As part of ARL’s Research Library Impact Framework initiative, a team from the University of Pittsburgh Library System conducted a study to understand the information-seeking behaviour of early-career faculty in the hard sciences. The team sought to learn how those faculty discover published content and if they use library-purchased commercial databases in the process.

Additionally, the team wished to understand how much time and effort researchers invest when looking for content and what pain points they experience. Another objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a methodology for collecting and analyzing information about the library’s role in the research discovery process, for any part of the research life cycle. Thus, the results will guide library services, as well as shed light on ways libraries can support researchers in research discovery.