Where is the Library? Research Support at MMU Mary Pickstone Research Support Librarian

MMU – some background post-92 University traditionally learning and teaching research in ‘pockets of excellence’ Research Strategy – aspiration to be in top 50 universities for research by 2020

REF 2014 Has risen 12 places (from 78 to 66) in the overall rankings according to the THES But in some areas MMU scored much more highly eg 6th out of 84 in Art and Design; 12th out of 94 in Health Submission was strategic so didn’t submit to all Units of Assessment

Supporting researchers: where is the Library? 1 FTE post dedicated to research support other support given by Faculty teams and subject librarians

Role of research support librarian Point of contact for library staff on research issues Liaise with researchers and research administrators Contribute to Graduate School inductions and researcher development programme

Role of research support librarian 2 Oh, and also… produce a weekly bulletin in term-time of items of interest from the web manage the institutional repository (IR) e-space including input, advice and advocacy

e-space, MMU’s repository managed by the Library had an IR since 2006 actively managed, staffed and promoted up to onwards - input is a mediated service by library staff alongside other roles

OA agenda has changed the role of the research support librarian and how the library supports researchers

Finch Report advocated Open Access publication changed the scholarly communications landscape triggered publication mandates from funders such as RCUK, the Wellcome Trust, and HEFCE

e-space, MMU’s repository now vehicle for green OA June completed linkage with the CRIS, Symplectic Elements leading to self deposit via Symplectic, with library staff checking before submissions go live in e-space

RCUK block grant MMU has received a very small amount –13/14 £11,442 –14/15 £13,461 –15/16 £15,361 recently set up an institutional Article Processing Charge (APC) fund of £80,000 for 2015/16, administered by the Library, to supplement the RCUK grant

Supporting researchers: where is the Library now? Additional areas of support: advising on Open Access issues managing APCs working with Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) to formulate policy

Engaging with the (REF) concept of ‘impact’ has opened up a whole new world… Questions about where to publish Metrics –Traditional metrics – helping researchers decide where to publish –Alternative metrics – helping researchers track the impact of their research

Challenges Advocating open access agenda and thinking about how we can do this Persuading researchers to engage with the process Ensuring colleagues are kept up to date with the latest developments

Going forward… address Research Data Management (RDM) – currently looking at solutions working with RKE to get the OA HEFCE message out to researchers developing procedures and workflows to administer APCs and changes to the IR Working with the Graduate School to be more responsive and flexible in Infoskills delivery

Any questions?