Aligning the Stars: Understanding Digital Scholarship Needs to Support the Evolving Nature of Academic Research

Abstract

Digital scholarship centres located within academic libraries are proliferating. This project gathered feedback from library staff and researchers at the University of Calgary to inform the development of a physical space and associated services to support the evolving nature of academic research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the results were analyzed thematically. Common needs identified included access to interdisciplinary collaborators, technologies, and space. The library was beginning to renovate an existing space to support collaboration and, informed by this research, reconfigured and realigned services and expertise to support digital scholarship in a more cohesive manner. This study will be of interest to other academic libraries wishing to develop a digital scholarship centre that is responsive to the needs of their local community.

The needs of digital scholarship services at Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City

“…The evolution of the academic practice calls for the development of DSSs to respond to the needs of the academic community (Vinopal and McCormick, 2013). A number of studies were conducted to evaluate the need for a DSS system, the majority of which were carried out at universities that implemented DSSs in libraries or centers of digital scholarship or digital humanities (Hurrell, 2019; Li et al. , 2020; Vinopal and McCormick, 2013).…”

“…The services required may include the digitization of data, the generation of metadata, the management of research data, the consultation on open access and intellectual property, the processing of text and digital data, the creation and exhibition of digital collections, digital archives, the publication of electronic journals, the preservation and curation of digital content, the altmetric, and the creation of multimedia content (Brenner, 2014). Hurrell (2019) found that the University of Calgary's academic LM 44,8/9 community needed space and a community, a network of inter-disciplinary collaborators and a training in the use of digital tools for research. To address this need, the university and library provided necessary services and assistance.…”

Book Review - The Culture of Digital Scholarship

“…Although a research-intensive institution, Roemer describes the state of UW Libraries' support of digital scholarship as "growing" rather than fully developed [1]. For example, at the time of publication, the institution did not have a digital scholarship center, a service that is currently offered at a number of Canadian institutions [2]. As such, the book does not position UW Libraries as a leader in digital scholarship, but rather an illustration of how library support of digital scholarship, even within a single institution, varies widely and is shaped by local practices, resources, and policies.…”

Expanding digital academic library and archive services at the University of Calgary in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…With the opening of the Taylor Family Digital Library in 2011, LCR has been a leader in digital library services and spaces ( Clarke and Hoffman, 2012 ; Hickerson, 2010 ; Thomas, 2015 ). Since 2018, LCR has had a strategic focus on creating indispensable and transformative services for its users, and reimagining what it means to be a digital library in 2020 and beyond ( Berstler et al, 2014 ; Hurrell, 2019 ). The notion of the library as a place and space for students, faculty, and staff at the University of Calgary has taken on new meaning during these months of the pandemic.…”