Digital Scholarship services and supports - an overview from Irish Research and National Libraries

This report contains results of a 2018 survey of Digital Scholarship services and supports - an overview from Irish Research and National Libraries.

In February 2018, the Consortium of National and University Libraries (CONUL) Research Group organised a survey of Irish research libraries and institutions to better understand how we currently structure digital scholarship services and supports. Libraries are still struggling to use a shared language for digital scholarship, therefore it is useful to think of digital scholarship as an umbrella term; used to define a set of functions and services that enable newer forms of scholarship in universities and other research institutions. This is often within the digital arena and can encompass: library-focused research support, open access, digital repositories, digital exhibitions, project management, digital publishing, metadata, impact, discovery, digital preservation, identifiers, copyright, data management, and research metrics.

The main aim of the survey was to identify current approaches to digital scholarship services and supports in Irish research and national libraries. What roles exist, what services are provided, and what gaps there are. In addition, we focused on how can CONUL help progress, improve, and institutionalise digital scholarship in Irish research institutions. The overall goal was to better understand how we currently structure digital scholarship services and supports and to collate information about existing digital scholarship activity in Irish research libraries. Results will be used to facilitate knowledge sharing between CONUL libraries and contribute towards the next steps taken by the CONUL Research Group.