Navigating the rising metrics tide in the 21st century: which way for academic librarians in support of researchers in sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract

Academic librarians in sub-Saharan Africa, just like their counterparts in the rest of the world, are under pressure to provide relevant information services to satisfy varied client needs. Research administrators, grant offices, researchers, students and university managers, among others, are increasingly turning to academic librarians for information to meet their myriad research-related information and metrics needs. Sub-Saharan African countries' emphasis on strengthening science, technology and innovation has exerted further pressure on information professionals and other stakeholders to develop and appropriately apply bibliometrics and altmetrics to inform decision-making and policy-formulation processes. Research output and impact metrics are not only quickly evolving but their volume has been unprecedented. This paper's focus is the application of bibliometrics and altmetrics by academic librarians to support researchers in their respective universities. The paper argues that there is need for up-skilling or re-skilling the 21 st-century sub-Saharan African academic librarian to select and apply appropriate metrics, tools and strategies to support researchers as they execute their responsibilities. The paper offers possible areas of training for academic librarians.

The Shifting and Changing Research Landscape and the Academic Librarian’s Response

“…The South African government places a strong emphasis on research and this is demonstrated by the amount of financial support which is channelled to universities and other research institutions (Onyancha 2018). A recent testimony of the South African government's respect for research is the appointment of a ministerial advisory committee on COVID-19.…”

“…In order to understand the shifts and changes in the research landscape in general, and in particular the role of the librarian, this chapter is informed by the research life cycle framework. This framework has been successfully applied in part or in full by researchers focussing on new roles of librarians in research such as Chiware (2020), Onyancha (2018), and Chung, Kwon, and Lee (2016). Although the research life cycle may slightly differ from one discipline to the other, there is a general consensus on key principle stages, namely idea generation or discovery, research proposal, conduct research, publish research, or results dissemination.…”

“…Studies focusing on shifts and changes in the research landscape in general and in research librarianship in particular, have been conducted at varying degrees. Some studies have traced changes in specific research support and partnership matters such as research data management (Chiware 2020), bibliometrics (Onyancha 2018), data sharing , as well as new skills and positions (Ochola & Ocholla 2020). However, more comprehensive studies tracing changes in scholarly communication and research support have been conducted by scholars such as Pasipamire and Hoskins (2019), Ketchum (2017), Keller (2015), and Raju and Schoombee (2014).…”

“…Chiware further posits that librarians need to have a good understanding of open science in order to be able to provide meaningful and relevant services. In this regard, Keller (2015) suggests that librarians should in fact see themselves as partners in research who provide services in the following five key areas: Although Onyancha (2018), in a study on 21 st -century librarianship, focuses on bibliometrics and metrics, he concurs with Ketchum (above), on areas such as data management and the general support for researchers. Onyancha further marks the emergence of new librarian titles, arising as a result of the shift in research support.…”

Readiness of academic libraries in South Africa to research, teaching and learning support in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

“…The transformed roles, innovative services and future of academic libraries have been the focus of attention by many researchers around the world (Catalano et al , 2018; Cox et al , 2019; Dempsey and Malpas, 2018; Feret, 2018; Schulte et al , 2018; Sewell and Kingsley, 2017) and in South Africa (Chiware and Becker, 2018b; Hodonu-Wusu and Lazarus, 2018; Kwanya and Stilwell, 2018; Moll and Moll-Willard, 2019; Ocholla et al , 2016; Ocholla and Ocholla, 2017; Onyancha, 2018; Raju et al , 2018; Wilson et al , 2019). The result has been the creation of new library spaces and services, which are suitable for the needs and orientation of individual institutions (Dempsey and Malpas, 2018); (Ocholla et al , 2016), in response to the rapidly changing landscape of higher education, influenced by a strong research, teaching and learning agenda; ICTs; university ranking; community engagement (for contextualizing research and teaching) and the 4IR, all of which demand that library services be accessible anytime, and anywhere.…”