Evolving roles: Research support services in the academic libraries of Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK.

With digitization of resources and development of institutional repositories, changes in government policy and tertiary education funding, and increased focus on research outcomes and research evaluation, academic libraries are reviewing their traditional foci on collections, reference, and information literacy, and increasingly offering services that support academics in their research practice, in areas such as data management and bibliometrics. The study aims to investigate existing and planned services in the libraries of Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the U.K, and library readiness for research support, with particular regard to education and training. The proposed research takes a pragmatic approach using an online survey, which will be analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study will extend and update existing knowledge of library support for research. It will inform current practice in the countries surveyed and complement work done in North America, providing a more comprehensive picture of the current situation and enabling international comparisons of emerging practices