Getting to Know You – Supporting Research Through Communication and Collaboration

Abstract

Background. Communication and collaboration are important skills for academic librarians offering research support. When everyday meetings are not possible, as during the Covid-19 pandemic, academic librarians are forced to develop new ways of supporting students and faculty. Traditional library expertise in literature searching and bibliometric complemented with newer skills of analytics, visualization and literature mapping of a field can help librarians to get acquainted and communicate with the researchers they provide research support to. Objectives. This article presents the result of an effort to map out trends and changes in research and publication patterns in a university department over a 10-year time period (2009-2019), which reflect both developments in the department as well as the external environment. Further, the article discusses how this can help liaison librarians to communicate with faculty and provide more relevant and effective research support. Methods. A document analysis was carried out on the publications of a department faculty to trace how research has developed in a growing department with different subjects and disciplines. Results. The analysis found a trend of research the department becoming more international, with more publications in open access. Even though research in the department is becoming more interdisciplinary, there is a trend of sociology research moving towards a purer form of sociology, and away from a previous focus on sociology and social work as a joint research interest. Furthermore, social work research has also developed a stronger focus on child welfare, and the teacher education staff has increased their publications in several focus areas. Contributions. This article contributes to the field of research support, showing how mapping the research in a university department can help liaison librarians in face-to-face communication with faculty as well as in online interactions.