By Aaron Tay, Head, Data Services & Yeo Pin Pin, Head, Research Services
As of Aug 2024, after a library reorganization, SMU Libraries’ Research & Data Services team, jointly headed by Yeo Pin PIn (Head, Research Services) and Aaron Tay (Head, Data Services) has been expanded to a team of 9 librarians with diverse expertise in supporting research and is now charged with the mission to support SMU researcher needs throughout the whole research work cycle.
Research support services
Research Support is now provided through these four main clusters of services
- Literature and Data Discovery
- Analysis (Quantitative and Qualitative)
- Writing, Publication & Digital preservation
- Research visibility & assessment
Literature and Data Discovery
Literature and Data Discovery major services
- Systematic review and literature review support
- Data Discovery support
Systematic review and literature review support
SMU Libraries have always provided expertise in the use of databases such as Scopus, Web of Science for literature review. We have further enhanced our service with expertise in areas such as
- Conducting of formal, rigorous evidence synthesis – e.g., Cochrane, Campbell meta-analysis
- Conducting of Bibliometric reviews (tools such as VOSviewer, Bibliometrix and techniques)
- Assistance in conducting reviews using bulk citation extraction tools like CitationChaser
- Use of literature review support software including but not limited to Covidence, ASreview, and AI powered tools like Undermind.ai, Scite assistant, SciSpace, Elicit and more
Some past user stories
Scenario 1: A faculty doing multi-disciplinary research and wanting to ensure that they cast as wide net as possible in the literature space.
Support provided: Using selected “Seed papers”, we bulk extracted references (both forward and backward) using specialized tools for review in a Zotero library. We also provided assistance in the choice of databases and keywords.
Scenario 2: A postgraduate requested support in updating a systematic review/meta-analysis of a study in the area of health economics.
Support provided: We helped to translate the boolean search queries used in the original systematic review from the original platform used (OVID) to the platform available in SMU (Ebscohost).
“Last but not least, I am deeply thankful to Mr. Aaron Tay, our librarian Data Services Lead, for his invaluable contributions. His advice in updating the systematic review and his dedication to translating Boolean searches have been pivotal in ensuring the accuracy and robustness of our literature search process” -- Amanda Chong Ci, MSc in Applied Economics.
Scenario 3: A postgraduate in the area of business and management was working on a (invited) review paper. He was having problems, with keyword query in Scopus to be limited to FT50 journals and also had problems with the synthesis matrix he was constructing.
Support provided: We helped provide the correct boolean search syntax for limiting to FT50 journals. We also helped to optimize the user’s Zotero library and clean up the metadata in bulk without minimum manual work.
These are of course just three use cases; we also provide other services eg. consultancy in terms of brainstorming and testing of search strategies to maximize recall/sensitivity with the least amount of work.
This author (Aaron), also has a deep interest in AI search and has been studying and sharing on the use of AI search tools (e.g. Scite assistant, Elicit, Undermind) since 2020 and can provide ideas on the best blend of keyword, citation searching and Semantic searching for efficient and effective searches depending on your use cases.
So please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need advice on literature review or just need a partner to bounce ideas off...
Data Discovery support
Given the nature of disciplines in SMU, there has always been a heavy focus on the use of data, particularly in the areas of Economics, Finance, Accounting and Business.
Research and Data Services department continues to provide data support in the following areas.
- Discovery and sensemaking of data from a wide range of library subscribed resources such as Refinitiv, WRDS, Bloomberg, Capital IQ, Pitchbook, Scopus, and many more
- Data extraction and linking of data through identifiers from multiple sources
- Dataset sourcing when necessary for sources not available via SMU
Update 4th October 2024 : Unfortunately PitchBook will be cancelled from 31 October 2024. We continue to have access to Crunchbase .
Some past user stories
Scenario 1: A faculty chanced upon a Research Radar piece “Notes and Thoughts on Retrieving Historical Members of S&P 500 from WRDS” and asked about doing a similar approach, with other indices such as S&P 1500.
Support provided: Research and Data Services, Senior Librarian- Tee Lip Hwee looked into the problem and provided some approaches to tackle the issue.
Scenario 2: A faculty needed help with a research project that involved the use of python to extract the dataset.
Support provided: Research and Data Services, Senior Librarian- Tee Lip Hwee helped to figure out the python needed to extract the data needed and trained the faculty’s research assistants.
“I’d like to drop a note to formally thank you for your excellent support to my research. You offered and programmed using Python to extract the data for my research project. I recall you briefed quite a number of my research assistants on databases. I am sure you will continue to provide excellent and professional support in the future. I am glad that you are with SMU”. -- Associate Professor of Accounting
Scenario 3: A postgraduate in the area of business and management wanted an introduction to sources available for ESG.
Support provided: Research and Data Services, Senior Librarian- Redzuan Abdullah provided an orientation and overview of the ESG data available in sources such as Bloomberg and on WRDS platform.
These are of course just some ways in which we support data research, and we are happy to discuss with you on your data needs.
Conclusion
Research & Data support services is SMU Libraries’ attempt to focus more heavily on providing high quality and efficient research support. We look forward to working with you and hearing your comments on how we can improve.
In the next Research Radar piece, we will focus on research support services around Analysis (Quantitative and Qualitative), a relatively new area for SMU Libraries.