Canadian Academic Librarians and the Need for a Systematic and Comprehensive Research-Support Model

Expectations for Canadian academic librarians’ research have evolved, but not all librarians have access to the support systems needed that aid and enable them to conduct and publish research. A survey was sent to librarians asking about the research supports available and most useful to them. “Rese...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Maha Kumaran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians 2019-06-01
Series:Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cjal.ca/index.php/capal/article/view/29213
Description
Summary:Expectations for Canadian academic librarians’ research have evolved, but not all librarians have access to the support systems needed that aid and enable them to conduct and publish research. A survey was sent to librarians asking about the research supports available and most useful to them. “Research” was not defined and was left to the interpretation of the participant. The survey found that supports are sporadic, possibly leading to a two-tiered research climate between “haves” and “have-nots.” It is essential for academic librarians to initiate and engage in conversation about what library research is and how librarians’ research competency may be improved. This should lead in turn to conversations about the support systems needed, which ones the universities and the libraries should provide, and how having a comprehensive research-support model would help librarians engage more with research, increase their research output, and improve the quality of their research.
ISSN:2369-937X