This project has engaged extensively with colleagues across the research and academic library sectors and members of the academic community. It has engaged with university leaders, research managers, and funder representatives. In all this project has been informed by:

Note: The project has taken a broad definition. The term ‘Library Staff’ refers to staff working in academic and research libraries. This also includes staff working within archives, special collections, museums and galleries reflecting the multifaceted nature of the term and structure of ‘libraries’, especially within a university context.

Wealth of expertise:

Library staff bring a wealth of expertise, skills and insight as collaborators and leaders of research. Although libraries have a unique strength and expertise around the collection, their expertise goes far beyond this to include a variety of technical, curatorial, and pedagogical skills.

Collaborative by default:

Collaboration is in the nature of libraries and the staff that work within them. Libraries sit at the centre of a complex web of communities, and can act as conduits and catalysts of collaboration between multiple groups and disciplines. Libraries can leverage this central position to foster new collaborative relationships and to lead and contribute to innovative and cross-disciplinary research partnerships.

Concept of research:

Library staff are involved in a wide variety of activities which constitute research but often aren’t termed as such. This absence of a shared understanding of research amongst libraries and academics researchers can affect the extent to which the contribution of library staff is recognised.

Complementarity of skills, knowledge and expertise:

Library staff bring a range of valuable skills and experience to research projects which can complement those of other research partners. These include skills around public engagement and curation, literature searching and systematic reviewing, digital scholarship and technical skills, as well as open access, bibliometrics and research data management. Collaborative research between libraries and academics is mutually beneficial.

Spectrum of engagement:

Libraries can be involved in research in a number of ways, which will vary by project, institution, and staff member. Library staff add greatest value to research when they are involved from the outset and have an active role in project formation, including as Co-I and P-I, and through more informal routes.

Recognising the contribution of library staff:

Library staff are not always recognised as research partners. The importance of recognising all contributors to research has been emphasised by initiatives such as the Technician Commitment and the Hidden Ref campaign. While these initiatives are to be welcomed, library staff are not always aware of how they might relate to their work.

Funding eligibility:

Library staff (working within a HEI or IRO) are eligible to apply for UKRI research council funding as a Co-Investigator or Principal Investigator, without the need for a PhD or an academic contract, as long as they can demonstrate their fulfilment of specific eligibility criteria. Awareness of this varies across institutions, both within the library and amongst university research offices.

Perceptions are shifting:

Perceptions of the library continue to shift within institutions and amongst members of the academic community, from one of service provision to one of active and equal partnership, and, to a lesser extent, research leadership. This progress varies between institutions, amongst individual academics, across disciplines, and is not uniform.

Challenges to overcome:

A number of challenges exist which can limit the ability and opportunities for library staff to expand their role as research partners and leaders. Institutions, funders, academic staff, library leaders and library staff all have a role to play in overcoming these barriers, which will enable libraries to realise their potential as collaborative partners in, and leaders of, pioneering research.

Opportunities to be seized:

There are many exciting opportunities for libraries to further develop and enhance their role as partners in, and pioneers of, research. These require changes around how research is viewed within libraries, how the library is perceived within their institution, and a focus on building the research capacity and visibility of library colleagues. RLUK and the AHRC stand ready to support the research and academic library community seize these opportunities.

The project report makes a number of far-reaching recommendations for the AHRC, RLUK, libraries, their parent institutions, and members of the academic community. 

These recommendations will be supported by a joint action plan between RLUK and the AHRC to shape and support their implementation. Progress against this action plan will be evaluated after two years.

Below is an abridged selection of the report’s final recommendations:

AHRC: Eligibility

AHRC: Research development programmes

AHRC should nurture and support research development within research libraries, and other collection-holding institutions, through professional development and research enablement schemes. These should include the award of bespoke or targeted ‘research development grants’ to library and collections staff, ‘highlight calls’ which require library colleagues to act as Co-Is or P-I, or the creation of a Professional Fellowship scheme to enable library staff to enhance their research skills, experience, and credibility. These funded opportunities would provide a clear demonstration of the value and recognition of library and collection-holding institution staff as researchers and will support cross-sector networking through sandboxes, workshops and conferences.

AHRC, RLUK and libraries: Peer review colleges

AHRC should encourage greater diversity within the Peer Review College and ensure that members of the Research Technical Community, such as library staff, are represented. RLUK should work to promote these opportunities throughout the research library and collections-holding community, and libraries and parent institutions should support and enable their staff to participate in such roles. Staff membership of a Peer Review College should be seen as an important element of a colleague’s career development and bring internal recognition and be endorsed by libraries.

AHRC and RLUK: Technician Commitment

AHRC and RLUK should work together to highlight the significant contribution that library staff can make to the research process as outlined by the Technician Commitment. This should include ensuring that library staff, and their wider institutions, are aware of the potential impact the Technician Commitment will have on acknowledging and valuing the considerable expertise and skills they bring to research.

Libraries: Collaborative Doctorates

Libraries should leverage and make greater use of Collaborative Doctoral Programmes, Collaborative Doctoral Awards and practice-based PhDs to develop their research capacity and confidence. Case studies should be sought and published by RLUK where this is happening already, and lessons learnt. These should highlight the mutual benefits of such programmes for both the student and host organisation, and how supervision can be an important element in staff development.

AHRC: Advocacy

RLUK and AHRC: Research engagement programme

RLUK should create an engagement programme, in partnership with the AHRC, to develop a shared understanding of research between libraries and members of the academic community,  and to support the recognition of libraries as research partners and leaders. This engagement programme should include and enable:

Libraries showcasing research expertise and capacity:

Libraries should support and enable their staff to effectively communicate the research they undertake and the research skills and expertise their library holds via research profiles, featured staff publications and staff contribution to research seminar series or events. This will help potential research partners, both internal and external to the organisation, to identify expertise held within the library to support research partnerships.

Libraries/institutions: Supporting research skills and capacity

Libraries should explore ways of developing and supporting staff research skills and capacity through activities such as staff research development schemes and the inclusion of research as part of core responsibilities. RLUK will support this process and a working group should be established to investigate this further, drawing on recently available resources to RLUK members such as the ARL Position Description Bank to examine how this is done internationally. Libraries, and their parent institutions, should also explore secondment and fellowship opportunities within the library, through which academic researchers can share their experience and expertise.

Institutions: Library representation and recognition

The contribution that libraries can make as research partners and leaders should be recognised and represented within their wider institutions. This can include through the library being represented on institutional research committees and panels, and members of research offices having the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the potential contribution that libraries can make to the research process.

Academics: 

Academics: 

Academics: