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This study focuses on exploring and analyzing the key roles of the library for a university through university ranking index, an important determinant of the success and reputation of higher education institutions globally. By evaluating the roles, missions and services provided by the library, the study identifies specific factors by which the library can influence rankings through supporting research and publication activities. This research utilizes real-life examples from leading universities to generalize important trends, while also highlighting the opportunities and challenges libraries face in contributing to the comprehensive success of a higher education institution. Analysis of surveys and models has demonstrated that libraries not only significantly enhance the online presence index of universities but also act as a major driving force behind research and educational activities. Finally, the study suggests the need for coordination between faculties, departments, and the library, emphasizing the necessity of policies that enhance the library's impact to maximize its role. This includes establishing policies that allow the library to play a central role in supporting research and teaching. Libraries should be empowered and resourced to actively participate in the development of research projects and training programs, while also providing consulting services and support for teaching, research, and publication for faculty and students.

Data management and research support are emerging as new areas of activity for academic libraries. Training in this area is still rare and is only now being integrated into training and study programmes. The ZBIW certificate course “Data Librarian” fills this gap and enables a part-time, modularly structured qualification at university level. This article presents the certificate course, its structure and its development.

Research-intensive institutions rely on specialized central offices to support research administrators and investigators through various processes and requirements. This helps researchers successfully and compliantly conduct and manage research. However, when these support offices communicate their processes and resources from disparate locations, it can be challenging for research administrators and investigators to locate what they need at the time they need it, and to understand how this information relates with that provided by other research support offices. This can result in research administrators and investigators lacking a clear understanding of critical information and an underutilization of available support. Duke University sought to address this issue by developing a web-based interactive research roadmap to consolidate and organize information from research support offices around the institution. In this roadmap, all support office content is integrated by topic and organized across the research project life cycle. To achieve this, a dedicated project team 1) convened the research support offices to develop integrated content and a process for contributing their resources on the website, 2) solicited researcher feedback to determine the critical features and functionality of the site, 3) engaged a technical development partner to build the site, 4) engaged researchers for beta-testing, and 5) devised a communication strategy to raise awareness and adoption of the site. The interactive research roadmap, “myRESEARCHpath,” launched in 2021, and has experienced steady growth in utilization. Initial data shows that users are accessing the site to find relevant information for research information and guidance, and research support offices are encouraged by the improved discoverability of resources and services. This model of a single location to access research support office information needed to navigate the research project life cycle could be beneficial for other research-intensive institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: In the UK, increased investment in social care research provides an opportunity to extend the currently sparse evidence base on homecare. However, experiences of doing research in care homes suggest there may be challenges to achieving successful collaborations between homecare providers and researchers. Objective: The aim was to explore homecare providers’ experiences of supporting research, and researchers’ experiences of such partnerships. Method: A qualitative approach was used. Six homecare providers and nine researchers were interviewed. Collectively, they had been involved with/led 14 studies. The data was analysed thematically. Findings: Researchers described the challenges of identifying homecare providers to act as research sites, and the value of developing relationships with local providers in anticipation of potential research collaborations. Multiple factors influenced homecare providers’ decisions to support a study, including researchers’ attitudes and behaviours. Homecare providers described unanticipated demands on staff time. Most found they were under-equipped to do the research tasks required of them. This may have resulted in deviations from the protocol or ethical practice. However, such difficulties had typically been overcome, supported by a positive relationship with the researcher/research team. Limitations: The representativeness of the homecare providers recruited (against all homecare providers who have supported research) is unclear. All those recruited held a positive view about research. Implications: Findings highlight the support and resources homecare providers need to get involved with and support research. This, in turn, points to a need for strategic investment in training and research support to the sector, conceived and developed in partnership with them.

New attention to the power of data in research has brought new kinds of data questions to the university research library. This study seeks to understand the character of research data questions in order to help research libraries develop the structures, technologies, collections, and professional skills needed to meet the needs of the research communities. It employs two original metrics to analyze 42 cases: The Data Question Typology, which allows for the organization of data questions into categories based on researcher objectives, and the Modified READ Scale for Data Questions (MRSD), which is used to record the magnitude of difficulty presented by each case. It finds that data questions differ significantly across academic fields and that successful research assistance often requires partnerships between subject specialists librarians and technological or computational experts. It concludes with a recommendation on how research libraries can facilitate a collaborative process and workflow for handling a diversity of data questions from across the university.

During Winter 2020 - Summer 2021, the UC San Diego Library participated in the Ithaka S+R multi-institutional research study “Supporting Big Data Research”. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how researchers on the UC San Diego campus work with big data in their research and provide a set of recommendations to enhance and develop resources and services that will directly support and benefit this research. While definitions of “big data” may vary by discipline, we use the term here to refer to datasets large enough to be challenging to analyze within a traditional spreadsheet, or on a single computer. In-depth interviews with twelve UC San Diego big data researchers of various academic ranks and departmental affiliations were conducted, with questions focusing on various aspects of collecting and analyzing big data, infrastructure needs, research communication and data sharing, and training and support needs. Based on these interviews, we identify three primary themes for big data researchers on the UC San Diego campus: Curation, Open Science, and Training. For each of these areas, we offer a set of recommendations for the campus to better support existing big data research at UC San Diego, as well as develop capacity to support future big data initiatives.

In the Philippines, the need for librarians to conduct research is both statutory and personal. Despite the impetus, few Filipino librarians embark on research. This study attempts to describe the lived experiences of librarians focusing on the angle that limits them to conduct research. Interviews were conducted online with 7 academic librarians from 3 private universities in Iloilo City. Facts about the reality formed from the respondents’ experiences answered the essential question why librarians are reluctant to conduct research. Five major themes emerged: (1) research competency; (2) inadequate formalized support from the administration for librarians; (3) research mentorship; (4) library routine work/multitasking functions; and (5) coping with self-pity and disappointment. The findings from this study, which is anchored on interpretivism, provide insights to a different perspective of investigating the realities in a developing country delving into a deeper discussion on the reasons behind their reluctance.

This article provides an overview of the history and development of research support services at the Vienna University Library, which began in 2008 with the operation of a publication and data repository. It reports on how researchers were already involved in the pilot phase and how cooperations with other service institutions of the University of Vienna were established, how the cooperation with the Central IT Service has developed, and which services, such as a data stewardship model, have been developed over time. The systems currently in use, which have to cover a wide range of requirements from different disciplines between open science and sensitive data, and their interaction will be briefly described. Above all, it will be shown how a modular research data management system can function at a large, internationally oriented and heterogeneously structured scientific institution and what lessons could be learned in the process.

The introduction of the text and data mining (TDM) exception in 2014 led to researchers asking for support from staff within Library Services at the University of Birmingham. An initial involvement with a funded corpus linguistics project fostered an effective partnership between the Copyright and Licensing Team and the University’s Research Infrastructure Team. This case study traces the TDM journey that Library Services has subsequently undertaken. The article will look at how staff in Copyright and Licensing and the Research Skills Team identified the original service gap. It will also look at issues impacting on supporting TDM and the results of a TDM survey that was sent to researchers. It concludes with a reflection on how the service might evolve in the future – from the creation and availability of TDM datasets, to the skills development of both librarians and the university communities they support, and the impact artificial intelligence (AI) developments might have on TDM practices.

In Spring 2023 an online survey was realized among all medical librarian members of the working group on evidence-based medicine (AG-EBM) within the German Medical Library Association (AGMB). The focus of this survey was to characterize the services that medical librarians offer to provide library services for research. The 17-item survey also included open-ended questions, which allowed survey participants to better describe their situation. The results were complemented with case reports with illustrative examples. The survey was completed by 21 librarians. The research support services offered by the members of the AG-EBM focus on systematic literature research, literature management and open access.

Academic libraries in the modern era are often asked to justify their existence in tertiary institutions by showing how the institution and society at large have benefited from the library services. One main area that librarians often point to is the research productivity of members of academic institutions. However, studies have shown that research productivity among Nigerian scholars is low, which means that academic libraries have to be more innovative in supporting researchers in their domains. Emerging technologies offer innovative ways of supporting research activities by providing tools and resources that streamline the research process and ensure proper visibility for research outputs of academic library clients. This article, which is based on a review of previous studies, explores various areas where academic libraries in Nigeria can apply emerging technologies, the likely challenges, and strategies that can be adopted to ensure sustainable use of emerging technologies in academic libraries. It has been found that emerging technologies can enhance existing library services and create new ones, such as data mining, data management, and scholarly communication, among others. However, although steps are being taken by academic librarians in Nigerian tertiary institutions to leverage technology in providing the needed support for researchers, the pace of technology adoption is still slow and the range of technologies being adopted is limited compared to available options. This state of affairs has been attributed to challenges such as lack of infrastructure, librarians' skills, and a negative attitude towards change. The study recommends a multidimensional approach to the application of emerging technologies in Nigerian academic libraries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Philippines, the need for librarians to conduct research is both statutory and personal. Despite the impetus, few Filipino librarians embark on research. This study attempts to describe the lived experiences of librarians focusing on the angle that limits them to conduct research. Interviews were conducted online with 7 academic librarians from 3 private universities in Iloilo City. Facts about the reality formed from the respondents' experiences answered the essential question why librarians are reluctant to conduct research. Five major themes emerged: (1) research competency; (2) inadequate formalized support from the administration for librarians; (3) research mentorship; (4) library routine work/multitasking functions; and (5) coping with self-pity and disappointment. The findings from this study, which is anchored on interpretivism, provide insights to a different perspective of investigating the realities in a developing country delving into a deeper discussion on the reasons behind their reluctance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Information Library Magazine 'INFOLIB' is the property of National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is important to establish a culture of research in the graduate schoolof state universities to stay relevant and competitive in the knowledge-based economy. This paper attempted to enhance the graduate school research support for the improvement of the scholarly performance of graduate students in a state university. The mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was used. An online survey was conducted using aresearcher-made questionnaire developed through Google form and was participated by 106 respondents. Likewise, interviews were participated by 11 interviewees.Furthermore, some of the findings were triangulated using document analysis. Average and rank were used to analyze the survey data. Findings reveal that the scholarly performance of the graduate students “does not meet expectations at all”. However, the extent of institutional support of the graduate school “fully meets expectation”. The scholarly performances needing improvement were research presentation and publication which were attributed to the need to attune the informational, mentoring, administrative, and resource supports of the institution along with the national standards for graduate research. Hence, opportunities for improvements were identified on the enhancement of the graduate school research support which may help establish research and innovation culture that is comparable to the national and global standards

In September 2022, the sixth edition of the ISO 2789. Information and documentation. International library statistics standard was published, replacing ISO 2789:2013. This text analyzes the novelties introduced in this new version, which principally have to do with digital resources and services and with the incorporation of data on research support, as well as other aspects. The standard maintains practically the same structure as the previous edition, although the incorporation of an annex regarding the measurement of digital uses is emphasized. Numerous definitions reflecting the new reality of libraries are also added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the availability and relevance of research support offered by academic librarians to faculty members within the Colleges of Health Sciences and Basic and Applied Sciences at the University of Ghana, with the background that current technological changes in librarianship have made research support a critical function of academic libraries. Mixed methods research design was adopted for the study. Data was collected from faculty members and academic librarians through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews respectively. The study concluded that research support activities by academic librarians exist and are seen as very relevant to faculty members. However, as there is an increase in technological advancement in academic library services, only the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) was heavily utilized for research support whereas Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) by academic librarians to faculty, news alerts, and lists of new arrivals were the least utilized services. The study observed that academic librarians had not utilized social media in communicating research support to faculty members although they had a positive mindset about its use. The identified ways of communicating research support to faculty members were through emails, the "ask the librarian" system on university websites, presentations by academic librarians at workshops for faculty members, notices on bulletin boards and one-on-one interactions. This study recommends that academic librarians regularly update their knowledge on current trends of research support tools and services to support faculty in the conduct of their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study describes the development of an open research skills framework at the University of York. The framework responds to a need for more comprehensive training, clarity and understanding around open research practices across disciplines at York, in line with the University's commitment to the long-term development of an open research culture. The framework was developed by Library, Archives and Learning Services (LALS) in partnership with practitioners from different disciplines across the University's research community. We summarize the background of open research activities at York since 2020, describe how the project was initiated and progressed during the summer of 2022, then provide an overview of the framework itself including areas for future development and consideration. We conclude with some early indicators of usage and reflections on the project, and we hope that this case study will prove useful for research support staff who may be considering developing a similar framework for their own institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to present theoretical generalizations on library and information research as aspects of the development of information support for research and development: a classification of a complex of relevant works, products and services and a model that allows determining the level of development for each library based on its tasks and human resources. The methodological possibilities of the developed model are shown: it can be used for personnel training and for the organization of a new library at a research institute, research university under certain requirements.

Researchers, particularly doctoral students, face numerous challenges in their academic pursuits. The influence of gender and marital status factors in a researcher's Ph.D. journey in this context was examined. The study aimed to identify whether researcher problems were influenced by marital and gender factors and attempt to determine how the library could support the researchers. Few studies explore the role of support systems, especially the library, to meet researcher needs and help alleviate their doctoral challenges. The present study examined a sample of 500 AHSS (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences) doctoral students, from five top-ranking Indian state universities regarding their researcher problems. Data was collected with a structured questionnaire. The study found conclusive evidence that a researcher's marital status and gender played an essential part in their research career. The authors recommended the library's possible roles as research support within this framework and how best the library could help assuage doctoral challenges.

Now that artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being widely used across academic publishing, how can we make informed assessments of these utilities? There is a need for a set of skills for evaluating new tools and measuring existing ones, which should enable anyone commissioning or managing AI utilities to understand what questions to ask, what parameters to measure and possible pitfalls to avoid when introducing a new utility. The skills required are not technical. Potential problems include bias in the corpus, a poor training set or poor use of metrics for evaluation. This article gives a quick overview of some of areas where AI tools are being used and how they work. It then provides a checklist for assessment. The goal is not to discredit AI, but to make effective use of it.

With the pandemic bringing unprecedented circumstances for us all, at the University of Essex we moved our in-person information literacy (IL) and research support (RS) training online. We wanted to see the unexpected situation as an opportunity for improvement, which required innovation and creativity. In this paper, we will share the lessons we have learnt in our shift to online teaching. We begin by giving a brief background of the training we offered prior to the pandemic, highlighting how this training was rarely online, with a greater emphasis on in-person support. We then give an overview of the technologies we used to develop our virtual offer of IL and RS training in a range of different formats, including online tutorials using LibWizard, mixed-media webpages using LibGuides, YouTube videos, and running virtual workshop sessions using Zoom. We then discuss what has and hasn’t worked in our aim to increase the scope and interactivity of our IL and RS training, before considering the feedback we received from participants. Finally, we explore how we intend to broaden our offer further in the future based on the lessons learned and reflect on how this will influence future decision making. Ultimately, we aim to make the most of the positives we’ve seen and offer a mix of online and in-person IL and RS training, with consideration toward how we do this sustainably amongst the continued uncertainties around the ‘new normal’. Overall, we hope that our paper demonstrates how challenging situations can lead us to innovate in new and interesting ways.

This case study describes the development of an open research skills framework at the University of York. The framework responds to a need for more comprehensive training, clarity and understanding around open research practices across disciplines at York, in line with the University’s commitment to the long-term development of an open research culture. The framework was developed by Library, Archives and Learning Services (LALS) in partnership with practitioners from different disciplines across the University’s research community. We summarize the background of open research activities at York since 2020, describe how the project was initiated and progressed during the summer of 2022, then provide an overview of the framework itself including areas for future development and consideration. We conclude with some early indicators of usage and reflections on the project, and we hope that this case study will prove useful for research support staff who may be considering developing a similar framework for their own institution.

Copyright of Information Library Magazine 'INFOLIB' is the property of National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is important to establish a culture of research in the graduate school of state universities to stay relevant and competitive in the knowledge-based economy. This paper attempted to enhance the graduate school research support for the improvement of the scholarly performance of graduate students in a state university. The mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was used. An online survey was conducted using a researcher-made questionnaire developed through Google form and was participated by 106 respondents. Likewise, interviews were participated by 11 interviewees. Furthermore, some of the findings were triangulated using document analysis. Average and rank were used to analyze the survey data. Findings reveal that the scholarly performance of the graduate students "does not meet expectations at all". However, the extent of institutional support of the graduate school "fully meets expectation". The scholarly performances needing improvement were research presentation and publication which were attributed to the need to attune the informational, mentoring, administrative, and resource supports of the institution along with the national standards for graduate research. Hence, opportunities for improvements were identified on the enhancement of the graduate school research support which may help establish research and innovation culture that is comparable to the national and global standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the move by some academic libraries to replace subject-based organisational structures with new functional structures, introducing functional specialists instead of subject librarians. It reports 11 in-depth semi-structured interviews with senior managers in UK libraries discussing their attitudes to this change. Key drivers for change included the desire to align the library more closely with institutional strategy and provide enhanced research support. However, there were also major concerns, particularly the loss of close relationships with academic departments. Little consensus emerged apart from agreement that this is a major current debate impacting significantly on the future positioning of libraries in their institutions.

New medical technologies can transform healthcare, and automation of processes is becoming increasingly ubiquitous within the patient care sector. Many innovative ideas arise from academia, but regulations need to be taken into account if they want to reach the market and create a real impact. This is particularly relevant for applied fields, such as prosthetics, which continuously generates cutting-edge solutions. However, it remains unclear how well the regulatory pathway is supported within universities. This study applied a data-driven assessment of available online information regarding support of medical device regulations within universities. A total of 109,200 URLs were screened for regulatory information associated with universities in the UK and the USA. The results show that based on available online data, 55% of the selected universities in the UK and 35% in the USA did not provide any support for medical device regulations. There is a big discrepancy between universities in terms of the available support, as well as the kind of information that is made accessible by the academic institutes. It is suggested that increasing support for regulatory strategies during the early phases of research and development will likely yield a better translation of technologies into clinical care. Universities can play a more active role in this.

Reference services are at a cross-roads. While many academic libraries continue to offer reference services from behind a desk, others are moving to roving and embedded reference models. Meanwhile, libraries are also engaged in the development of collaborative learning spaces—often rich with technology, such as makerspaces and learning labs—but these spaces are often removed from the reference services environment. Beta spaces are another type of collaborative environment used in both public and academic libraries with the potential to infuse energy into the reference space and emphasize research support through experimentation, collaboration, and user contribution. Beta spaces are user-oriented environments with a focus on innovation and experimentation, much like a makerspace but with an emphasis on ideas over technology. A beta space model for reference services would enhance opportunities for active learning, help make the research process visible and tangible, and effectively demonstrate the value of reference

Now that artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being widely used across academic publishing, how can we make informed assessments of these utilities? There is a need for a set of skills for evaluating new tools and measuring existing ones, which should enable anyone commissioning or managing AI utilities to understand what questions to ask, what parameters to measure and possible pitfalls to avoid when introducing a new utility. The skills required are not technical. Potential problems include bias in the corpus, a poor training set or poor use of metrics for evaluation. This article gives a quick overview of some of areas where AI tools are being used and how they work. It then provides a checklist for assessment. The goal is not to discredit AI, but to make effective use of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the pandemic bringing unprecedented circumstances for us all, at the University of Essex we moved our in-person information literacy (IL) and research support (RS) training online. We wanted to see the unexpected situation as an opportunity for improvement, which required innovation and creativity. In this paper, we will share the lessons we have learnt in our shift to online teaching. We begin by giving a brief background of the training we offered prior to the pandemic, highlighting how this training was rarely online, with a greater emphasis on inperson support. We then give an overview of the technologies we used to develop our virtual offer of IL and RS training in a range of different formats, including online tutorials using LibWizard, mixed-media webpages using LibGuides, YouTube videos, and running virtual workshop sessions using Zoom. We then discuss what has and hasn’t worked in our aim to increase the scope and interactivity of our IL and RS training, before considering the feedback we received from participants. Finally, we explore how we intend to broaden our offer further in the future based on the lessons learned and reflect on how this will influence future decision making. Ultimately, we aim to make the most of the positives we’ve seen and offer a mix of online and in-person IL and RS training, with consideration toward how we do this sustainably amongst the continued uncertainties around the ‘new normal’. Overall, we hope that our paper demonstrates how challenging situations can lead us to innovate in new and interesting ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of digital platforms, consortiums, collaborative online catalogues that have substantially transformed the Indian agricultural libraries and are playing a significant role in research support in digital environment. It describes the use of CeRA (Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture) online platform in Pantvarsity for the five years. It is shown that the use of these e-resources by the academic community of the university has a declining trend. The analysis has revealed that while research information available through the platform is highly valued in the university system, many patrons including students and faculties both are not largely dependent only on the consortium resources, and are likely be comfortable with other easily available open access research materials over the web, repositories or print journals and digital repositories. The author suggests that librarians should create greater awareness about the consortium resources, identify barriers, faced by the academic community in accessing these resources for fruitful utilization of this platform.

A brief review of The No-nonsense Guide to Research Support and Scholarly Communication.

This study has been designed to inspect the library resources and services at higher education institutions during the covid-19 pandemic in terms of students' satisfaction. A quantitative study design to conduct an online survey from the students of public sector universities of Pakistan. A sample of 1823 respondents had been sampled through a proportionate random sampling technique. Moreover, a well-structured questionnaire was opted to measure the response of the respondents using an attitudinal scale of (dis)agreement. Further, frequency distribution, descriptive statistics, correlation statistical tests, and regression analysis had been used to draw results and conclusions. The study findings present that provision of required documents and available library resources have not been predicting students' satisfaction. However, other variables including access to library resources, access to library services, available library services, response to online queries, and online research support have favorable effects on students' satisfaction towards online library access and resources in public sector universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increased use of the FAIR acronym as adjective for other contexts than data or data sets, the Dutch National Coordination Point for Research Data Management initiated a Task Group to work out the concept of a FAIR research organization. The results of this Task Groups are a definition of a FAIR enabling organization and a method to measure the FAIR-ness of a research organization (The Do-I-PASS for FAIR method). The method can also aid in developing FAIR-enabling Road Maps for individual research institutions and at a national level. This practice paper describes the development of the method and provides a couple of use cases for the application of the method in daily research data management practices in research organizations.

Human health biobanks are forms of research infrastructure that supply biospecimens and associated data to researchers, and therefore juxtapose the activities of clinical care and biomedical research. The discipline of biobanking has existed for over 20 years and is supported by several international professional societies and dedicated academic journals. However, despite both rising research demand for human biospecimens, and the growth of biobanking as an academic discipline, many individual biobanks continue to experience sustainability challenges. This commentary will summarize how the COVID-19 pandemic is creating new challenges and opportunities for both the health biobanking sector and the supporting discipline of biobanking. While the challenges for biobanks may be numerous and acute, there are opportunities for both individual biobanks and the discipline of biobanking to embrace change such that biobanks can continue to support and drive biomedical research. We will therefore describe numerous practical steps that individual biobanks and/or the discipline of biobanking can take to survive and possibly thrive in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lag of Russia in the development of the fifth technological order has had a dramatic impact on research and technological libraries. Until the early 1990s, they were rightfully considered unique access points to relevant scientific knowledge, and now they are experiencing an acute crisis, looking for their place in the radically changed landscape of scholarly communicationsThe article identifies the main challenges that led to the crisis. The aim of the study is to find answers to these challenges, namely: new tasks that libraries can take on and that will be in demand by the scientific community. However, their solution is possible only after mastering new competencies and providing necessary resources. To systematize this picture, a matrix of tasks, resources and competencies is constructed.

The H2020 project “EOSC Pillar” and its three “sister projects” (5b Projects) are an excellent example of how different European projects can effectively participate in the EOSC building process united in a serious, determined effort formalized by a consensual agreement between the projects. The regional approach, responding to individual, regional needs, has demonstrated the importance of jointly addressing challenges related to the European Open Science Cloud in order to reach the diverse and fragmented European research infrastructure landscape. The resulting FAIR data and conclusions are essential building blocks for continuing similar efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nutrition plays a major role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases; hence, nutrition research is a priority for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The purpose of this analysis is to describe the scope of NHLBI-funded extramural nutrition research grants over the past decade and offer insights into future opportunities for nutrition research relevant to NHLBI's mission.Methods: Data were extracted using the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization spending categories from the publicly available NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool Expenditures and Results. New 2018 and 2019 grants were coded into categories and mapped to the 2016 NHLBI Strategic Vision priorities.Results: Approximately 90% of nutrition research funds supported extramural grants, particularly through investigator-initiated R series grants (69.6%). Of these, 19.8% were classified as clinical trials. Consistent nutrition-related topics, including physical activity, weight loss, fatty acids, metabolic syndrome, childhood obesity, and other topics such as gut microbiota, arterial stiffness, sleep duration, and meal timing, emerged in 2014-2019.  Mapping of the NHLBI Strategic Vision objectives revealed that 32% of newly funded grants focused on pathobiological mechanisms important to the onset and progression of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders, with opportunities including developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and clinical and implementation science research.Discussion: The findings show the breadth of NHLBI-funded nutrition research and highlight potential research opportunities for nutrition scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of researchers and colleagues from the library sector set themselves the task of supporting research on the SARS-Cov-2 virus. In March 2020, ZB MED established the COVID-19 Hub: Since then, the platform offers a collection of various resources of free literature, current sources and text mining corpora. The ZB MED COVID-19 Hub also contains interactive bioinformatics tools for molecular biology researchers such as Genome Browser, Multiple Sequence Alignment Viewer and phylogenetic trees of the complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes. ZB MED has also set up an automated search for SARS-CoV-2 on the search portal LIVIVO. Within NFDI4Health, ZB MED has set up the COVID-19 Task Force with various partners. As a first result within the initiative, the ZB MED team has developed the COVID-19 Preprint Viewer.In September 2020, the ZB MED team won the special prize in the competition of the German MLA (AGMB) “Pioneer projects in medical libraries” for the ZB MED COVID-19 Hub. In the laudation it is stated: “The COVID-19 Hub has been developed at an extraordinary speed and currently represents an indispensable and freely accessible information resource for virologists, epidemiologists and other researchers”.

Librarians are continuously looking for new ways to make the training they offer accessible and engaging to both colleagues and users. One area where this is especially important is copyright – a topic many librarians identify as vital to their role, but they often find it hard to attend training. Cambridge University Libraries has introduced a range of methods to reach out to even the most reluctant copyright learner and improve the overall copyright literacy of its staff. This article showcases these methods in the form of ‘life hacks’ – simple measures which can be implemented with little or no cost and using existing resources. Methods outlined include making the best use of knowledge already present within your organisation, using visual methods to attract a new audience and creating interactive online resources. Also discussed is the importance of making copyright training accessible, both to users with disabilities and those who may have constraints on their time and technological ability. The article concludes with a reflection about the challenges faced whilst creating new resources. The techniques outlined in this case study can be adapted for use by a range of libraries no matter the target audience.

This study examines the influence of institutional support strategies on the effectiveness of Faculty core job responsibilities in some selected public universities in Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for the assessment of the subject matter. Six hundred (600) respondents were surveyed across all the colleges/faculties of universities selected in Nigeria with the use of stratified sampling technique. Only four hundred and twenty nine (429) copies of questionnaire representing (71.5%) response rate were returned and used for this study. Structural Equation Model (AMOS 22) was used for the analysis to find the influence institutional support initiative on efficacy of job responsibilities of Faculty. Results show research support, pedagogical support and technical support are predictors of Faculty responsiveness to quality research productivity, quality knowledge sharing and administrative efficiency. The study emphasised the need for review of the various institutional support in order to determine the appropriateness and relevance of the initiative. The study contributes to the exiting knowledge in HRM and Facility job performance. The insights from this study would be of great value to the management of universities, and other stakeholders to develop and invest in appropriate institutional support that will enhance job effectiveness of Faculty members.