Redefining the British Library's role in the research information cycle
World-class research and innovation are critical to society for the economic, social, cultural and intellectual benefits they bring. Every stage of the research and innovation process depends upon the efficient and effective flow of information. New technologies are transforming the ways in which information is created, disseminated, stored, and accessed. Our challenge as the national library and a key component in the UK’s research infrastructure is to strengthen the close ties we have with others in the knowledge network so that we can continue to underpin the UK’s contribution to world-class scholarship, creativity and business innovation. By working with others we can guarantee that everyone doing research – today and in the future – has access to the full range of information they need, wherever and whenever they need it.
Helping people access information
Trends
Although the Google generation expects swift and easy online access to all the information it wants, researchers are clear that there will always be some fields of study where they will continue to need access to the real documents
in traditional Reading Rooms.
The British Library
We’re well placed to support both, with an international reputation for our Document Supply and Reading Room services. Now we’re joining these onsite and online services together to give our different user groups effective access to the full range of resources during the different phases of their research. Our collection and services increasingly support interdisciplinary work. Operating within the copyright framework and licensed by the publishers, we deliver documents globally, direct to the desktops of academic, commercial and personal researchers. We’ve digitised thousands of primary source texts, and bulk digitisation programmes are in preparation. We continue to develop the responsiveness of our teams of collection experts, who are able to guide and advise researchers in their integrated use of the print and digital collection.
Creating knowledge through research
Trends
Research is carried out in many ways, from the physicist analysing vast quantities of data using grid computing to the medieval historian poring over the fine details of a fragile manuscript. New technologies have generated new techniques, prompted interdisciplinary research, and transformed fields of investigation by enabling access to massive online datasets. Two factors have remained common across all subjects. One is the need to access information sources throughout the research process; the other is the need to synthesise findings into a form that can be shared.
The British Library
Our collection experts contribute to knowledge creation in their interactions with external researchers, and also in the research they undertake on the collection. However, primary research is not a core function of the Library and we don’t traditionally generate a large amount of intellectual property; instead our focus is on supporting others’ research.
Publishing and disseminating research outputs
Trends
Researchers put their new ideas into circulation. This may be by the formal process of publishing a monograph or peer-reviewed article, giving a paper at a conference, submitting data to a central database, or informally exchanging findings with colleagues. Changes taking place in the ways in which researchers are disseminating their work include Open Access publishing and subject-based or institutional repositories.
The British Library
The Library’s role is to support varied forms of research output, working with publishers and other information providers. We’re participating in a number of collaborative projects with higher education to establish digital repositories and create the tools that will underpin them. An example is our involvement in the development of a national e-thesis service. Such projects enable us to extend our dissemination activity beyond our traditional publishing programme.
Aggregating research information
Trends
Bringing information together has always been important to enable researchers to survey the full range of thought that exists in their field. If critical material is unavailable, their results may be flawed – and no researcher wants to reinvent the wheel.
The British Library
Selecting and collecting the range of material required for current and future research is core to our purpose. We’re refining our approach in order to meet the needs of current and future researchers in the hybrid world where print and digital information mix so freely. We’re defining policies for handling electronic resources, in partnership with the legal deposit libraries, publishers and the Research Libraries Network. With other stakeholders, we’re looking at the practicalities of harvesting the UK web domain, testing the appropriate technology, frequency and selection criteria. We’re working on a pilot scheme to test the infrastructure for deposit of e-journals, under the aegis of the Joint Committee on Legal Deposit.
Storing and preserving research information
Trends
Society progresses by building on the record of ideas, and libraries play a central role in preserving our intellectual memory. Where the record is on paper, the task is understood, the solutions generally agreed. It’s a more complex challenge when the record is digital.
The British Library
We continue to develop expertise and technological applications to improve our paper conservation methods. Meanwhile, success in the digital environment will be the result of national and international collaboration, and we are working with the core research base, including the Digital Preservation Coalition, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the National Archives and the UK Research Councils to solve the substantial technical challenges associated with long-term storage of the electronic record. We’re building the National Digital Library with help from Microsoft and other partners, and with input from an international technical advisory panel comprising public and private sector experts. UK web activity is one element of the digital record, and the Library is a lead member of the UK Web Archiving Consortium, and of its international counterpart. On an experimental basis we’ve been archiving selected sites to build experience and test storage, security and fail-safe mechanisms that guarantee the long term integrity of the stored material.
Enabling search and navigation
Trends
The growing volume of information published is causing many researchers to complain of information overload. Helping people find what they need when they need it is critical, whilst the ability to link different types of information (e.g. journal articles and the datasets that underpin them) is increasingly important.
The British Library
The traditional approach to resource discovery (helping researchers find the materials they need) focuses on producing catalogue records (or metadata
for digital information). We have a strong history here of underpinning the national production of catalogue data through the British National Bibliography, and in the provision of free online access to our catalogues. Some 13 million items are recorded in our Integrated Catalogue and we continue to improve its effectiveness and extend its coverage. New approaches to search and navigation explore relationships between text-based materials. These have a huge potential to open up new fields of scholarship and research, and to this end we’re currently testing developments with academic and commercial partners who are responsible for major advances in search engine and text mining technology.
