Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries

Libraries have long stood on the shifting sands of change. The key to survival has been to understand that change and meet it at the point of need. Starr Hoffman's work provides a road map to that change as academic reference librarians make the shift to academic research support librarians. She emphasizes that the traditional role focused on discovery and instructional services has moved into the realm of a broader encompassment of exploration , learning, and collaboration. This evolving world of interdisci-plinary cooperation across departments and disciplines in academia places librarians to use our essential expertise in collection development , metadata, reference, and instruction to meet the needs of our subject-based faculty colleagues. No matter what the library size or budget, librarians can contribute. Hoffman's book is a valuable guide. Although there exist many books on reference, research support and learning, and related initi-atives—such as data services, digital humanities support, and data management—Hoffman seeks to provide illustrative examples of those services as correlated, emerging models of research support in one volume. Hoffman, head of planning and assessment at the knows her environment. This book does not limit itself to biomedical libraries or disciplines but spans the social sciences and humanities as well. Research is not the purview of one discipline or one country. Chapter contributors are international and come from both large academic institutions and smaller specialized projects. Research support is not " one size fits all. " First, Hoffman defines the landscape and the essential terminology. In the introduction, she demonstrates a clear understanding of the nature of current reference and information services. Librarians find that reference sessions can quickly evolve into custom consultations on information literacy, the interpretation of quantitative statistics, methods of sharing research, or relative measurements of altmetrics. Librarians are also expanding liaison services to support open access publishing, data management, and digitalization projects. Instructional techniques are also shifting. Guided inquiry encourages students to ask questions to solve problems. Inquiry as conversation ties to the critical librarianship (critlib) movement in information literacy, encouraging students to think critically and challenge traditional authoritative sources. Hoffman discusses the need for an exploratory culture, in which librarians are trained and encouraged to take creative risks in the redesign of services. A culture of assessment where all staff understand and contribute as partners creates an environment of proac-tive change; just as central are collaboration and engagement with the university, expanding the …