Research Libraries UK, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, invites colleagues to contribute to a major scoping study regarding the role of academic and research libraries as active participants and leaders in the production of scholarly research. This scoping study will explore the experience and expertise held within academic and research libraries to lead and partner in multi-disciplinary research projects, and it will identify the opportunities and challenges associated with this work. This research will make recommendations to the AHRC and the wider research community in terms of enabling library staff to be active partners and leaders in the production of academic and scholarly research, and will identify the potential for collective action between research and academic libraries to enable this.

Call for participants

We actively encourage colleagues working across the academic and scholarly community to contribute to this study and to share their experiences of working in partnership with colleagues within an academic or research library, and the opportunities and challenges this might bring. We also wish to hear from colleagues who would like to formally partner with colleagues working within an academic or research library, for example within a funded research application, but may perceive barriers in doing so.

Although this research will focus on research within arts, humanities, and social sciences, it is not restricted to these fields. We therefore welcome participation from academics and scholars involved in inter- and multidisciplinary research, and within other subject areas.

Register your interest

We are have recently issued an invitation to colleagues (https://bit.ly/3mfe32Q) to register their interest in participating in this research. Please register your details on the RLUK website if you would be willing to be contacted by the contractor appointed to undertake this work. The research phase will begin in early February and the project will be completed by the end of June.

In particular, we would like to encourage academic colleagues who have:·

• Experience of working as partners with an academic or research library on a research project where the library has been a named as a formal research partner (e.g. as a Co-I or equivalent).
• Experience of working with an academic or research library on a research project where the library has not been named as a formal research partner but has played an integral part in the project through the skills and expertise of its staff
• Experience of working on a research project where the library has been named as leader (e.g. as principal investigator).· Would like to partner with a research or academic library in a research project (whether funded or unfunded) but perceive barriers preventing this.

Please do enter your details in the Google form on the RLUK website if you would be willing to contribute to this study and please do forward this to any colleagues who also might also be willing to share their experiences.Please do not hesitate to get in contact with Matt Greenhall (matthew.greenhall@rluk.ac.uk) directly if you have any questions about this work.