Science Librarians in the 21 st Century

1. Science Librarians in the 21st Century Michael Leach Harvard University leach@physics.harvard.edu

2. Science Librarian =Research Librarian • User Needs Analysis • Ongoing • Feeds: • Collection development • Search tool selection • Interface and tool design • Evaluation of all services • Prioritization of services ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

3. Science Librarian =Research Librarian • Scholarly Communications • Insert yourself into the debate • One on one with faculty & students • With committees (primarily faculty & society) • In programs, forums, otherpublic “spaces” • E.g. DASER Summits • Know your community • How they currently communicate • Types of barriers (political, economic, social, etc) • Who are the “dissidents” & what is the “half-life” of the “conservatives” ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

4. Science Librarian =Research Librarian • Look for Collaboration Opportunities • Be that librarian in the Elsevier posters! • “Get in” as the research goes on • Go to the labs, research discussions/talks, colloquia • Have your information tools on hand • Take classes so you can “be prepared” • Read the research groups’ prior work • Be an investigator/collaborator yourself • E.g. Grid technology design ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

5. Science Librarian =Digital Objects Librarian • The expansion beyond monographs & serials • Some digital objects: • Datasets • Learning Objects • Web sites, especially content • Multimedia ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

6. Science Librarian =Digital Objects Librarian • Will we miss the boat on datasets? • NAS March 2005 preliminary report • Need for consolidation of dataset repositories • Need for integration of datasets • Need for ongoing support & preservation • Need for formulation of standards • Need for better information retrieval • There is money here as well! ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

7. Science Librarian =Digital Objects Librarian • Aggregation of digital objects • Repositories • Institutional, subject, format, etc. • Indexing/information retrieval of content • Google Scholar • Citesearcher • “Metalib” federated searching • Support for layered/distributed applications • E.g. virtual journals ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

8. Science Librarian =Education Librarian • Science-specific information literacy • Formulate good search habits early in users • Identify “expediencies” = methods & practices for accessing & using information better • Where? • In their environment: lab, office, classroom, society, meeting, etc. • Present at research society meetings • Chance for you to educate yourself as well ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

9. Science Librarian =Education Librarian • Inter/cross-disciplinary research • Learn elements of two or more disciplines • Educate one community about the other • Develop presentations & tools that will “translate” one research “language” into another • Note similarities & differences • Simple example: form of citations in papers • Use your scholarly communications tools ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

10. Science Librarian =Education Librarian • Know the elements of education theory • Adult learners vs students • Types of learning (e.g. text-based, visual, examples based, logic based, etc.) • Develop your own teaching skills • Presentation • Speaking • Listening ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

11. A few other things,Just because I can’t resist! • Visualization tools • E.g. discover emerging fields • E.g. predict awards & key papers • Informatics & Data Mining • Librarian as research scholar (again) • Knowledge Management • Capturing best practices & novel approaches • Competitive Intelligence ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005

12. Thank you! leach@physics.harvard.edu ACRL-STS, 27 June 2005