E-research: building partnerships

Abstract

If we examine what is required to position Australia in e-research, it is evident that much of the infrastructure required is already in place or under development. But do we have the right partnerships in place at a university level to ensure we maximise our opportunities and create the know-how we need? University libraries have traditionally sought to build strong relationships with their research communities, often with mixed success. A later phenomenon was the development of high performance computing facilities in research-intensive universities, sometimes from within a central IT unit and sometimes as a discipline or Faculty-specific initiative, again with mixed success.As e-research changes the focus from high performance computing toward the application of advanced information and communication technology for research across a broader range of disciplines, disciplines which are text and media-based, new know-how is required. Some of this know-how has traditionally rested with the IT community and some with the library community, yet rarely do they develop partnerships to support research. This paper gives a brief account of the University of Melbourne's Information Division's history in research support and how we are positioning our University for e-research by building on past strengths and exploiting new opportunities, learning from the best of our experience in library and computing service research partnerships.