Establishing an Institutional Service Centre for Research Support
Tuesday, 7. June 2016, 15h30
Paolo Budroni
Library and Archive of the University of Vienna
Barbara Sánchez Solís
Library and Archive of the University of Vienna
Research support services are scattered across various departments within single organisations, and the jurisdiction of such services is often unclear, from within and without. This lecture discusses the establishment of an institutional service centre for research support and addresses the notion of a centralized contact point. This would allow academic professionals (researchers and educators), as well as research support services (libraries, IT services, research services, research funders, legal services) a common platform from which to request, classify and either directly answer or delegate to a selected team of multidisciplinary experts. Naturally, the flow of all communications should be monitored. An initial task would be to identify groups of stakeholders within an organisation, to plan cooperative efforts, to coordinate governance structures, processes and systems, to designate competencies and roles, to maintain a website and to make available all important documents and materials. The responsibilities of a central contact point range from knowledge about the structure of research projects, the basic technical requirements for digital archiving, cost calculations, data management, national and international funding programs and even legal questions. This lecture will outline organisational prerequisites, as well as necessary qualifications and levels of expertise.
