Library and Information Science Commons^™

An Introduction To The University Of Otago Library Capability Framework And What Its Data Reveals About The Capabilities Required By Researcher-Facing Librarians Delivering Inside-Out Services., Shiobhan Smith

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

Lorcan Dempsey has coined the term “inside-out” to describe how academic libraries are increasingly supporting the processes of research at their institutions (Dempsey, 2016). Digital scholarship, changes in scholarly communication practices, advancing technology, and the growing use of bibliometrics for research evaluation, are fuelling the evolution of library research support services. Researcher-facing librarians are increasingly being required to upskill and engage with the research process at deeper, more technical, levels. In 2019 a project commenced at the University of Otago Library to gather information about the knowledge, skills, abilities and attributes of researcher-facing librarians performing inside-out tasks. Various job descriptions …