Abstract
Background/Aims Massive technological changes in the area of research, knowledge production, publishing and communication are transforming the way researchers work. Spurred by technology, research is increasingly done as data-driven cooperative projects that involve teams in different locations, institutions, and even disciplines. As the pace of change accelerates, the need for new kinds of library collaborations and cooperative working arrangements becomes increasingly apparent. Information services need to be accessible on the move, in real time, and everywhere. Current trends indicate that research libraries are expanding their roles to become partners in a broader range of scholarly activities and offering new options for how scholarly work proceeds throughout the course of the research life cycle.
Methods Research libraries are determining areas of need across institutions in relation to scholarly activities and identifying logical partners with shared values, missions and goals in meeting those needs. These partnerships will produce services that lend support to and engagement between information professionals and researchers.
Results Collaborative approaches are being applied to new library activities both with regard to traditional operations as well as emerging functions. These transformational trends can be summarized as the use of evolving collaborative technologies and social networks, development of tools to support mobile access, an emphasis on instructional technology services and information literacy, the promotion of embedded librarians as members of research teams, reconfiguration of library space to support learning and research, digitalization of shared library collections, the assumption of leadership in scholarly communication and publication issues, and the development of services supporting data management and curation.
Conclusions With the advent of digital technologies, libraries are proving to be successful partners and influential leaders in the research process. Emerging resources and services will continue to create new opportunities, challenges and expectations and will foster innovation and improvement in research performance and effectiveness.
