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UKOLN is supported by:

Supporting Libraries in Leading the Way in Research Data Management

Marieke Guy, Institutional Support Officer, Digital Curation Centre, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK

Email: m.guy@ukoln.ac.uk Twitter Id: mariekeguyWeb: http://www.dcc.ac.uk

Online Information, 20th -21st November 2012

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons LicenceAttribution-ShareAlike 2.0

                                                             

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Who Am I?

• Have worked for UKOLN for over 12 years• Worked on variety of projects:

Subject portals project, IMPACT, Good APIs, JISC Observatory, cultural heritage work, digital preservation work, …etc

• Remote worker, into amplified events• Co-chair of IWMW for a number of years

• Now working for Digital Curation Curation• Institutional Support Officer helping HEIs with their

RDM

                                                             

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• Research data and why is it so important?

• How research data is managed

• What the DCC does

• The role libraries are currently playing

• The role libraries could be playing in the future

Today’s Talk

                                                             

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkmulejunk/352387473/

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=illumina+bgi&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Jl2&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1366&bih

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasp_barcode/4793484478/http://www.flickr.com/photos/charleswelch/

3597432481/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfsregion5/4546851916

Research Data

                                                             

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…whatever is produced in research or evidences its outputs

What is Research Data?

• Facts • Statistics• qualitative • quantitative• Not published

research output• Discipline specific“highest priority research data is that

which underpins a research output”

                                                             

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“Data underpins our economy and our society - data about how much is being spent and where, data about how schools, hospitals and police are performing, data about where things are and data about the weather.”

Tim Berners Lee, director of W3C.

A Data Present

                                                             

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Big Data

• Volume• Velocity• Variety

“The 1000 Genomes Project generated more DNA sequence data in its first 6 months than GenBank had accumulated in its entire 21 year existence”

“The 1000 Genomes Project generated more DNA sequence data in its first 6 months than GenBank had accumulated in its entire 21 year existence”

                                                             

8Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google

“The ability to take data - to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualise it, to communicate it -that’s going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades.”

Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist.

A Data Future

                                                             

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• DIY data• Consumer data• Crowd Sourced data• What about Linked data/

Web of data/Open data?

• Databases• Learning data• Administrative data• Long tail

Big Data…and Small Data

JISC MaRDI-Gross project: “data

volume is the least significant

(issue) in the present context,

since it is ‘only’ a technical

problem”

                                                             

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• Scale and complexity – data deluge – volume, pace

• Infrastructure and management – Storage, costs & sustainability

• Quality of data• Reputation – FOI, DPA,

computer misuse• Openness agenda• Preservation• Working in partnerships• Funding for researchers

Some Data Issues

                                                             

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EPSRC expects all those institutions it funds:

•to develop a roadmap that aligns their policies and processes with EPSRC’s expectations by 1st May 2012;•to be fully compliant with these expectations by 1st May 2015.

•http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/about/standards/researchdata/Pages/expectations.aspx

Funding…the Biggest Carrot/Stick?

                                                             

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http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/overview-funders-data-policies

Data Policies of Funders

                                                             

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“the active management and appraisal of data over the lifecycle of scholarly and scientific interest”

Data management is part of

good research practice

What is Research Data Management?

                                                             

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• Storage & cloud• Data repositories• Metadata & citation• File naming• Appraisal, selection &

deletion

How is Research Data Managed?Some areas to think about:

• Curation• Digital Preservation• Migration• Sharing/openness• Security• Cost

Leicester University Data management support for researchersWeb site

                                                             

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RDM Activities

What kind of activities are involved?– producing and sharing of data with research

colleagues in collaborative environments (internal and external)

– file naming – applying metadata for context and discovery – ensuring that sensitive data is not shared or

accessible – cleaning data for longer-term use – selecting mechanisms for data capture and

storage – selecting and appraising data for short and

longer-term retention – licensing data for reuse – developing data management plans

•Data management is about making informed decisions

                                                             

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The Digital Curation Centre

• A consortium comprising units from the Universities of Bath (UKOLN), Edinburgh (DCC Centre) and Glasgow (HATII)

• launched 1st March 2004 as a national centre for solving challenges in digital curation that could not be tackled by any single institution or discipline

• Funded by JISC with additional HEFCE funding from 2011 for the provision of support to national cloud services

• Targeted institutional development• http://www.dcc.ac.uk/

                                                             

17How to cite data

Advocacy and Training

How to…

• Appraise and Select Research Data

• Cite Datasets and Link to Publications

• Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan

• License Research Data

• Set a RDM service – coming soon!

                                                             

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Survey and interview methodology for investigating data holdings and how they are managed

Capability model for establishing consensus on

capabilities and gaps in current provision, rating

organisation, technology and resources

Customised institutional templates for data management planning

DCC Tools for Engagement

                                                             

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• Funded by the HEFCE through its Universities Modernisation Fund (UMF)

• Intensive, tailored support to increase research data management capability

• Originally 18 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) between Summer 2011 and Spring 2013

• Can help: – win the support of senior management – understand current data practices– redesign data support services– Help with policy development and training

Institutional Engagement Work

                                                             

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Library

IT

ResearchOffice

Information management is a

key skill in RDM, so it’s a major role for

librarians

What Part are Libraries Playing?

• RDM requires the input of all support services, but libraries are taking the lead in the UK

• The library is leading on most of the DCC engagements

Other examples include:

–EDINA at University of Edinburgh

–Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford

–Subject librarians at University of Southampton

                                                             

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Because libraries:

•Often run publication repositories so are the stakeholder called on when questions are raised about the management of associated data

•Have directed the open sharing of publications so are well placed to advice on how best to support data requirements

•Have good relationships with researchers and good connections with other service departments

•Have a highly relevant skill set

Why are Libraries Taking the Lead?

                                                             

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An Exciting Opportunity

• Leadership• Providing tools and support• Advocacy and training• Developing data informatics capacity & capability

“Researchers need help to manage their data. This is a really exciting opportunity for libraries….”

Liz Lyon, VALA 2012

                                                             

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Skills gap 2-5 years

Now

Preserving research outputs 49% 10%

Data management & curation 48% 16%

Complying with funder mandates 40% 16%

Data manipulation tools 34% 7%

Data mining 33% 3%

Metadata 29% 10%

Preservation of project records 24% 3%

Sources of research funding 21% 8%

Metadata schema, disciplinary standards, practices

16% 2%From RLUK, Re-skilling for Research, Jan 2012, p43 Other surveys include DataOne, Cologne Uni, DigCurV

Reskilling for Research

But librarians feel they lack appropriate skills…

                                                             

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“Very few librarians are likely to have specialist scientific or medical knowledge - if you train as a research scientist or a medic, you probably won’t become a librarian.”

Mary Auckland: Reskilling for Research 2012, RLUK.

Specialist Knowledge

                                                             

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Knowledge Needed…

• Librarians are overtaxed already, lack personal research experience, have little understanding of complexity and scale of issue

• Need knowledge and understanding of:– Researchers’ practice and data holdings – Research Councils and funding bodies’

requirements – Disciplinary and/or institutional codes of practice

and policies– Existing institutional policies and infrastructure – Reputational risks associated with poor data

management – with respect to researchers’ reputations as well as that of their institutions

– Data management and sharing benefits– Research data management tools and

technologies

                                                             

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Implications of “Big Data” and data science for organisations in all sectors

McKinsey Global Institute predicts a shortage of 190,000 data scientists by 2019

http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Technology_and_Innovation/Big_data_The_next_frontier_for_innovation

And Needed Fast…

                                                             

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“Significant mismatches exist between research data and library digital warehouses, as well as the processes and procedures librarians typically use to fill those warehouses. Repurposing warehouses and staff for research data is therefore neither straightforward nor simple; in some cases, it may even prove impossible.”

Salo, D. (2010) Retooling Libraries for the Data Challenge, Ariadne, Issue 64.

Is Retooling Possible?

• Libraries are organised, research data isn’t• Need technical systems such as sheer curation,

better sharing of data and improved funding models

                                                             

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Possible Approaches

• University of Helsinki Library – Knotworking “collaborative performance between otherwise loosely connected actors and activity systems”

• University Burnaby, British Columbia - providing research data services since the 1970s – currently exploring funding gaps

• Deutsche Nationalbibliothek - DP4lib project (Digital Preservation for libraries) where the library is acting as a service-broker for digital data curation

• Research libraries - Opportunities for Data Exchange (ODE) project as an exemplar project, which gives shares emerging best practice

• Data intelligence 4 librarians, Delft University of Technology

                                                             

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Training Librarians: RDMRose

• JISC funded project to produce OER learning materials in RDM tailored for Information professionals

• Led by Sheffield University iSchool• Practitioner community based on the White Rose

University Consortium’s libraries at the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York

• Deliverables include curriculum, module within taught masters course in Sheffield, self study version

• Much of course concentrates on teaching librarians about research and the research process

• RDMRose working with Stephen Pinfield on a web-based survey of current library RDM activity

• http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/is/research/projects

                                                             

31Liz Lyon, Informatics Transform, Ariadne Issue 68, 2012

Informatics Transform

• Library & institutional stakeholders• Roles (7 listed): Responsibilities,

Requirements, Relationships

1. Director IS/CIO/University Librarian2. Data librarians /data scientist /

liaison/subject/faculty librarians3. Repository managers4. IT/Computing Services5. Research Support/Innovation Office6. Doctoral Training Centres7. PVC Research

                                                             

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http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/research360/

Partnership Approaches

• Research 360, University of Bath:

• UKOLN-DCC• Library• IT services• Research

Support Office• Doctoral

Training Centres

                                                             

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“Librarians may need to raise their profile, become ‘researchers’themselves; getting embedded in the research community;gaining credibility; and collaborating as equals.”

Bent et al, 'Information literacy in a researcher's learning life' in New Review of Information Networking, 13 (2), 2007

Embedded Librarians

                                                             

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So What Next?

• Address the lack of data informatics skills• Mainstream data librarians & data scientists• Embed new skills into LIS & iSchool curriculum

Lyon, ‘The Informatics Transform: re-engineering libraries for

the data decade’ in IJDC, 7(1), 2012

Research data management highlights the

applicability of the librarian’s skillset. By

embracing the need to provide RDM

support, librarians will remain at the heart

of institutional agendas.

                                                             

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Resources to Look at…

• Riding the Wave report and many others emphasise the relevance of research data to current academic working

• RLUK/Mary Auckland: Reskilling for Research

• Sheila Corrall: Libraries, Librarians and Data

• DigCurv• Book: Managing Research

Data• HEIs research data support

pages

                                                             

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Thank You

• Thanks to DCC colleagues for contributing to slide material.

Any questions?

m.guy@ukoln.ac.uk