Scholarly communication support in hospital library setting

 Library support of scholarly activity of our library patrons and students can look differently depending on the role and setting we find ourselves in. In libraries many times the role of the librarian who supports this activity is called the Scholarly communications librarian and according to ACRL, scholarly communication is defined as “the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. The system includes both formal means of communication, such as publication in peer-reviewed journals, and informal channels, such as electronic listservs.”¹ This support can begin with education surrounding rules and laws that govern copyright and then moving into helping our staff/faculty and students choose journals for publication. This role can also play an exciting part of promoting and training about open access resources and even support of hosting and development of publishing platforms to house the work of your institution’s authors.

 For me, I work in a hospital setting and one of my major tasks is in support of the author publication report process. These reports require the completing of searching, reviewing, and  preparing of lists of citations of the published works of the many clinical and educational authors within our hospital. It is a process in which I conduct searches within multiple databases, utilize excel spreadsheets to keep track and rely on continuous and clear communications between departments and the library. It is a rewarding process which I have been, since I arrived, working to streamline and improve. I welcome any feedback or recommendations from other librarians who manage this scholarly activity for their institution as I know there is always room for learning for improvement.

1. Retrieved from https://acrl.libguides.com/scholcomm/toolkit/ on Aug 8, 2022