Heather Pierce-Lopez is Research and Outreach Librarian at New England College of Optometry, where she supports academic research, faculty engagement, and educational outreach. She previously spent over a decade at Harvard Law School in faculty research, scholarly services, journal coordination, and interlibrary loan, and holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Drexel University.
Today, we feature a friendly debate on the question: which parts of the research lifecycle should be more automated, and which require more of a human touch — and why?