Short and sweet article from Christopher Erdmann, head librarian at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, with some salient points on reconfiguring the research library space and services for today’s research environment:
- “If we’re able to offer a tool…that tips off a researcher’s interest and causes him or her to run back to an office or study carrel or computer and say “Eureka!” then we’re making a strong argument for the library as a place.”
- “What’s more, if we’re able to train our librarians to make research easier in an increasingly data-driven environment, we’re making a good case for our services…We often hear from scientists that most of their time is spent finding, integrating, cleaning and transforming data – not analyzing it…this seems like ideal work for librarians who are prepared to assist in the research, teaching and learning process.”
Shu Liu says
September 8, 2014 at 5:24 pmlove the quotes. also the list of tools!