Background: ORCID provides unique identifies for researchers worldwide. It distinguishes researchers from others with the same or similar names. ORCID iDs are often required by funders, publishers, and research organizations. In October 2017, Rutgers University officially launched ORCID @ Rutgers. This presentation is to share the experience and role of librarians in implementing and supporting ORCID for researchers.
Description: Rutgers implemented ORCID in October 2017 under the charge of the university-wide ORCID Implementation Working Group chaired by the VP/UL. To support researchers to use ORCID, the Outreach Subgroup including Open Access Specialist and Research Services Librarian created an ORCID website, developed brochures and handouts, wrote tutorials, etc. In April 2019, a faculty survey was conducted to evaluate the success of this initiative. Among 730 respondents, 57.45% researchers indicated they had created ORCID iDs, 25.21% did not, 17.40% were not sure what ORCID was. On the question if they have connected their ORCID iD to their NetID, 46% of 397 respondents have done so, but 54% not yet. Additional comments showed that some researchers were not convinced why they should want an ORCID iD and have it connected to NetID. Some others indicated that they would need help.
Conclusion: Most researchers have created their ORCID iDs, but many of them have not connected their ORCID iDs to NetIDs due to various reasons. Even though the outreach subgroup has done much work to advocate for ORCID, more work needs to be done to reach out more researchers for their awareness and adoption of ORCID.
