If a subscribed resource doesn't surface in a search, many researchers will never use it.
This says a lot about research support in academic libraries today. Access matters, but it doesn't carry the work on its own.
Researchers also need help finding the right source material, making sound publishing choices, avoiding credibility risks, and ensuring their work is easier to discover, cite, and build on after publication.
In the webinar Enabling the Academic Library to Advance Research with JoVE, Peter Otuoma Sanya, Head of Library Systems at Karatina University, offered a useful starting point for thinking about the wider role of librarians in research support.
Three Questions Librarians Should Ask
1. Why isn’t access enough?
A resource can be fully subscribed and still remain invisible in practice. In the webinar, one of the clearest examples was discovery. If electronic resources are not indexed in the systems researchers actually search, they stay buried.
At Karatina University, one response has been to trial discovery tools on the library website so subscribed resources surface more easily in researcher searches. The library also keeps awareness active through regular information literacy sessions for both students and faculty.
That same issue matters for research methods. A paper may be available, but the user may still need clearer support to understand what was done and how to apply it. Step-by-step visual resources can help close that gap.
2. Where can librarians reduce research risk?
Research support is a quality and credibility issue, not just a service issue. Peter provided practical solutions in the webinar.
Advise researchers on credible publishers before they submit, warn them about predatory publishing practices, check citations and references in postgraduate work, and use similarity checks to catch problems early. Much of this work happens quietly, but it directly protects research quality.
3. What support matters after publication?
Once a researcher's paper is published, the next challenge is whether it can be found, cited, and used.
This is where library support can continue through training on citation tools such as Zotero and Mendeley, helping researchers build profiles on platforms like Google Scholar and ORCID, and developing scholar profiles in the institutional repository. These are practical steps, but they make a real difference to how visible both the research and the researcher become.
Key Takeaway
Research support runs across the full workflow. It starts with discovery, extends through publishing decisions and integrity checks, and continues into visibility after publication.
This positions the library closer to the real pressure points in research, where good support can prevent poor decisions and help stronger work gain further reach.
As Peter exemplified in the webinar, libraries help research more effectively when they support not just access, but the conditions that make research findable, credible, and visible.