Addressing development challenges through research: the research environment of the universities and the supporting role of the libraries enabling a positive national contribution. Pradeepa Wijetunge Librarian, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka librarianpdn@gmail.com 1. Introduction It is the task of a Development Economist to analyse the development challenges of Sri Lanka, however I am glad that I was accorded this opportunity to pay my attention to the challenges Sri Lanka faces in reaching the higher global standards of development. I will discuss the development challenges of Sri Lanka, and how research can address these issues briefly. Then I will pay attention to the innovation capacity of Sri Lanka and the issues encountered by our researchers. Finally I will discuss the changing working environment of the researchers and how the university libraries can ease their burden through a shift in the service paradigm. 2. Development Challenges encountered by Sri Lanka Within the context of this paper, I use three international measurements to examine the development challenges encountered by Sri Lanka; 1) the Human Development Index (HDI) of the UNDP, 2) Millennium and SAARC Development Goals (MDGs and SDGs) formulated by the United Nations and the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), and 3) the Knowledge Economy Index of the World Bank. Some other issues external to these measurements are also briefly highlighted. The overall HDI rank of Sri Lanka is 73 out of 187 countries and the HDI value is 0.750 which is above the average for the other countries in the high HDI group of countries and the average for South Asian countries. HDI trends from 1980 to 2013 indicates that there is a continuous growth from 1980 to 2013 which is an average annual increase of about 0.84 percent. However, Inequality-adjusted HDI indicates a loss of 14.3 percent due to inequalities country. The Gender Inequality Index rank of Sri Lanka is 75 out of 149 in 2013. This is lower than the average of high HDI group of countries but higher than that of South Asia. The Gender Development Index (GDI) rank is 66 out of 149 countries. Here too, Sri Lanka holds a higher value than that of South Asia and the other high HDI group of countries (UNDP 2014). The second measurement used in this paper to identify the development challenges is the Millennium and SAARC Development Goals. Sri Lanka has achieved thirteen targets but slow in achieving three targets and regressing in two targets (UN-ESCAP, ADB and UNDP 2013). The statistical data demonstrate that Sri Lanka has performed reasonable well in achieving the MDGs and SDGs in the region, as a country. However, in-country disparities should not be ignored. The third measurement used is the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) and the Knowledge Index (KI) of the World Bank (KNOEMA 2014). From 1995 to 2012 the Innovation Index indicates a drop while the Education Index indicates a rise, but the ICT Index indicates a sharp drop and drop while the Economic & Institutional Regime as also dropped. As a consequence, the overall KEI and KI also depicts a drop and the country’s rank as a knowledge economy, has dropped to 101 in 2012 from 87 th rank in 2000. According to the above analysis of Sri Lanka’s position in the development rankings, it faces the challenge of moving upwards in the human development from its 73 rd position globally. As far as MDGs and SDGs are concerned, Sri Lanka encounters the challenge of reaching the targets of child, infant and maternal mortality, regressing primary enrolments and forest cover as a percentage of total land area. We must not forget that the benchmarks set for the MDGs and SDGs are at minimum levels, though we are far above many other countries in the Asia Pacific Region or in the lower middle income group.