last 2 years)
• Should be able to get from database reference to full text
instantly (last 2 years)
• Should be able to keep BL SED forever (last 2 years not achieved)
• Input into Institutional Repository should involve minimal typing
(last 2 years not achieved)
• No forms needed for access to library services (forever, not
achieved)
• One login for all resources (forever, not achieved)
What do we do for them?
Traditional Library Service
• Journals collection
• Interlibrary loans (document delivery)
• Books, some e-books,
• Databases: Web of Knowledge, INSPEC and British
Standards and Open URL resolver
• Enquiry service
• Study space
Relaxed attitudes: Reading Rooms never shut, no
security barriers, no fines, 90 days standard loan
period and multiple renewals if no-one waiting.
External issues: Open
Access
• RCUK framework statement :
– involvement at Group Level
– STFC position: strongly encourage staff,
mandatory for grant holders.
• Institutional Repository: ePubs
– Live since May 2004
– Over 23000 metadata records and 900 full text
– 1957 to present
• Particle Physics and SCOAP3
• Transition periods
• Data
Unresolved areas
• Access and authorisation
• Academic vs. commercial users
• New generation of users: expectations and
usage patterns
• Environmental issues
• Proving value to the organisation
Library Strategy
2006-2010
“Information Discovery at your fingertips”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Enhancing user experience
Managing and curating digital resources
Contributing to the wider information environment
Adding value through the expertise of information staff
Sustainability
Enhancing user
experience
• Focus on user communities: meeting their
diverse needs
• Develop and promote appropriate high quality
information resources
• Desk top access
• Removing barriers
• Develop the portfolio of information location
tools
• Education and awareness
• User interactions
Information needs satisfied seamlessly by a service
tailored to the needs of each individual user.
Managing and
curating digital
information
•
•
•
•
Institutional Repository (ePubs)
Curation of Laboratory reports
Linking publications to data
Management of electronic resources
Electronic resources connected and curated adding value
to the scientific process
Contributing to the wider
environment
• Policy making and advice
• Professional interactions
Using our expertise to influence the information
environment for the benefit of STFC and UK science
Adding value through
staff expertise
•
•
•
•
Skill sets
Values and attitudes
Staffing Levels
Enhancing quality
Focussed, committed and effective professionals
providing and developing a high quality service
Sustainability
•
•
•
•
Funding
Strategic Partnerships
Accommodation
Organisational change
Using STFC resources appropriately for the benefit of STFC
and its strategic partners
Library research
projects
Two JISC funded projects:
1. CLADDIER – Citation, Location and Deposition in a
Discipline & Institutional Repositories
This is investigating linking data to publications and
vice versa. Data publication issues.
2. Version Identification Framework
Framework for identifying different versions of items;
including scholarly works, images and learning
objects.
The group is also involved in in EU-funded CASPAR:
Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for
Preservation, Access and Retrieval
The future
• Better integration of Library provided resources
• Better integration of Library resources in the
researcher’s environment
• Dependence on print books for the foreseeable
future
• E-only journals holdings therefore NO print!
• Changes in user expectations and interactions
with the Library service