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ITHAKA Modern Languages Report

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In the Spring of 2019, the Brown University Library conducted interviews with faculty within the fields of Modern Languages and Literatures to gain insight into how the Library can best serve their needs in the twenty-first century. Four librarians selected and interviewed sixteen faculty members in order to capture the breadth of research activities in literature in all languages, culture, and writing studies at Brown University. The selected faculty are from fourteen departments, with nine at the rank of Professor, five Associate Professors, and two Assistant Professors. Four faculty members were department chairs.

What hurdles do faculty face in their research that the Library could better support? What ideas or services do we not yet offer that we could strategically work towards offering? What existing strengths or services could be expanded to encourage faculty participation?

Here are five of the things we learned (read the full report):

The Five Takeaways

User-focused search
Faculty want a more intuitive, user-focused search environment to support research.

Faculty, and particularly newer faculty, want integrated research tools that offer a more comprehensive research process. They find Brown University Library platforms, including Josiah, the BDR, the Library website, and resources from partners of the Brown University Library difficult to navigate.

Recommendation for the Library: Conduct a user experience study on the Library catalog, BDR, and the Library website. Further research is needed in order to incorporate the input from scholars across disciplines beyond modern literatures and languages.

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Support to conduct research in non-U.S. archives
Faculty need support to conduct research in non-U.S. archives.

Oftentimes faculty find it difficult to determine holdings in libraries outside the United States. Library catalogs may be inaccurate, and websites might be poorly maintained or unreliable; this is especially the case in smaller municipal archives. Researchers find items misrepresented (for instance, if a cataloger misread a handwritten title, or if a sammelband’s full contents were not fully listed in a catalog).

Recommendation for the Library: The Library can better assist faculty who struggle with bureaucratic hurdles or other idiosyncrasies when conducting research in foreign libraries and archives by offering regular workshops on preparing for research trips. As each country
or region presents its own specific challenges, librarians could tailor workshops to cover particular geographic areas.

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Training in emerging methodologies
Faculty want more training in emerging research methodologies in partnership with department programming.

There is an ongoing need to support continued learning regarding the information tools and resources of traditional and emerging skills and methodologies, which requires a strategy to advance knowledge generation by researchers. This strategy requires partnering with specific departments to tailor its instruction program.

Recommendation for the Library: The Library will work to enhance its instruction program and deliver information literacy and specialized expertise, including tools and workshops exclusively for faculty on engaging with digital humanities and born-digital scholarly publications.

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Resources to find materials
Faculty appreciate the trainings the Library holds. But they want to expand the Library’s research instruction program with online and in-person modules on searching for materials.

There is an ongoing need to support continued learning regarding the information tools and resources of traditional and emerging skills and methodologies, which requires a strategy to advance knowledge generation by researchers. Faculty want access to learn both through online modules and in-person workshops.

Recommendation for the Library: Identify topics that are integral to research at Brown and continue to invest time and resources in Library staff to remain experts in the fluctuations in scholarly communications, including new areas of emerging scholarships. The Library can best position itself to support innovation and emerging scholarship through its commitment through increased diversity of staff with a variety of backgrounds and skills.

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Training for careers outside of academia
Faculty think the Library can serve as an intellectual hub to train graduate students in research methodologies and opportunities for careers outside of academia.

The importance of supporting non-academic professional paths (alt-ac) emerged in many interviews. Faculty are realistic about constrictions in the humanities academic job market, and recognize they have a responsibility to prepare students for alternative career options.

Recommendation for the Library: Offer practical research experience with opportunities such as fellowships and proctorships, and project-based activities in different departments or areas of the Library so that students can gain exposure to a wide variety of work including digital scholarship, curation, collection development, and more.

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Read the full report to learn more about all of the findings and associated recommendations from the study, and reach out to Jennifer Braga, Communications and Public Programs Manager at the Brown University Library, if you have any questions or comments.