The current scientific landscape is characterized by the growing proliferation and intensive use of research data, giving rise to needs related to their efficient management for organization, storage, and accessibility, aiming at reusability by other researchers. Data management has become crucial in scientific research, being a criterion required by funding agencies. In this context, university libraries play a fundamental role, offering new services that support researchers in the administration of their data collections. This study aims to answer the question: What services do university libraries offer to researchers to support research data management? The methodology includes a literature review and the analysis of documents indexed in the ISTA, LISA, and BRAPCI databases, as well as consultation of the homepages of the library systems of the institutions under investigation. The results indicate that in countries of the Global North, the provision of these services is more comprehensive, while in Brazil, it is still in an early stage. In the future, the research will be continued and expanded through a more specific application, selecting other forms of information collection for a deeper understanding of the current landscape of research data management services.
Researchers in ergonomics and human factors and the academic librarians who manage and maintain database subscriptions to serve them may be curious to know, given the interdisciplinary nature of the field, whether they are better served by a relatively small and specialized disciplinary database or by larger multidisciplinary databases. The purpose of this study is first to investigate which, if any, selected multidisciplinary databases provide coverage comparable to that offered by the disciplinary database Ergonomics Abstracts. Second, the study will investigate which databases, if any, provide superior coverage of the articles recently cited in select ergonomics and human factors journals. This study hopes to guide researchers in the field in their searches for pertinent journal literature and to assist academic librarians in better allocating the subscription funds to serve their faculty and students.
This study examines online library research guides on brewing and fermentation science from 20 higher education institutions in order to identify the most frequently included resources recommended by librarians. The guides were analyzed between June–July 2025. Resources were quantified and categorized as databases, books, periodicals, professional organizations, government organizations, or other resources. Results present information on the most frequently included materials from each category. There were 865 distinct resources in the 20 guides, with the majority (54%) classified as other resources, which included websites, videos, podcasts, maps, and more. Reference and instruction librarians may find these insights valuable when evaluating and updating guides, developing new guides, and supporting collection development efforts at their institutions, as higher education institutions have continued to establish brewing and fermentation science programs through the early 2020s.
Libraries are continually seeking the most effective and sustainable ways to provide e-resources, particularly in the form of scholarly journals and books, to their researcher communities. Increasingly, librarians use a blend of strategies including changing our subscription contracts, highlighting open access sources, and relying on resource sharing networks. To learn how these approaches are impacting a specific user community’s research behaviors, we used a mixed-methods approach that paired quantitative findings from collections access data with qualitative feedback from structured searching observations. In particular, we wanted to determine if the barriers to immediately accessing the full-text of current research resulting from a reduction in access to subscription-based sources from the publisher Elsevier impacted how our researchers found, accessed, and used scholarly literature. The results of this research captured how advanced engineering researchers responded to a disruption in unmediated access to Elsevier content, how they responded to access barriers to library resources in general, and the breadth of their use of online resources and connections outside of the library. We discuss how this research may inform future considerations in collection development and management for academic libraries.
This article addresses the oft-noted gap between the amount of instruction students have received and the citation knowledge they demonstrate once they reach discipline-specific courses. Focusing on engineering, where this gap appears most prominently at the institution where this study takes place, this article explores the expectations of engineering instructors regarding undergraduate students' knowledge and skills related to citation practices. In a survey about their experience with undergraduate students in Oregon State University’s College of Engineering, the majority of engineering instructors indicated that both upper- and lower-division students were missing some key citation skills at both the general and disciplinary levels. In addition, engineering instructors believe that writing instructors should teach general citation practices, while engineering instructors should handle discipline-specific citations. The results of the survey affirm the importance of teaching for transfer when preparing students to translate general citation skills into a new discipline. The study highlights the need for adaptable citation instruction and suggests that further research is needed to assess citation education across various educational levels and institutions.
Some librarians during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions heard direct and anecdotal evidence of researchers wanting to do evidence synthesis, such as systematic or scoping reviews, to either supplement or temporarily replace their now unavailable or restricted research agenda. Using Scopus data from 2013-2022, the quantity and percentage increase from the previous year for both review articles and all article types were examined for all institutions and for The Ohio State University. The results show that there was a much larger increase in review article output around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years, and compared to all journal articles. These increases indicate the potential use of review articles as a supplement or substitution for normal research agendas that faced restrictions. Subject areas were examined to identify which saw the highest percentage increases of review articles. Finally, journal titles that were heavy players in publishing these review articles were also identified.
Digital Imagine and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images, although most commonly used in medical settings, have been widely adopted by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for capturing images of the internal components in a nuclear weapon. DICOMs, a lesser-known file format that combine nested metadata structures with complex image data-including multiple planes, frames, and high resolution-require the creation of access copies to support usability within the DOE. Used primarily for ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)’s DICOM images and corresponding image metadata must be accessible to scientists and researchers via our institutional centralized databases. This paper describes the author's creation of a Python script that converts DICOM images into accessible, archive-friendly TIFF files while preserving key image data and metadata.
This paper considers the educational benefits of ongoing collaboration between university lecturers and librarians supporting students within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The particular focus of the paper is the collaborative provision of guidance on the appropriate and ethical use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for academic work. This paper makes a new contribution to the literature because it explores the working relationship between librarians and faculty colleagues in an information landscape influenced by quickly developing AI technology. The authors comprise two lecturers supporting engineering and sport science subject areas, together with their respective academic liaison librarians. The authors collaborate on student support, which is a partnership seldom experienced within STEM subjects at the university. The paper argues that providing students advice on the appropriate and ethical use of artificial intelligence in higher education may act as a driver for increased collaboration between STEM lecturers and librarians.
Critical information literacy (CIL) is a theory and practice that considers the sociopolitical dimensions of information and knowledge production. As the field of geospatial information evolves, equipping librarians with the skills to critically engage with geospatial information becomes integral to facilitating informed research, promoting spatial literacy, and strengthening the accessibility of geospatial data for their user communities. To understand geospatial data librarians’ current involvement in CIL, librarians were surveyed to examine if they incorporate CIL into their instruction, how they incorporate CIL into their instruction, and what are the benefits and challenges of doing so. The survey gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. Forty-five responses were analyzed and 26 (57.8%) indicated that they incorporated CIL into their geospatial instruction. Respondents highlighted the use of critical thinking exercises, discussions of bias and representation in maps, and exploration of the social and political implications of geospatial data. While respondents indicated the benefits of incorporating CIL are significant, challenges included limited time and resources, resistance from users, and the need for ongoing professional development.
Academic library programs and services can be challenging to sustain in the face of staffing turnover, financial constraints, and gaps in expertise. In this reflection, the authors discuss strategies for sustaining programs and how to foster growth of services over time. The success and evolution of a dedicated open science program at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries has depended upon forming partnerships, both internal and external to the university, and hiring postdocs with deep disciplinary expertise and fresh perspectives on open science. The authors also share practical advice for successfully recruiting postdocs in academic libraries.
Academic librarians strive to provide quality support for faculty researchers. Existing content analysis of top-ranking university libraries’ websites revealed the main types of research services provided by academic librarians. But what specific services do STEM faculty consider essential for their research needs? What are the most effective communication methods to convey research service information to STEM faculty? How do STEM faculty follow cutting-edge developments in their fields? Do STEM faculty value information provided by bibliometric tools? This study attempts to answer the above questions through interviews with 30 STEM faculty at a medium-sized R1 university. Patterns in each discipline and across all interviews were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis to capture both semantic/surface and latent/implicit meanings of participants’ comments. Findings demonstrate that their data management needs go beyond a plan template, and they do not prioritize open access publishing. Along with their communication preference, current awareness of tool preferences and perceptions of bibliometric tools, and research impact evaluation are shared.
Recent research shows a disparity in citation rates between articles authored by women and the expected citations rates in several scientific disciplines. The gender imbalance in citation lists has prompted the development of digital tools aimed at helping authors identify gender bias in their references lists. This article examines three tools designed to mitigate gender disparities in citations: the Gender Citation Balance Index (GCBI) GCBI-alyzer for the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (JoCN), the Citation Transparency (v0.0.8) browser extension for Chrome, and the Gage directory by 500 Women Scientists. The paper also explores how science librarians can contribute to raising awareness of citation bias and the digital tools available to address it.
Wind energy has emerged as a leading renewable energy source globally, offering a promising solution to the current energy crisis and a pathway to sustainable development. This study provides an in-depth examination of wind energy research publications, focusing on sustainable development, and socio-economic challenges. Using bibliometric techniques, the research analyzed published wind energy studies from 1996 to 2024, examining publication year, authorship, affiliation, publication title, country of origin, and alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings reveal a significant surge in total research publications, with a marked increase around 2018 and a dramatic acceleration in 2020. Research from 166 countries is represented, with China, the USA, and India leading the way in research publications. The majority of publications fall under “Energy Fuels and Green Sustainable Science Technology”, with SDG 7 (Clean and Affordable Energy) being the primary focus. To support the growing demand for wind energy research, libraries at institutions specializing in wind energy research may use this analysis to review their collections, identify areas for expansion or enhancement. Particular attention should be given to resources addressing community acceptance, a critical socio-economic factor in wind energy adoption.
Abstract Objective COVID-19 challenged information exchanged globally, including interlibrary loan (ILL) procedures and processes. This research focused on resource-sharing networks used by Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify changes in ILL and Document Delivery (DD) processes both in lending and borrowing. Methods From nine academic and association HSL who had participated in a prior study of DOCLINE usage, researchers requested institutional-level de-identified data on ILL and DD during the early pandemic period March-August 2020 and the comparison period of March-August 2019. We compared the journal article request data with previously reported findings from DOCLINE aggregated data. Results Regarding the number of requests from the nine institutions, five saw a decrease, while four saw an increase. The average rate of journal borrowing decreased by 67.1% (standard deviation (SD) 31.7%) per library, and lending decreased on average by 44.7% (SD 68.2%) per library. Document delivery, on average, decreased by only 1.9%, though this varied widely (SD 45.5%). For the data on monographs loaned during the pandemic, there was a predominance of single request titles unfilled across 2019 and 2020 (n = 1631; 93.5%). Conclusion The predominance of single request titles unfilled during the pandemic when libraries limited their sharing of physical materials argues for a deeper exploration of controlled digital lending of materials held in print. The findings across this study and its related investigations (Lloyd et al., 2022; Bakker et al., 2023) on the impact of the pandemic on resource sharing can inform and enhance preparedness planning, future resource sharing workflows and messaging, budgeting, evidence-based collection development, and dialog with content copyright holders about digitization priorities.
Research support demonstrates the value of academic libraries and librarians. Recent studies have revealed that research support has been evolving from traditional citation analysis to advanced library services such as research field trend/frontiers analysis and talent evaluation. Using a powerful bibliometric tool CiteSpace and “active matter” as an example, co-citation network analysis illustrates how to identify research trends, active research areas, and intellectual turning point publications. Unique features in CiteSpace are discussed, which were absent from case studies of other major science mapping/bibliometric tools used by librarians. Science and engineering librarians should be able to apply this technique to other research fields.
Academic librarians do not engage with all disciplinary departments equally. Despite equal or even greater efforts, some departments are less responsive to librarian outreach. One such department is mathematics. To understand mathematics departments’ relationships with their academic librarians, three mathematics librarians created a 20-question survey that was disseminated to mathematics faculty, instructors, and instructional staff in the United States and Canada. Of the 188 survey participants, more than a third reported that they never engage with their librarians, approximately half only do so occasionally, and a mere eight percent of participants collaborated with librarians to provide information literacy instruction (IL) to their students. Participant responses revealed that mathematics faculty and instructors find librarian support unnecessary, often do not understand what librarians do or what services they offer and have limited time to include IL in course curricula. Participants also provided information about the resources they use for instruction, the university services and centers they use for their research, and the resources they would like to have in their library.
The information behaviors of professionals in their workplaces, including those related to various fields of engineering, have been widely studied. However, the information behaviors of marine engineers have not been examined. This study used a qualitative approach to collect data by conducting 13 in-depth interviews with marine engineers living in the United States. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify the information needs, information types and formats used, the methods for verifying information, and the information communication practices used by marine engineers. The study found that many information behaviors of marine engineers align with other research on engineers. However, the results demonstrate that the working conditions at sea and in the maritime industry also create unique challenges, such as needing information for emergency or unexpected situations, a lack of access to information due to crew turnover, and lack of digitized or current versions of information. These results indicate that further research should investigate ways that the maritime industry can improve access to information and better prepare students for information use in this industry.
Through content analysis, this study identifies the information resources frequently included in Engineering Education Research (EER) library research guides from universities with very high research activity. Conducted in September 2024, the analysis includes 15 research guides containing a total of 494 distinct information resources appearing 718 times. The study presents information on the most frequently appearing books, conferences and conference repositories, journals, research databases, software tools, societies, and websites. In general, there was limited overlap among the information resources included in the guides. However, a few resources, such as ERIC, Compendex, and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conferences and paper repository, appeared on many of the guides. These findings can serve as a useful reference for librarians involved in EER collection development, research guide creation, and supporting scholars in the field.
The goal of our study is to update the data on the state of science libraries at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions and compare our data to previous studies. In 2023, 67% of the 120 ARL libraries had a science library. 152 science libraries remain open at ARL member institutions in Canada and the United States. Our findings show libraries are continuing to consolidate into multidisciplinary science libraries. Along with providing the highlights from our study, we also provide an updated dataset in Dataverse for other libraries to use in their own benchmarking studies.
This pilot study explores how agricultural sciences faculty utilize Digital Learning Objects (DLOs) in their courses and collaborate with librarians to improve students’ information literacy skills. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 14 agricultural sciences faculty members at two land-grant institutions in the United States. The identified key themes from the interviews include the current use of DLOs, challenges in their implementation, and the impact on student learning outcomes. Findings reveal that faculty recognize the value of DLOs for fostering independent learning and improving information literacy skills. However, there are challenges related to technical issues and the need for ongoing librarian support. The study highlights not only the importance of collaboration between faculty and librarians in developing effective DLOs, but also DLOs’ potential to meet the evolving instruction needs in agricultural education. These insights can guide future efforts to enhance the role of DLOs in academic settings, ultimately contributing to a more information-literate and capable agricultural workforce. The findings of the study will also benefit librarians who liaise with agricultural sciences faculty or are responsible for DLO creation.
