Practical Tips for Facilitating Research

Abstract

One thing I've learned from reading this excellent book is that research librarians don't support research, they facilitate it. By describing their role as facilitation, Moira J. Bent emphasizes the contribution librarians make to the research process.Bent is a faculty liaison librarian and National Teaching Fellow at Newcastle University (UK), so she has great experience assisting researchers with their research. She has compiled a large number of tips and tricks which can be used by librarians in the real world. It is a useful, helpful guide for increasing researchers' use of the library and shows how library staff can be promoted as facilitators of research.The book is designed to be consulted as required, not read from cover to cover, but that is how I read it on a flight over a couple of hours. With my colored tags, I have a rainbow of points highlighted that I can adapt to my library situation. As part of a series designed to provide "practical guides for the busy professional," this text succeeds in telling you "what you need to know to make a quick impact" in the research area (quotes from back cover). There is a very detailed reference list, including many websites. The book contains many tips and examples provided by actual librarians in the research field of how they have used certain points effectively in their own libraries.The strength of the book is the number of ideas provided. Every section has multiple tips that can be adapted for use in just about any library situation. Although many of the examples come from larger, multi-staffed, often university libraries, I feel I can adapt many of them to my small, one-person, special library. I think some specific ideas for smaller libraries would be helpful, but the ones that are provided can be scaled down to suit most library situations.As someone who is just starting out on the library research facilitation journey, I rate this book very highly for others in the same situation. I also think it would be very useful for experienced research facilitators with many ideas for facing all sorts of situations in facilitating research and advancing the library's role within it.The intended audience is the experienced library and information professional involved with assisting researchers, be they faculty or student researchers, from all levels of experience with research. If you have students starting to do research (bachelor, master, or doctoral) or experienced, well-published researchers to work with on staff, there are sure to be tips you can apply to your situation to increase your library's facilitation of research at your institution.

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