Creating connections: the library's role in facilitating scientific collaboration

Abstract

Collaboration is a key factor in the development of science and scientific achievements. Having said that, libraries meet the challenge as intermediaries by providing services that aim to facilitate collaboration between scholars, which ultimately leads to increased research performance. The aim here is to discuss possibilities and examples of library services that facilitate collaboration as a means of fulfilling institutional objectives, in this case, to increase research performance in the Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library of Stellenbosch in South Africa (SULIS). The article identifies services and solutions implemented in SULIS, which strengthen the growing trend of scientific collaboration. The authors focus on three service aspects: (1) space and facilities that enable collaboration, (2) to create awareness of collaboration opportunities, and (3) bibliometrics as an example of service that supports and facilitates scientific collaboration and networking. In conclusion, the authors confirm the relationship between research collaboration and performance, and also demonstrate the importance of the library in helping researchers to identify suitable collaborators and creating an environment that facilitates access to the network and enables involvement and collaboration. The article shows through real-life examples how libraries are able to respond to new trends in learning, fulfill institutional objectives and establish new roles for librarians in the academic community. The meaning of "Creating connections" goes beyond simply initiating cooperation between scientists. It is the ability to recognise and identify changes in the dynamic scientific community by designing activities according to the University's institutional objectives and creating services that link them together.