The 43rd International Association of University Libraries (IATUL) Annual Conference 2023

IATUL was founded in Düsseldorf, Germany, as the International Association of Technological University Libraries in May 1955, as an international forum for the exchange of ideas relevant to librarianship in technological universities throughout the world. IATUL is a voluntary international non-governmental organisation of a group of libraries, represented by their library directors or senior managers, who have responsibility for information services and resources management.

This conference will offer attendees the opportunity to reconnect, re-engage, share ideas with and learn from colleagues and friends from around the world.

Digital Science is proud to be holding a presentation and workshop lead by Ben McLeish. Feel free to attend if you are going to IATUL Annual Conference.

Presentation: SDGs and the Academic Library: Moving Beyond Bibliometric Analysis

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is often considered one of the most ambitious plans of our lifetime. It is a universal call for action, consisting of a shared blueprint that Nations can work toward, thus achieving a better and more sustainable future for all.

To fulfil the 17 agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), pioneering research is required; as is superior education, ground-breaking innovation and progressive leadership. Universities can provide this perfect ecosystem and therefore play a critical role in this ambition.

SDGs are now commonly prioritised in HEI strategies, allowing sustainability to become embedded in core operations, namely Teaching & Learning, Research and Knowledge Transfer. One of the common difficulties however is measuring the success and reach of the initiatives that are in place. The data that can provide insights into these areas often lies across multiple systems and departments.

This paper takes a novel approach to bridging these data gaps throughout the teaching and research lifecycle – all through an SDG lens. We investigate how you can determine whether research is underpinning curriculum content against certain SDG classifications. We examine how it is possible to evidence societal impact, knowledge transfer and collaboration between universities and other organisations such as hospitals and healthcare providers. We will demonstrate how universities can use and further develop their local and global partnerships with governments, private industry and civil society to achieve the SDGs through increased collaborative efforts.

Most importantly, this paper will highlight how this data analysis can be performed within an academic library, how it might be used to align research plans with educational resources and how such analysis can allow academic libraries to become key influencers in their institutions SDG agenda.

Workshop Title: The Future of Data-Driven Decision Making

In a world where data is power, we need to ensure data is available to drive decision-making and the future strategy of the universities we work in. But it’s a challenge. Whether it’s supporting initiatives such as DORA or dealing with information overload, making sense of it all can be hard. Data-driven decision making is at the forefront of research excellence and in this session we will look at how using data can help shape university strategy. From identifying university strengths to evaluating progress towards strategic goals and identifying areas of growth (whether in the funding landscape, industry partnership, or strategy and evaluation), dashboards can provide university leadership with what they need to make informed decisions. We shall showcase and develop innovative and dynamic dashboards during the session that help answer some specific questions for benchmarking, improving ranks, horizon scanning, research and evaluation using academic and societal metrics.

Ben McLeish

European Product Sales Team Lead

Ben McLeish

European Product Sales Team Lead

Ben is the European Product Sales Team Lead for Altmetric and Dimensions and has been at Digital Science since 2014. He has previously worked at Wiley, ProQuest and the American Chemical Society, as well as in media monitoring services.