The embedded research librarian: a project partner

Abstract

This paper presents new services developed by the Lille University Library for European and National research project coordinators. This is a specific audience that libraries are not used to target, with a widely recognised institutional status and academic background. Supporting them in their coordination activities is an opportunity to gain a new role for libraries, which starts from the design of research at the submission stage and lasts several years after, during the project lifetime. These services help coordinators to meet their funders’ expectations on open access and research data management. It is also a way to develop new collaborations with research units and some university services, such as the Grant Office. The Lille University Library has already supported the writing of forty grant proposals since 2017, including about thirty since early 2019. The Library currently follows twelve projects on open access, research data management or both. This second figure is likely to increase in 2020 due to the number of projects supported at submission stage since the beginning of 2019. The paper describes our set of services and the lessons we learned from our approach.