where libraries may be able to help the early career researcher

There is a short article in the most recent issue of JISC Inform that provides an interesting compliment to my last post. Although the article is not specifically directed at libraries, it points out some possible areas and ways librarians can become more involved in the day-to-day activities of early career faculty members. One of the findings of this study libraries need to consider is that early career researchers don’t use Web 2.0 tools to share their research. Instead they prefer face-to-face interactions and there are many different reasons for this. As these reasons are more sociological than technological, it probably doesn’t make sense to develop tools or systems that don’t cannot address the underlying social issues that are acting as an impediment to Web 2.0 tool use if we expect those tools to actually be used. Additionally, one of the major obstacles for early career researchers that do want to use Web 2.0 tools is that they are often unaware of what e-research tools are available to them.

Some of the recommendations in the report include making tools as intuitive as possible, having tools facilitate (as much as possible) “social” activities appropriate for the specific discipline, making security and data management of research data robust, easy to use, and portable from one institution/organization to another. Librarians can possibly get involved by also developing  “research toolkits” that list available tools, and those otherwise supported by the institution, for specific disciplines.