SPEC Kit 343: Library Support for Faculty/Researcher Publishing · 11
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
This survey investigated the level and variety of ser-
vices ARL libraries are providing to support, facili-
tate, and participate in the publishing activities of the
faculty and researchers they serve. The survey was
distributed to ARL member libraries in June 2014.
Seventy-one libraries at 70 of the 125 member institu-
tions (56%) responded by the July 7 deadline.
Library involvement with scholarly publishing be-
gins, naturally and historically, with the stages lead-
ing up to publication: researching, writing, and deter-
mining place of publication. These areas are therefore
addressed first in the survey and this summary, with
a natural progression to library facilitation of open
access publishing, and the most recent phenomenon:
library as publisher. However, survey results, as dis-
cussed below, indicate that even where libraries are
not acting as publishers, they are active participants in
the scholarly publishing process. Libraries routinely
engage with curating and marketing faculty publica-
tions whether they are published by the library or by
a traditional publisher, resulting in stronger ties with
academics across campus.
Library Services that Support the Research
Process
The most traditional library publishing services are
in areas that support the research process. Sixty-eight
of the responding libraries (96%) provide document
delivery services and train faculty on how to conduct
a literature search 65 provide traditional bibliographic
search services (92%) and 58 identify articles for litera-
ture reviews (82%). These are high, but not unexpected
numbers because this type of support for faculty has
long been a mainstay in academic libraries. The newest
service with a high uptake is management of schol-
arly identity through an identification system such as
ORCID or VIVO 40 libraries (56%) provide this service.
Evidence of librarian involvement in research and
publishing suggests that librarians write or assist
with writing literature reviews rather than simply
provide research to support the writing of these re-
views however, survey results indicate than fewer
than one-third of the libraries are actually engaged
in this service. Respondents’ comments indicate that
there is a distinction between medical and academic
libraries. Medical librarians appear to provide the
greatest assistance with writing literature reviews
through their clinical work. Further research should
investigate if those librarians who are writing litera-
ture reviews are also listed on the appropriate grant
and/or given author credit on the research articles.
Respondents identified an interesting mix of ad-
ditional services to support the research process,
such as uploading articles to the IR and assisting in
data management planning, services that were asked
about in the latter part of the survey. Librarians also
provide DOI’s to researchers, teach researchers and
graduate students to search primary source materials
within the libraries’ various collections, and provide
personal content management systems for manage-
ment of articles and citations.
Library Services that Support the Writing Process
Libraries are not only supporting faculty writing but
also participating as co-authors with faculty. While
it’s unsurprising that 70 of 71 libraries provide cita-
tion management software and training, the number
of libraries responding that their librarians are serv-
ing as primary and secondary authors in non-library