OCLC Research has recently made an interesting report titled “Social Interoperability in Research Support: Cross-Campus Partnerships and the University Research Enterprise,” authored by Rebecca Bryant, Annette Dortmund, and Brian Lavoie, available for download. Briefly, this looks at social and organizational issues involved in navigating the various silos that need to work together to support the research enterprise; I think that these issues will definitely resonate with the experience of organizational leaders within many of our member institutions. The report can be downloaded here:
I’ve included a slightly longer summary provided by OCLC below. Note also that the OCLC Research Library Partnership is running a webinar series closely related to this (I posted an earlier announcement on this). See
https://hangingtogether.org/?p=8059
Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI
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From OCLC’s announcement:
To develop robust research support services across the entire research life cycle, individuals and units from across the university, including the library, must collaborate across internal silos. Effective social interoperability—the creation and maintenance of working relationships between individuals and organizational units—in higher education requires a thorough knowledge of campus partners.
The OCLC Research report Social Interoperability in Research Support explores the social and structural norms that shape cross-campus collaboration and offers a conceptual model of key university stakeholders in research support. Information about their goals, interests, expertise, and crucially, the importance of cross-campus relationships in their work was synthesized from interviews conducted with practitioners from a wide range of campus stakeholders in research support. The report describes the network of campus units involved in both the provision and consumption of major categories of research support services and concludes with recommendations for establishing and maintaining successful cross-campus relationships.
