The role of university libraries as support services for the evaluation of transfer and impact: the case of the Library / CRAI of the Pablo de Olavide University
Creators: name: Delgado-Vázquez, Ángel M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: sexenios
research assesment
library services
research support
CNEAI
ANECA
bibliometrics
kowledge transfer

description: The evaluation of the research together with the accountability of the researchers has been imposed in recent years in the Spanish university field as part of a much broader movement that affects a large number of countries.<br> One of the main calls to which most researchers attend is the so-called "<em>sexenios</em>".Since 1989, it is evaluated by the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity, created ad hoc as an independent body and now integrated into ANECA. This Commission publishes annually the criteria to be met by the contributions (5, in general), which must be presented in the application for the different fields and subfields in which the different areas of knowledge are grouped.<br> However, two milestones mark the evolution of this evaluation process in recent years, the enactment of Royal Decree-Law No. 14/2012, of April 20, on urgent measures to rationalize public spending in education, which introduces the possibility of using the six-year terms obtained as a scale to modulate the teaching load of teachers and, beyond, in some universities, as an essential requirement for, for example, directing thesis, being in court or even for promotion; and the Decision of November 14, 2018, of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity, which publishes the specific criteria approved for each of the fields of evaluation, which introduces a new type of "<em>sexenio</em>", for knowlegde transfer and innovation, complementary to those of research and with a different and renewed spirit with respect to its predecessor in field 0.<br> The change in orientation of this new kti <em>sexenio</em> is evident in a clear intention that researchers from any discipline can attend it, and not necessarily from those who routinely used transfer vehicles considered as more classic and orthodox, such as patents or utility models.<br> University libraries have been providing support and advice to six-year applicants for at least a decade. The main reason and mission is to help them find and present the so-called indications of the quality of the contributions (usually publications) presented in the application of each tranche.<br> In the case of the Pablo de Olavide University, the advisory work on the part of the Library begins in 2010 in the face of the call for the same year. A workshop is convened that aims to explain the details regarding quality indications to be provided. The number of attendees of that first edition does not exceed twenty. However, in parallel, a help tutorial and a face-to-face, telephone and email inquiry resolution service are made available to the entire university community.<br> From that first incursion, the work of supporting the evaluation of the investigation draws two conclusions: the first, the interest of the researchers on the subject, revealed in the attendance to a workshop organized by a newly created Training Service and by staff that has not yet demonstrated its competence in this field; and, on the other, the lack of information and, above all, knowledge about both the administrative procedure (documentation, deadlines, complaints ...), and about the computer application.<br> In 2012, the promulgation of the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law No. 14/2012 coincides with the signing of the agreement between the Pablo de Olavide University and the CNEAI to evaluate and grant <em>sexenios</em> to permanent labor personnel, which is not included in the national call.<br> Since that date the number of researchers who come to this Library Service in search of training, as well as the number of consultations has not stopped growing.<br> In this context comes the call last year. With hardly any reaction time, on November 26, 2018, the new kti <em>sexenio</em> is announced and on the 30th the application deadline is opened.<br> The great difficulty in this call comes from the absolute ignorance not only of the criteria that have to govern the obtaining of the tranches of transfer, but also of the quantification of the same.<br> During the days that the term remains open, the main sources of information are, in addition to the resolution published in the BOE, two recently published documents by the CRUE on the valuation of knowledge transfer in academic staff evaluation processes; Frequently asked questions published on the ANECA website with the submission deadline already begun; and videos of public interventions by the Secretary General of Universities, Mr. Pingarrón at the Complutense and Zaragoza Universities.<br> All this for a group of researchers that exceeds the number of 1,000, but, only less than 50% are hired full time. It would also be necessary to discount the Teaching Assistant Doctor who cannot request <em>sexenios</em> either.<br> In recent years, bibliometric services and units have proliferated, both linked to libraries, and independent of them, in numerous Spanish universities. In these units the specialized personnel in these works have been concentrated, in addition to the computer tools and, consequently, also the corresponding tasks.<br> In the case of the Pablo de Olavide University, all advisory and attention work for this call is undertaken by the Head of reference and user training service, including the assistance provided to the Research Service and the Vice-Rectors for Teaching and Research.<br> During the time that the application period was open (until January 18, then extended until 22), almost 200 online queries (unique) were answered to researchers, in addition to the face-to-face and telephone. In the case of online, it accounts for 40% of the total number of inquiries received by the Library Information Service (whose global number of queries grows in 2018 by almost 73%); 40 researchers were trained; and a new tutorial to support the call was designed, with updated information on administrative procedures, specific criteria by fields, and the use of bibliometric and bibliographic tools for finding quality evidence, which exceeds 5,800 visits during the days in which the deadline for submitting applications is open.<br> In total, 30 applications have been submitted by lecturers and 124 by Senior Lectures and Professors. That they come to join the 57 and 68 applications of both groups respectively, submitted to the regular <em>sexenio</em> and which were also attended during the same application period.<br> Since the call has not been resolved, we still do not have data on the success of the applications submitted.