Targeted provision: support for researchers at the University of Huddersfield

Many universities have a dedicated Research Officer to organise training and support for researchers. In the absence of such a role and in view of the growing importance of research within the University, the Support for Researchers group was set up at the University of Huddersfield to consider ways in which Computing and Library Services (CLS) could better support researchers. Membership of the group is designed to take in views from across the university and therefore includes academic staff and members of the Research and Enterprise office as well as CLS staff.

One of the major means of supporting researchers is targeted training in the form of a half day ‘Support for Research’ session. Sessions are always full, an indication of the demand for dedicated training for researchers. Some of the topics covered are: searching for literature online; current awareness; raising awareness of our archives and Interlibrary Loan services; and managing references using EndNote and open source reference management software such as Zotero and Mendeley.

As a result of surveys conducted among our research community, it became clear that many struggled with our previous research tool. The introduction of our new revolutionary research tool, Summon, has simplified the research process and allows researchers to quickly search and access high quality content.
Other innovations overseen by the group have included The Repository and a Mobile Desktop service. The Repository exists to complement the existing publishing process, enabling wide and rapid dissemination of research. Mobile Desktop enables researchers to access their university desktop from off campus, including dedicated research resources such as EndNote and SPSS .
Of interest to library staff, academics and researchers this presentation will give an overview of the ways in which an academic library can play a vital role in developing and supporting our researchers.