Doing Research An Emerging Task of Academic portal Librarians for University Development in Vietnam

Doing Research: An Emerging Task of Academic Librarians for University Development in Vietnam To Sanya Minh Kha and Truong Thi Ngoc Mai abstract: As Vietnamese universities have graduall

portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol 19, No 4 (2019), pp 615–634

Copyright © 2019 by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218.

Doing Research: An Emerging Task of Academic Librarians for University Development in Vietnam

To Sanya Minh Kha and Truong Thi Ngoc Mai

abstract: As Vietnamese universities have gradually shifted their investment into research

development, the roles and duties of librarians have also changed Academic librarians not only

provide research support but can also contribute to the research performance of their university

This study explores the research participation of librarians at Vietnamese universities and the

perceptions of library directors and librarians about librarians doing research The authors

reviewed 1,350 articles in two major Vietnamese library journals to identify academic librarians

and followed up with questionnaires and interviews with 36 librarians from 14 universities and

17 directors from 17 universities While most librarians feel “encouraged” to do research, only five

universities have research as a “planned activity” of the library, and only two designated research

as a “duty.” Becoming aware of the benefits of research and the factors that prevent librarians

from doing research, the authors propose some recommendations for improving the research

participation of academic librarians in Vietnam.

Introduction

Universities in Vietnam recognize that research activities have a significant impact

on their educational quality They are also aware of the value of global rank-ings by such international bodies as the Academic Ranking of World

Universi-ties of the University of Shanghai, Scimago Institutions Rankings, or the Times Higher

activity and publications Achieving a high ranking by these bodies gives a university

a good reputation in its home country and internationally and helps it pursue its

long-term goals and complete its mission Faculty at the university are therefore expected

to involve themselves in research activity, depending on their particular roles, to help

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achieve a high ranking Likewise, librarians, with their expertise and skills, are expected

to contribute to the research activities of the university

Most faculty at universities in Vietnam, however, do not look at the library as a

potential contributor to their research outputs Many librarians in Vietnam have little

or no experience conducting studies themselves and so lack the understanding of the

research process that would enable them to appreciate the concerns of faculty in other

fields who are engaged in such studies Librarians also have little experience writing up

their investigations for publication, a process which is filled with challenges, including

surmounting language barriers Another reason for librarians’ lack of research experience

is the inadequate support for such activity provided by their university

In Vietnam, few if any studies have looked at the research support provided by

university libraries for faculty in other fields Instead, some authors have suggested how

Vietnamese university libraries could assist research activities to meet the increasing

needs of library users.2 For example, Hiep Duy Vu, writing in Vietnamese, pointed out

that the Vietnamese university libraries can only develop when they directly participate

in and contribute to the general growth strategy of the universities.3

Vietnamese universities joined the global higher education environment when the

country opened its economy in the late 1980s, after a strategic decision known as doi moi,

or opening, which brought in foreign direct investment and initiated a transition from a

centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy Before this period, Vietnam

had endured nearly 100 years of war Its primary economic cooperation took place

among European social democratic countries and socialist countries, and therefore in

the languages of those countries Vietnamese universities reflected this The university

at which these authors is employed was founded in 1997, the library opened in 2000,

and research support services started in 2017

The Denison Study

In 2016, Thomas Frank Denison, an Australian scholar, studied the resources of two

major universities in Vietnam He interviewed 19 lecturers, 4 librarians, and 2 senior

staff to learn their views of library resources He found that they saw their libraries as

having insufficient resources, especially inadequate access to databases of international

journals The people interviewed also thought that libraries held limited material in

terms of quality and quantity; that they lacked integrated portals through which users

could access resources and services; that libraries provided no assistance for managing

research data; and that librarians needed better strategies for promoting library

capa-bilities Lecturers at these universities seldom used research support services from their

libraries They did not trust the ability of librarians to assist in their research activities

Instead, they devised their own strategies for doing research or asked their colleagues

at universities overseas for help in accessing databases.4

Following up on Denison’s report, a workshop was convened in Ho Chi Minh City

at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities University librarians and library

directors met to discuss the role of librarians and explore what could be done to support

and improve university research activities Denison shared the findings from his

previ-ous study with workshop attendees Questions raised included what support does the

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library have for research and publishing, and what are researchers’ thoughts on the role

of the library in supporting research and

pub-lishing? Workshop participants said that, while

they expected librarians to provide them with

research skills and experience, they believed

that librarians did not, in fact, have those skills

or experience Librarians in Vietnam seldom do

research themselves and often lack the

experi-ence to work with researchers and understand

their concerns.4 The general opinion was that

more support was needed.5

After the workshop, the director and staff of Ton Duc Thang University Library in

Ho Chi Minh City improved the library’s research support services, but the

improve-ments were less effective than expected Therefore, the authors of this article worked on

their own study of the research activity of academic librarians in Vietnam They wanted

to find out how to motivate research studies that would contribute to the universities’

overall development Besides, as academic librarians, the authors did this research to gain

a better understanding of the process and difficulties of doing research themselves This

knowledge and experience will be used to create better research support services in the

future Therefore, this study is the first about the actual research activities of librarians

for the overall development of universities in Vietnam

Literature Review

The argument that a university library should be the central support for research across

the university is easy to make It can be summarized this way: The library should be the

research support center of the university, its librarians should be partners in research,

and the librarians must do research themselves Librarians need support to carry out

their research functions, both for other faculty and for themselves

The Library as Research Support Center

While universities have turned their attention to and invested in research activities, the

vision and mission of university libraries have also changed University libraries are

now expected to be more dynamic and diverse, especially enhancing and innovating

services related to research support Libraries are well positioned to become the learning

and research centers of universities.6 Although their ability to provide research

sup-port services differs, the imsup-portance of assistance by librarians to the development of

university’s research activities is undeniable.1 Alice Keller pointed out that government

and university policies strongly encourage research support in academic libraries Her

study revealed three measures or approaches taken by senior management to build up

and sustain efficient and effective research support: “rationalization of student services,

focusing activities of liaison librarians on research support and creation of subject-specific

teams to achieve better effectivity and efficiency gains, and definition of new positions

responsible for research support.”7

Librarians in Vietnam seldom

do research themselves and often lack the experience to work with researchers and understand their concerns.

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Librarians as Partners in Research

Librarians, with their expertise and skills, should provide effective support for the

univer-sity’s scholarly community and become active partners in research They should change

from research supporters to research partners.8

Shei-la Corrall pointed out a perceived requirement for libraries to develop more specialized interventions

to provide point-of-need research support and ad-vice throughout the knowledge creation cycle, from idea generation and project conception, through data acquisition, manipulation and interpretation,

to the depositing of results, publication of findings, and assessment of impact.9 Academic librarians participating in any type of research would have more knowledge and skills that prepare them to be partners than those not involved in

research.10 Librarians doing research could share their experiences with researchers and

also better understand the researchers’ concerns regarding publishing.11

Research data management is one of the support activities getting increased

atten-tion It stands high on the agenda leading to a reevaluation of how academic libraries

assist research.12 While the numbers of librarians providing research support in data

management remain low, a majority anticipate future involvement.13 Ann Morgan, Nel

Duffield, and Liz Walkley Hall point out that a significant trend is for libraries to work in

conjunction with other units in their institutions to facilitate research data management.14

Librarians Do Research

Librarians are moving into higher end support and adopting new service models based

on deep collaboration with academic partners.9 Aside from providing research and

publishing assistance, academic librarians need to publish because that is considered

one of their job requirements and one of the criteria for evaluating their performance.15

Librarians not only provide research support services and act as partners in research but

also serve as experts in their field Libraries need specialized positions with one person

or a group of people assigned to research and publishing A 1980 study by John Olsgaard

and Jane Olsgaard found that, while librarians outnumbered library science professors

21 to 1, the librarians published only four times as many articles as the professors.16 Later

studies showed similar results.17

The arguments in favor of encouraging universities to regard their librarians as

contributors to their development have implications for how universities should support librarians Librarians should get financial support for doing research, their working time should be flexible to allow them to conduct research activities, and the activities themselves should be funded.15

Academic librarians, even when they are confident in their research, still need the

Librarians, with their

ex-pertise and skills, should

provide effective support

for the university’s

scholar-ly community and become

active partners in research

Librarians should get financial

support for doing research, their

working time should be flexible

to allow them to conduct research

activities, and the activities

themselves should be funded.

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support of research tools and training.18 It is also desirable for academic librarians to do

research in collaboration with another author.19

Librarians do research not just for university development but also for their own growth and to advance their careers The majority of academic librarians continue doing

research after completing their bachelor’s or master’s degree programs, but the amount

of research output compared to the number of librarians is negligible.18

The Research Questions of This Study

As mentioned earlier, the study conducted by Denison in 2016 in Hanoi followed by

the 2016 workshop in Ho Chi Minh City prompted the authors, who work at Ton Duc

Thang University in Ho Chi Minh City, to explore in more detail the current situation

of academic librarians in Vietnam Their intention was to discover how best to motivate

research activities of librarians for the overall development of universities in Vietnam

This primary question led to secondary questions, which fell into three groups The

first group of questions involved data collection How many articles were published by

librarians, and were they were published in Vietnamese or other languages? The second

group had to do with perceptions Are librarians in Vietnamese universities supported

in their research? Do libraries encourage, plan to encourage, or require librarians to do

research? The third group included questions asked in interviews with library directors

and academic librarians about their perceptions of librarians’ research activities Do

they believe that doing research is necessary? What do they think are the purposes of

research? And, finally, what obstacles or difficulties do they encounter?

These questions are especially important because there is a trend, in Vietnam as elsewhere, for universities to turn their attention to international assessments of general

education quality, which include evaluation of research activity The judgments of these

international organizations are taken seriously as a

guide to improving education The second reason

for studying the situation of librarians regarding

research involves the overall mission of universities

in Vietnam as a critical national resource Aside from

providing research and publishing support,

librar-ians need to publish and share their expertise as it

develops Academic librarians in Vietnam face two

demands—meeting the standards of international

bodies that evaluate university education practices and fulfilling the internal role of

providing a learning and research center for a university, all while engaging in research

and publishing activity themselves

Methodology

The authors collected data by different methods, such as reviewing journal articles,

send-ing out questionnaires, and conductsend-ing interviews The questionnaires were distributed

first based on personal connections made at meetings and workshops; through snowball

sampling, in which research participants recruited other participants for the study; by

Aside from providing research and publishing support, librarians need

to publish and share their expertise as it develops.

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using university websites; and by tracking down authors of articles in Vietnamese library

journals The authors later consulted a Facebook page used by Vietnamese librarians

Data from Vietnam Library Journals

The authors began by reviewing articles by academic librarians published in two

Viet-namese-language journals, the Vietnam Library Journal (ISSN 1859-1450) and the Journal of

Information and Documentation (ISSN 1859-2929), between 2000 and 2017 These journals

are major Vietnamese library periodicals published with an International Standard Serial

Number In addition, since few university librarians in Vietnam have a degree in other

fields, most of their knowledge involves library and information science, so their research

would not be published in journals of other fields Not all articles in the two journals

were selected for review For example, articles written as a report about a certain library,

providing information about events, or translated from foreign publications were

elimi-nated This left 1,350 articles for review The information gathered in this review was the

academic nature of the topic and the authors’ occupational characteristics (that is, if they

were academic librarians) The authors’ occupational information was used to choose

who would be approached to answer the survey or asked to participate in an interview

This information also gave an impression of the quantity of publishing in Vietnamese

Responses from Library Directors and Staff

Using the basic list described earlier as a starting point, responses were collected from

librarians and library directors through questionnaires and interviews The survey and

interviews took place in late 2017 and early 2018 First, responses were collected through

an online questionnaire The questionnaire included closed-ended and open-ended

questions created based on the Google Forms feature, allowing participants to select a

question package based on their position, librarian or library director The authors then

contacted the participants by phone and e-mail to ask for information

Few libraries in Vietnam willingly share information that would expose their

weak-nesses However, this reluctance leads to a low response rate So, aiming to increase the

number of participants in the survey, the questionnaire was also posted on the Facebook

page of the Information Science & Library group (Vietnam), to which many academic

librarians belong While the questionnaire clearly stated that it was for academic

librar-ians only, increasing the number of participants via Facebook caused a mismatch of

libraries between librarians and directors However, this mismatch did not affect the

analysis or results of this study

There are more than 400 academic libraries in Vietnam with an average of 15 to 20

librarians each.20 The authors contacted 110 university libraries via information on name

cards or library websites Not all academic libraries in Vietnam have websites, and not

all contact channels are well managed The authors received responses from 24

universi-ties This amounted to 36 librarians from 14 libraries (a 12.5 percent response rate) and

17 directors from 17 libraries (a 15.5 percent response rate) Only six universities (Can

Tho University, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh Industrial University, Banking

University, the University of Economics and Law, and Van Lang University) provided

responses from both librarians and library directors See Appendix A

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Articles by Librarians in Vietnamese Library Journals

The two journals examined to get a sense of the publishing practices of librarians in

Vietnam produced approximately 7 or 8 issues per year, resulting in a total of 143 issues

between 2000 and 2017 All these articles were, of course, in Vietnamese The authors

examined 1,350 articles to identify those written by academic librarians and found 130

authors who could be identified as college or university librarians Among them, they

wrote a total of 145 articles The percentage of articles published by academic librarians

in each of the two journals was similar: 11 percent of the 893 articles in the Vietnam Library

Journal and 7 percent of the 457 articles in the Journal of Information and Documentation

One hundred four articles had a single author, 26 were written in collaboration with

other faculty, and 15 were produced in a collaboration in which the librarian was first

author That is, the rate of academic librarians publishing as a single author was high

compared to that collaboration with other authors Publishing as a first author with

other authors was rare Since the issue here is to understand the publishing practices of

Vietnamese academic librarians in Vietnamese, the 1,350 articles were not reviewed for

topics, just for whether the authors collaborated with other faculty

Librarians Doing Research in Vietnamese Academic Libraries

Table 2 summarizes the responses of the 36 librarians from 14 universities who responded

to the questionnaire (see Appendix A) Open-ended questions were also used to explore

participants’ perceptions of the role of research activities of academic librarians and their

intentions of publishing in the future

Of these 36 respondents, less than a third (28 percent) said they had published ar-ticles Most (90 percent) of those intended to continue to publish Among the remaining

72 percent of the respondents who had never published, less than half intended to do so

Nearly all 36 responding librarians said that they felt encouraged by their universities

to publish (89 percent) This was especially true for librarians who had already published

(90 percent) It could be assumed (since 89 percent of librarians felt “encouraged” by

their universities to publish) that those who had not yet published but intended to do

so also felt encouraged More than one-third (39 percent) had not published and did not

expect to do so They find themselves encouraged to do something they did not expect

to accomplish This leads to a question about support for research: To what extent does

“encouraged” imply positive support? This is related to our primary research question,

how to motivate librarians in Vietnamese universities to do research, publish, and

con-tribute to the overall mission of the university

Table 3 shows information provided by the directors of 17 university libraries Com-ments by these directors during their interviews are recorded in Appendix B In 12 of 17

universities, no planned activity supports publishing Yet, as shown in Table 2,

librar-ians at nearly two-thirds of universities feel “encouraged” to do research Those in 14

of 17 libraries have no duty to publish Five university libraries produced no published

articles, and five others turned out articles only in Vietnamese

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Table 1

Data from two library journals in Vietnam

Library Information

ISSN 1859-1450 ISSN 1859-2929 Total

Table 2.

Results of the survey of Vietnamese academic librarians*

Yes No

Encouraged by university or library to publish articles? 32 4

* Responses of 36 librarians from 14 libraries.

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Center of Can Tho, University Can Tho Library and Information

Center of Ho Chi Minh Industrial University Vietnam Military

Center of Dong Nai, University Dong Nai

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Library of

Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City Library of HCMC (Ho Chi

Minh City) Universityof Technology and Education Library of V

Center of Da Nang University of Economics Library of Pham Ngoc Thach

University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City Library of University of

Minh City) Library of International

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