Research as a process

One conclusion from the different open space-discussions at the EADI-conference is that research has to be understood as a process. The end product is of course there, but the communication and process leading up to it is given more and more importance. Communication is not any longer seen as the "the icing of the cake", instead it is a way of working that also can be embedded in the research itself.

This has as various consequences for the libraries. One is that we should put more energy on enhancing the metadata of the researchpapers and reports. Michele from the Institute of social studies in Haag told us that they are thinking of interwieving their researcher about the content of their reports just to be able to facilitate the communication in better ways.

One problem is that the researchers themselves can be hard to convince about the beneficial outcomes of cooperating with the communicating professionals in the library or communication center of the university. Do they cooperate because they want to or because they have to was a central question and the discussion circled around how to bridge the gap between information workers and the researchers.

Some people focused on the importance of understanding what motivates the researchers, others pointed out the task of giving the researcers the big picture of why it´s important to communicate their work of research to collegues and end-users, and a third group stressed the pedagogical function of helping and empowering the researchers when it comes to using new tools of communication.