Editorial

Are our libraries genuinely neutral? Are they places of sanctuary and safety for all? Are they accessible to everyone? Do our collections serve our users and reflect their lived experiences and outlooks? Do we reflect and acknowledge our own positionality and privilege when designing library services, support, facilities?

This autumn Southampton Digital Humanities celebrated one year since opening its doors to our staff and students. Reflecting back on its gestation and development, we believe that one of its great successes has been how it has proven to be a equal partnership between the Library and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

In this post lockdown environment, it was evident that we could never just put our existing, pre-pandemic communities straight in there, because everything has changed. For a start, the pandemic is still happening and some individuals remain too vulnerable to visit our spaces in person, but there are other, less obvious changes to our research communities.

Universities are not renowned for their ability to change quickly, so the task at hand can seem overwhelming. Cameron Neylon spoke to this, and I found it very reassuring to hear him speak about how small changes can make a big difference, the slow wheels of a big institution don’t have to be a barrier to change, it is possible for an institution to change its own narrative and become a platform for change.

As an Academic Liaison Librarian for business, I have some expertise in literature searching and secondary data collection, and in teaching others about these, but I’m aware that there are many other research areas that I don’t have as much knowledge of as I’d like… I also know that there are areas where I, and other staff working in academic and research libraries, could use our experience and expertise to play more of a part in academic research, including funded research as co-investigators on projects led by other people, and even leading our own projects.

What do 850 football players and their performance data have in common with academic libraries and online resources? More than you’d think! The connecting factor is data, how it is collected, used and for what purposes.

Open Access Week 2022 takes place between the 24th and 30th of October. This year’s theme seeks to encourage connection and collaboration among the climate movement and the international open community. We have reached out to four institutions to find out more about their plans for OA week and what they hope to achieve through these events.

You really never know where a career in our sector will take you. In this article I will share a little about my experience at the UKSG conference as a first-timer and recipient of a sponsored place for early career professionals.

Resource discovery is an essential step in researchers and learners journey to quality, peer reviewed content. But user journeys to this content can be very complex and researchers often come up against barriers to access. The process to get relevant, accurate and recent research in front of the right person, at the right time, is a miracle of collaboration across organisations and technical platforms. Jon Bentley, commercial director at OpenAthens, discusses some of the barriers to access and how federated single sign-on can simplify resource discovery.

Dani Stubbs tells us about the work of EARLL (Early career Academic & Research Librarians in London) and their newly created EDC (EARLL Development Community) network. “We seek to change the playing field in Academic library recruitment. Whilst much discussion is needed in the long run about how these recruitment practices should be changed, to encourage diversity within libraries and academic institutions in general, we hope that this attempt to assist ECLs seeking library jobs right now, will do justice.”