RLUK #librariesXresearch champions the pivotal contribution libraries make to the research process, as enablers, partners and pioneers of research excellence.
We wish to bring greater recognition to the wealth of expertise, skills, leadership, and insight that libraries offer. Through our work and partnerships we are facilitating and supporting the professional development of colleagues looking to build their research capabilities and confidence.
You can find out all about our work to champion libraries at research.rluk.ac.uk.
This includes our partnership with AHRC, which saw the commissioning of a major scoping study to explore the role of academic and research libraries as active participants and leaders in the production of scholarly research.
This study resulted in the groundbreaking Research Engagement Programme launched in 2021, which was designed to support colleagues working across the research and academic library community to develop their research confidence, skills, and capability.
The Programme consisted of a Professional Practice Fellowship, with over £400k of grant funding awarded to 19 fellows, allowing them to undertake research journeys that demonstrate the wide range of research interests and potential held within our libraries.
It also included the Research Catalyst Cohort Programme, a comprehensive and tailored training programme to support colleagues working in academic libraries to make competitive applications to academic funders as research partners and leaders, and helping to build valuable relationships between the academic library and research management communities.
Feedback from the Research Engagement Programme has helped to shape our guidance for Encouraging a research culture in your library, including advice from the Fellows for those embarking on research projects.
Since 2018, RLUK and The National Archives have run a Professional Fellowship Scheme to enable colleagues to develop their research skills, knowledge, and experience through a short-term residency at a host institution and a longer period of peer-to-peer mentoring and knowledge sharing.
Libraries, archives, and information institutions hold great technical skills and expertise. We wish to acknowledge the many diverse skills represented in academic and research libraries essential to producing new knowledge through research, innovation, and experimentation. That’s why we’re a supporter of the Technician Commitment, a university and research institution initiative which aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development, and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research in all disciplines.
As the landscape of research continues to evolve, libraries are playing a more integral role in undertaking, supporting, and enhancing research activities across various disciplines.
RLUK is committed to advocating for the vital roles libraries play in research to be acknowledged and celebrated more widely by researchers, institutions, and across the sector.
