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Faculty / Librarian Collaboration Toolkit: Publishing and Scholarship

Investigate and support best practices in faculty and librarian collaboration to more effectively meet local institution and library missions and serve the campus community.

Publishing and Scholarship

Publishing Resources

Scholarship and Supporting Faculty Research Resources

Key Findings

  1. Historically librarians have collaborated with faculty in publishing and scholarship by providing reference / research assistance and access to resources.
  2. Today librarians are collaborating with faculty by providing tools for new publishing models (institutional repositories, library-based university presses), developing open educational resources, and serving as research partners.
  3. The “solid infrastructure” in library based publishing tools (with metadata development, rights management, and long term support) is attractive to faculty.
  4. “Service vs. servitude” tensions with faculty exist about the specific roles of librarians.
  5. Librarians are seen as competent and safe colleagues to collaborate with on research projects.

Literature Review

Bedi, S., & Walde, C. (2017). Transforming Roles: Canadian Academic Librarians Embedded in Faculty Research Projects. College & Research Libraries, 78(3), 314–327. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.3.314
Bright, K. M. (2018). Examining the Role of Liaison Librarians as Research Collaboration Partners: A Mixed-Methods Multiple-Case Study.
Donlan, R., Stanislaw, S., & Fernandez, M. (2017). The Future of Information Literacy in the Library: An Example of Librarian/Publisher Collaboration. Serials Librarian, 72(1–4), 91–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2017.1297589
Ellis, L. (2019, March 1). A Lesson From UC’s Split With Elsevier: Keep the Faculty in the Loop. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Lesson-From-UC-s-Split/245811
Goodsett, M., Loomis, B., & Miles, M. (2016). Leading campus OER initiatives through library–faculty collaboration. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 23(3), 335–342.
Keener, A. (2015). The arrival fallacy: collaborative research relationships in the digital humanities. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 9(2). Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/117503
Klain-Gabbay, L., & Shoham, S. (2016). Scholarly communication and academic librarians. Library & Information Science Research, 38(2), 170–179.
Rawls, M. M. (2015). Looking for Links: How Faculty Research Productivity Correlates with Library Investment and Why Electronic Library Materials Matter Most. Evidence Based Library & Information Practice, 10(2), 34–44. https://doi.org/10.18438/B89C70

Suggested Actions

  1. Maintain reference / research assistance and access to resources, as this remains a key piece of collaborating with faculty in publishing and scholarship.
  2. Seek new roads to faculty by promoting institutional repositories, library-based university presses, and developing open educational resources.
  3. Consider serving as a co-investigator with faculty on research projects.
  4. Be aware of continuing “service vs. servitude” tensions with faculty exist about the specific roles of librarians.

Best Practices

1. Maintain reference / research assistance and access to resources, as this remains a key piece of collaborating with faculty in publishing and scholarship.

2. Seek new roads to faculty by promoting institutional repositories, library-based university presses, and developing open educational resources.

3. Consider serving as a co-investigator with faculty on research projects.

4. Be aware of continuing “service vs. servitude” tensions with faculty exist about the specific roles of librarians.