Libraries for Research Data – Research Data Workforce
RDA Dublin, Thursday 27 March 2014, Birds of Feather Session
https://www.rd-alliance.org/plenary3/programme.html
Chairs: Wolfram Horstmann (Oxford University), Kathleen Shearer (COAR)
Minutes: Birgit Schmidt (Goettingen University)
Objective: To compile a list of organizations and resources involved in activities in
order to build capacity in research data workforce in libraries
Description: Research data have become a primary research asset that often
requires ongoing management in a dynamic environment of mobile researchers,
volatile repositories, transient products and short-lived standards. Traditionally,
libraries have been the stewards of research assets and now have begun to assume
some of the responsibility for managing research data. In many cases, this will
require libraries to transform their services in terms of technological, organizational
and staffing aspects. At the 3rd RDA plenary in Dublin, the focal point of discussion
was the needs of libraries in terms of workforce that will support the
implementation of services for for managing research data.
The meeting included brief updates about current activities across a number of
aspects:
1. Practices: Examples within institutions, regionally, nationally and globally
2. Skilling: Training existing staff
3. Sourcing: Including disciplinary research data specialists in the libraries
4. Embedding: Placing library staff in disciplinary contexts
5. Supporting: Establishing support services or help-desks
6. Hiring: Job-Descriptions and recruitment processes
7. Educating: integrating RDM in disciplinary curricula or iSchools
These short reports will be the basis for the development of a list of resources that
will be maintained by the BoF group.
Short reports
ARL (Rob Catrolano)
– Related initiatives are: SHARE, discussions at annual meetings, e-science
institute, DLF
ANDS (Malcolm Wolski):
- Federal funding agency, managing data
- National association of research libraries (CAUL)- most of the libraries would
look at curation skills for the long term, legal frameworks, at specialist level,
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liaison librarians, recognition that more skills are needed, outreach
Not only across disciplines but also across institutions, a lot of the data
collections are cross-discipline.
You need a fairly good relationship to your research office for RDM.
Coming back to up-skilling ourselves, working as a community. Data
management guidelines for researchers. So far no systematic program but
upskilling within the institutions, through webinars, and learning on the job.
DataONE, CLIR (Patricia Cruse)
- DataONE librarians have the skills set but do not realize that they have it,
bringing them together.
- CLIR - Extensive survey on what librarians are doing in data curation – based
on that created learning modules for librarians, and other resources
- Training sessions – interact with librarians
- California Digital Library, U California, 10 campuses, looking at the
demographics of librarians, 75% of librarians nearing retirement.
- Data Management planning tool: how to create a DMP, for this teach
librarians some very basics about data management. Presentations and
talking points, marketing material, tools to feel people comfortable to work
with researchers. Creating DMPs and work with iSchools to have dated their
DMP, an education process.
- Training: we should also think about research admins and research offices,
not just librarians do not realize that they have the skills set, other also do
not realize that. Associations of research admins, work with them
CARL (Kathleen Shearer)
- 1,5 yr ago there was not training at all, just launched a research data
institute, a year ago first course, planning, institutional perspective when
you’d like to start such services. Next course will be developed around
helping libraries to help researchers prepare RDM plans.
- Discipline specific, curation, etc. – looking at a virtual center of expertise, not
only hire, but asking existing experts to get out and provide advice.
COAR/CARL/ARL/LIBER Task Force (Kathleen Shearer)
- Looking at new competencies for libraries, RDM, OA etc. – for around the life
cycles, mapping competencies across different services.
DCC (Kevin Ashley)
- The skills issue is broader than libraries, this is a problem I have to deal with,
but not the library alone! Research office, IT staff, and the research
community – i.e. libraries complement what they are doing.
- Encourage through DCC this collective approach, someone has to take the
lead, usually the library, sometimes the research office or IT, this means
coordinating not doing the whole service.
- Skills, training – extend this material – one curriculum but slightly different
emphasis for each group
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Tension on what the role of the library should be, research integrity etc. – or
more traditional – enable reuse is the ultimate goal – take care of it, describe
it. Tools – open education repository, training materials that have been
developing through Jisc funding, shared resource for practitioners.
Reskilling of existing staff. In addition, in the UK people are complaining that
the people coming out of library schools do not have the skills.
Comment: organizational, type of staff getting hired at the library – at Columbia
40% are non-librarians, programmers, statisticians, PhDs in science, English etc. – to
reformulate service development, change of leadership roles, and having an nonlibrarian managing librarians, in some state there was a provision not allowing that.
IASSIST (Robin Rice)
– Focus on social sciences, but expanding
– Mixture of people, some with a library degree, data archivists, specialists,
academia, government, etc.
– Data support, think about it holistically, it is not just data management but
getting providing helping researchers find and use data outside of the
institution (reference).
– Collecting job descriptions at IASSIST, also at DCC – give some advice on how
to write a good job advert.
CODATA (Simon Hodson)
– Capacity building – skills in developing countries, particular task group,
workshop on data issues, we could be a bit more systematic, do not have an
explicit curriculum – workshops
– Activity for young data scientists – they meet at conferences, some specific
funds to do work, become more systematic.
– Need to be broad enough, data science, data librarian, data curator.
– In the next few months mobilize various events, e.g. two-week course
sponsored by CODATA China, for researchers, developing countries, big data
for science, data-driven research, in particular environmental research.
iSchools, Dryad, DataONE (Jane Greenberg)
– LIS schools in the U.S. range from computationally research intensive to more
traditional library schools. Dealing with this topic, there is a big push, U
Campaign addressing curation, U Berkeley data science etc.
– But: So far iSchools aren’t anywhere near the sweet spot, a global movement,
last conference was held in Berlin.
– Classes are being upgraded, teaching the metadata class for years – some
schools offer various kinds of certificates, courses in data curation have not
been very successful, as this in general means extra course.
– Tools – MANTRA, CDL, etc. – integrate this into the classroom as much as
possible, Dryad, databib etc. See recent article about the role of library
programs in education for the future (2014).
– Getting people to dive into projects, go out and bring it back to the classroom,
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not just about data curation but being involved in evaluation and research
output, more traditional ischools students and upgrading existing curriculum
Southampton (Simon Waddington)
– IT utilities network, based at Southampton, website Libraries of the Future.
– Embedded librarian: librarians spent 2 months in a research group,
professional understanding of research and what librarians do, compare
embedded librarians schemes at Cornell, Purdue.
Japan (Nao Tsunematsu, Takuya Kurashige)
– Libraries and LIS are not as highly regarded in Japan as in Europe or the U.S.,
only three programs at universities with library science, severe shortage of
librarians in Japan, develop data repositories (typically not talking about data
libraries),
– National Data Center (NWDC), started by librarians, tried to engage the
researchers. So far, libraries in Japan do not have any concept of research
data management.
RDA BoF Data Science (Yuri Demchenko)
– Yesterday a BoF on Data Science was held
– They will be establishing a group to coordinate and share experiences with
about big data and data science,
– Workshop in June, need cooperation with the library community.
RDA IG Skills (Stéphane Goldstein and Miguel-Angel Sicilia)
– IG research data training and education – already proposed a group, was not
aware of the other group, will come together.
– Not to focus only on data scientists but also the professional schools, data life
cycle, HE but also vocational training – defining this new professional roles.
– We need to identify commonalities, develop curriculum guidelines.
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