In 2005, the Library at UNSW began a comprehensive restructuring process that fundamentally changed the provision of services to its academic community. A primary aim of this process was to increase flexibility of service development and delivery and so to improve research support. The motivation for reformed services arose from considerations including the University Library need to realign its services to support the university's strategic goals, the increasingly competitive nature of the research environment, the introduction of the RQF/ERA, and a renewed emphasis on research outcomes by UNSW. The measurement of research impact using bibliometrics was seen as a strategy for supporting UNSW researchers. University Library staff consulted the bibliometrics literature and apropriate methodologies were devised to measure the impact of publications, authors and departments. The result was the creation of a Research Impact Measurement Service (RIMS) that now produces over 30 reports every month and employs 6-7 full time equivalent staff. Most of the reports are used to support promotion, grants, and institutional comparisons. This research support service also informs and improves the performance of such traditional library activities as collection development. RIMS is now integral to the measurement of research outputs at UNSW, and has significantly raised the profile of the Library throughout the academic community. AARL June 2009 vol 40 no 2 pp76-87
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For the past seven years, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Library has delivered a service to the university's research community known as RIMS, the Research Impact Measurement Service. The service was designed to support research outcomes through the measurement of publishing impact, both for authors and departmental units. Since its inception in 2007, the service has evolved to meet the needs of researchers and the changing research landscape. The emergence of smarter tools and systems, the impact of the networked environment; changes in scholarly communication and bibliometrics have all contributed to its evolution. This paper will discuss the development of the service, including the imperative to take an agile approach in an ever changing research environment.
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AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which e-books fit the needs of medical academics of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the performance of their academic tasks. Design/methodology/approach -A web-based survey was distributed to all UNSW academics in medicine, and 224 completed responses were analyzed according to the attributes of a task-technology fit (TTF) model developed for e-books in academic settings. Findings -Although the UNSW Library had access to Ͼ 225,000 e-books, usage by medical academics was relatively low (38 per cent); however, most (92 per cent) predicted that they would be using e-books within the next five years. Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) had portable devices including smartphones, and 90 per cent rated the ability to search across full text in an e-book of moderate-to-high importance. Research tasks dominated the use of e-books, and 71 per cent agreed that e-books helped improve their overall productivity. Research limitation/implications -Only 224 (8 per cent) of 2,790 medical academics at UNSW participated in the study. The low response rate and over-representation of research only academics limit the extent of generalization of the findings. Originality/value -This is the first study on the use of e-books among academics in the Faculty of Medicine -comprising nearly 64 per cent of all UNSW academic staff. The findings highlight the extent of e-books used by medical academics and their enthusiasm for access to digital resources. There is also the suggestion that the library must continue to develop services to ensure delivery of task-compatible e-books to medical academics in increasingly mobile environments.
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