In the last year, European university libraries have continued to work on topics such as research support, the new role of learning in their institutions and changes in the roles of their professionals.

However, the theme that has led to more projects and more interest has been the implementation from libraries to support open science in universities. Associations such as LIBER have strengthened the work of managing open research data, thereby facilitating research at European universities.

Academic libraries, as institutions of memory, keep in their places bibliographic resources of great interest to researchers, the need for digital transformation has led to the promotion of the digital humanities in most European university libraries. The digitization of these funds allows and will increase the possible actions for the benefit of our researchers. The number of collections in different institutional repositories is increasing exponentially, with the primary objective of promoting research, actions in the knowledge of this area of ​​knowledge.

In the field of data, management from the European Union is working on different projects; I would highlight EOSCpilot whose aim is to make full use of the potential of the data for research. This objective is intended to avoid as far as possible the fragmentation of infrastructures, creating a unique infrastructure to enable all scientific areas to be worked on and to improve interoperability between them.

In the area of ​​student services, it has provided space for group learning, creative spaces, changes in traditional library services and creation of applications that provide access to resources virtually. Users are increasingly able to access the main European library funds through their phones. Participation in the curriculum is one of the most important challenges of university libraries, which represents a significant change in the role of university libraries.

Within these actions to promote the use of data, in Europe are being mobilized different university libraries and research centers to ensure that Elsevier’s TDM policy is modified in order to facilitate research in the use of data .

Another important area of ​​action, from a long time ago work continues on the modification of the European intellectual property framework and libraries should ensure the interest of researchers commit to improve existing exceptions for research, making common and binding for all Member States from the European Parliament.

In the field of learning, the challenge of university libraries is to become actively involved in the studies that are taught in their respective institutions combining the application of educational technology and understanding that the library spaces are a space more than the Classes where they are taught

Adelaida Ferrer Torrens
Universitat de Barcelona
Learning and Research Resources Centre (CRAI)