Current status of research support services in university libraries of Pakistan
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-11-2021-0101 |
| Published date | 25 February 2022 |
| Date | 25 February 2022 |
| Pages | 412-428 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Records management & preservation,Information repositories |
| Author | Muhammad Hanif Awan,Joanna Richardson,Shamshad Ahmed |
Current status of research
support services in university
libraries of Pakistan
Muhammad Hanif Awan
Library, Government Pilot Secondary School, Multan, Pakistan
Joanna Richardson
Library, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, and
Shamshad Ahmed
Department of Information Management, University of Sargodha,
Sargodha, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –Research support services (RSS) is an emerging and popular area in university libraries, whose
increasing importance has been well documented since the early 2010s. This study aims to identify the status of RSS
provided in the university libraries of Pakistan and to compare the results with relevant international studies. The
research also reports on the perception of librarians regardingt hea pplicationof RSS in Pakistani university libraries.
Design/methodology/approach –A quantitative survey was conducted of the chief librarians/head
librarians working in the 175 universitylibraries of Pakistan. A structured questionnaire wasdesigned and
pre-tested with national and internationalresearch experts, faculty members and library professionals. SPSS
was used to calculate descriptivestatistics. Results of the study were compared with previousliterature from
an internationalperspective.
Findings –Results of the study indicatedthat most of the university libraries are providing basic RSS and
that they have good collectionsof both general and subject-specific works to meet the needs of researchers.
Most respondents not only were interested in providing RSS but also emphasized that libraries should
upgrade their collection to meet researchers’requirements. However, results of the studyalso indicated that
there was noticeablyless support for both the more advanced and newerresearch support services.
Practical implications –Because the delivery of RSS enables libraries to help meet a university’s
strategic research goals, the findings will be of interest to university library and information science
executives, policymakersand administration. The suggested recommendations highlightthose service areas
which are most in need of improvement.
Originality/value –This research provides an updated perspectiveon the delivery of research support
servicesby university libraries in Pakistan.
Keywords Academic libraries, Digital library, Library research support, Library services,
Research skills, Library skills
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Research and publishing have become strategic priorities in university libraries because of
the pressure on universities to improve their rankings through research and educational
excellence (Riera Quintero et al., 2012;Si et al.,2019;Weaver and Richardson, 2021). As a
result, research supportservices (RSS) emerged throughout the world but particularlyin the
university libraries of the UK, USA, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, where
DLP
38,4
412
Received29 November 2021
Revised2 February 2022
Accepted6 February 2022
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.38 No. 4, 2022
pp. 412-428
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-11-2021-0101
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2059-5816.htm
the provision of research support to researchers became a necessary part of the university
libraries’core services (Larsen et al., 2010). In fact, such is their importance that RSS have
been considered as a major paradigm shift in the current era of informationand technology
(Corrall et al.,2013).
In a rapidly changing researchenvironment, researchers are under pressure to keep pace
with these changes (Courtneyand Dallis, 2015;Farooq et al., 2016;Sandy et al., 2020;Joo and
Schmidt, 2021). Consequently, reports from major library and information science (LIS)
associations, such as Research Libraries UK (Evidence Base and Associates, 2021) and
Association of College and Research Libraries (Connaway et al.,2017), have recommended
that universitylibraries should provide RSS to researchers.
According to Forsman et al. (2012, p. 181), RSS can be defined as “specific information
services to promote research by meeting the unique information needs of the researchers
within a particular institution.”Likewise, Wiklund and Voog (2013) have described RSS as
the services provided in libraries to assist and facilitate researchers in their research
endeavor. More recently, Si et al. (2019, p. 282) have stated: “In general, research support
refers to anything a library does to support the activity of scholarship and research at its
parent institution.”They, along with Tangand Zhang (2019), have specifically linked such
services with a researcher’s information needs based on the research lifecycle, i.e. from the
inception of a research projectto its completion. Therefore, a key aspect of successful RSS is
the ability of librariansto meet the specific needs of researchers.
As the nature of research has evolved,so, too, have the types of services offered as part of
an academic library’s RSS suite. For example, in the early to mid-2010s, research studies
(Drummond and Wartho, 2009;Simons and Richardson, 2012;McAlpine and McIntosh,
2015;Davis, 2016) described the types of services being provided in their respective
libraries, which at the time included licensed electronic resources, individual consultations
with researchers, specialized print collections, Web services, provision of bibliographic
management software, publication support, impact measurement and institutional
repositories.
However, as the decade unfolded,it became apparent that because of its evolving nature,
research was now characterized by a complex data-intensive world in which many
researchers were operating (Tenopiret al.,2014;Fransson et al.,2016;Si et al.,2019;Wolski
et al.,2020). Consequently, LIS researchers began to report on studies as to how academic
libraries could either initiate or improve their existing research data services (RDS). For
example, Si et al. (2019) mention services such as research data introduction, data
management guideline, data curation and storage and data management training. While
Sandy (2020) has highlighted the importanceof digital curation, research data management
(RDM) and open access (OA) and publishing,Saarti et al.(2020)have discussed the impact of
open science in this space.
As Tang and Zhang (2019, p. 23) have recently observed, “As user-oriented innovative
information services of libraries, research support services mark the beginning of libraries’
transformation from providers of traditional consultation services to those of intelligence
analysis services.”Librarieshave an excellent opportunity to redefine their core RSS to meet
new needs.
Literature review
In the late 2000s, the importance of RSS came to the forefront withan increasing number of
research studies being reported in the literature. For example, research by Drummond and
Wartho (2009) highlighted that most Australian libraries were offering comprehensive
support in five areas, including frequently asked questions, online tutorials, training and
Current status
of research
support
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