Collaboration between university libraries and the research community in Ireland

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Collaboration between university libraries and
the research community in Ireland

• Sean Phillips
• 4th UNICA seminar, Prague, 15 May 2008

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The background

• Main factors in economic development
• Change in economic policy (1950s)
• Investment in education (1960s and 1970s)
• EU membership (from 1973)
• Investment in research (from 2000)
• and also
• Social partnership
• Tax policy
• Geography, demography, language

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GNP per capita 1975-2003 Ireland and other
advanced economies
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
Source World Bank, 2003
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The policy agendas

• National agenda
• a knowledge-based society and economy
• European Union agenda
• the Lisbon strategy (2000) to make the EU "the
  most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven
  economy by 2010"
• Framework FP7 (2007-2013) affirms that the
  'knowledge triangle' - research, education and
  innovation - is a core factor in meeting the
  ambitious Lisbon goals.

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National Development Plan 2000-2006

• Enterprise and development component
• Technology Foresight fund (646m)
• Administered by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
• Education component
• Programme for Research in Third-Level
  Institutions (605m)
• Administered by the Higher Education Authority
  (HEA)

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National Development Plan 2006-2013

• Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation
• 8,200m in total, including
• SFI funds
• HEA funds
• EU funds
• Other public funds
• Private sector funds
• Doubling of PhDs by 2013

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Public Investment in RD
Billion
Hypothetical
NDP 2000-2006 Total 4.0B
NDP 2007-2013 Total 8.2B
Sources Historical - State Expenditure on RD
2005-6, Forfás. Future CSA estimates based on
NDP.
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Studies and reviews

• OECD Review of Higher Education in Ireland (2004)
• Irish Universities Association Reform of 3rd
  level and creation of 4th level Ireland securing
  competitive advantage in the 21st century (2005)
• Higher Education Authority Review of Research
  Infrastructure (2007)
• Royal Irish Academy Advancing Humanities and
  Social Sciences Research in Ireland (2007)

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and the response

• The Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) - 300m,
  2005-2010, to be applied to
• Institutional restructuring and reform
• Teaching and learning reforms
• Quality improvement initiatives
• Inter-institutional collaboration
• Improved performance management systems
• Management information systems

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The university libraries

• University College Dublin
• Trinity College Dublin
• Dublin City University
• National University of Ireland Maynooth
• National University of Ireland Galway
• University College Cork
• University of Limerick
• Acting together, the IUA (Irish Universities
  Association) Librarians Group

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Collaborative priorities

• National on-line journals resource
• Open-access repositories
• Federated search facility
• Digitisation

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The research stakeholders

• Deans (Vice-Presidents) of Research
• Research Support Offices
• Researchers (academic staff, postgraduate and
  postdoctoral students)
• Deans of Graduate Studies
• Irish Universities Association
• Science Foundation Ireland
• Higher Education Authority

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IReL Irish Research e-Library

• About 30,000 e-journals
• Contents determined by librarians and researchers
• Centrally funded (by SFI and HEA)
• Centrally managed (by university librarians)
• STM component 20.25m for 2004-2008
• HSS component 15m for 2006-2009

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IRel Management Relationships
IUA Librarians Group
Publishers
Funders HEA SFI
CCL
IRIS Ltd.
IUA Libraries
Steering Group Monitoring Group Licensing
Group Web Site Group
Local Promotion
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IReL-Open

• Open access promotion
• IUA (Irish Universities Association) statement
• SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) and IRCSET
  (Research Council for Science, Engineering and
  Technology) mandates
• OA repositories in each university
• National portal
• Three-year project 2007-2009
• Links with universities research management
  systems
• Funded from the strategic innovation fund

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IVRLA Irish Virtual Research Library and
Archive

• Digitise materials from 4 separate repositories
• University Library Special Collections
• Irish Folklore Archive
• School of History and Archives
• School of Irish
• In a range of formats
• Print, manuscript, graphic, photographic, audio
  and video
• Establish storage, management integration
  systems
• Develop a researcher-oriented interface
• Personalised and customisable
• User-defined and recommender services
• Annotation facilities
• Study costs, legal aspects, digital curation
• Scalable and transferable

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IVRLA Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive

• 2.1m over 5 years (2004-2009) from PRTLI
• Managed by, and based in, University Library
• Co-operation with Directors of Repositories
• Co-operation with Heads of relevant academic
  departments
• Consultation with researchers

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Planned developments

• Extending IReL to the entire research community
• Single federated search system for all research
  libraries
• Inclusion of digital theses in OA repositories
• Retrodigitisation of print theses

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Libraries moving centre-stage?

• Virtual learning environments
• Information skills training for undergraduates
  and researchers
• Research initiatives (e.g. IVRLA, IReL,
  IReL-Open)
• Fundamental shift in the nature of our engagement
  with the academic community
• Sharing of the mission
• From support to partner

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More opportunities

• Digital Humanities Observatory
• Collaborative, led by Royal Irish Academy
• Foras Feasa
• Collaborative, led by National University of
  Ireland Maynooth
• Long Room Hub
• Institutional, Trinity College Dublin

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and more challenges

• Developing further academic/researcher
  partnerships
• Developing research-focussed tools
• Continuation of financial support
• Providing for non-priority subjects