Modern libraries and the future of science communications

Abstract

To what extent do academic and research libraries contribute to the work of their mother organizations, i.e. research institutes and universities? What is the role of libraries in scientific research? Which problems do hinder the development of librarianship? These and related questions were in the focus of an analytical study conducted in 2018 by Springer Nature, which sent many questionnaires to the libraries around the world with a supplementary limiting interview of 20 librarians. Some part of the responses was quite predictable, and respondents specified the library problems as lacking money, underestimation of the library services and libraries themselves, toughening requirements of university community, and expanding needs of research teams. The respondents often mentioned new, positive approaches in the work of libraries – support of researchers willing to publishing their papers, building and maintaining repositories, increasing independence of libraries in acquisition process and collection development. The study findings offer some solutions to the dispute about the status of libraries and their prospects, which is held by our reputable experts, e.g. V. K. Stepanov, Yu. N. Stolyarov, etc.