Like many countries, in New Zealand the ability to demonstrate your university’s research performance and the quality and impact of its research outputs has become increasingly important as this influences government funding, as well as national and international rankings. In this highly competitive environment Victoria University of Wellington has responded with an ambitious 20 year strategic plan which explicitly aims to enhance its research quality, quantity and impact. So, how does Victoria University of Wellington Library contribute to the University’s research priorities and goals?
While it may be obvious to many that the University Library has an important role to play in supporting research and arguably contributing to the overall success of the University’s research outputs, this view has not always been shared by all academics or researchers, nor for that matter, all Library staff. This paper will look at how the Library has responded and shown it clearly has a role to play in supporting the University’s research goals.
Recognising the need to be more closely aligned to the University’s priorities and direction the Library underwent a structural change and refocus in 2011. This resulted in the Library becoming more explicit about how it supports research, and to enable it to deliver on this it has incrementally built up its services and capability. This paper will cover how the Library has identified and developed its research support services and capability over the past five years, and demonstrated through initiatives and collaborations why it has a crucial role to play in helping the University achieve its research goals.
The paper will also discuss how the Library plans to further develop and embed research support services to ensure it remains relevant and is strategically aligned to the University’s research endeavours.
