Research Support Services in Odisha State Universities: An Analysis of Libraries Preparedness towards Fostering Research Excellence

Purpose: Recognised as a progressive state in education, Odisha has established its distinctive identity for academic excellence, facilities, erudition, and experienced faculty. In addition, the country's education ministry is also endeavouring to improve quality as well as quantity in the field of research. Through this research, an attempt has been made to understand the role of the university and its libraries in aligning with current research trends. An attempt has also been made to understand their awareness and the extent of the problems they face in providing research support services (RSS). Methodology: The study is a survey-based study on the practical implementation of Research Support Services (RSS) in Odisha State Public Universities. Respondents were sent a set of structured questionnaires to answer the research questions, which were further analysed using an Excel file created from Google Forms and Jamovi AI. Findings: It is pleasing to find the result from the library showing their preparedness and updated skills with the latest and advanced technology. Regarding RSS, the University of Odisha is well aware and prepared for integrating advanced tools to support researchers. Further concerned is the lack of supporting staff in the university library to implement a fullfledged RSS. Also, it is revealed that the university is still concentrating on MS Excel in data analysis. In contrast, advanced qualitative and quantitative data analysis, such as R, SPSS, etc., dominate the scholarly community. Originality: The author personally visited different online databases and open-access journals to collect literature related to RSS. None of the sites produced any of the journal's publications regarding the trending library services, i.e., RSS in Odisha. Hence, this paper remains original at the outset.