The University Library as a Key Player in the Research Evaluation Process

摘要

The University Library holds a long-established place as a key part of academic research infrastructure. For centuries, the library has been responsible for acquiring and providing access to records of the world’s scholarship. The advent of electronic information resources has brought profound change to the idea of the university library. The curatorial and mediation functions of library staff with respect to formally published knowledge are increasingly marginalised. Librarians, however, have been educated in a body of professional knowledge that is central to many aspects of research and scholarship in an electronic world. Understanding the research process, mapping the published outputs of research and modelling citation patterns are all fundamental aspects of a research librarian’s armoury. In this paper the opportunity for librarians to be central players in the research valuation process will be set out, and a new vision for the future of the research library will be described.