Northern university library invests in library services for research

Abstract

Today researchers have many administrative tasks in addition to the actual research work. Oulu University Library seeks to find ways to help researchers with these tasks and release most of their time for actual research, instead of administrative work.

Open science requires constant development of new services in the library. One example is the self-archiving service. The University of Oulu open access repository Jultika was established at the end of 2016. The library’s information specialists contribute to the academic recruitment process by providing bibliometric analyses. Electronic thesis work requires monitoring and often guidance as well. Digitalization does not mean that all human help and contribution is redundant just yet.

The cornerstone of library services are naturally the library collections. In Oulu University Library, the majority of the information resources provided by the library – especially the new ones – are electronic. Providing excellent journal and book collections for the use of universityresearch requires resources: acquisition and budgetary expertise.

Spreading knowledge about the various library services among busy researchers is often challenging and requires new skills and ways of working from the library staff. This presentation describes the present state of Oulu University Library’s services for researchers and gives a glimpse of what the future may entail.