How will repository and subject librarians roles interact to support data management?

evidence from UK institutions

Angus WhyteSarah Jones, Marieke Guy

Digital Curation Centrea.whyte@ed.ac.uk

Institutional Repositories Dealing with Data OR2013 Workshop

8 July 2013, Prince Edward Island

Aims

1. Outline UK programmes to help Higher Education Institutions develop RDM services

2. Background on the Digital Curation CentreDCC role in developing services

3. Outline emerging RDM servicesOur view of what they areRecent surveys on library plans & priorities

4. Examples in ‘new’ universitiesRepository manager & subject librarian roles

Share examples and lessons

What gaps and challenges?

Digital Curation Centre

• Est. 2004, Jisc funded partnership across 3 universities - Bath, Edinburgh and Glasgow

• Digital curation challenges across institutions and disciplines

• HEFCE funding from 2011 for targeted support to help institutions build capacity and capability in managing research data

Institutional engagement programme

Research intensive

England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland

JISC Managing Research Data

• 25 x Infrastructure projects 2009-13

• DCC input - tool provision and support for events

• Help extract, amplify and transfer programme outputs across sector

• E.g. How-to guides, case studies

RDM Development Process

But its non-linear really! …cycles of negotiation and compromise towards ‘continuous improvement’

RDM Development Process

Advocacy, policy developmentDCC

RDM Development Process

Readiness, requirements and risk assessmentCARDIO – Collaborative Assessment of Research Data Infrastructure and ObjectivesDAF – Data Asset Framework

DCC

Emerging Services – DCC/MRD

Emerging Services – Library Surveys

221 institutions US and Canada (of which 99 universities)

Academic Libraries and Research Data Services: Current practices and plans for the future

Carol Tenopir, Ben Birch, Suzie Allard University of Tennessee

Assoc. College & Research Libraries, June 2012

Emerging Services - Surveys

81 UK higher education institutions

Research data management and libraries: Current activities and future priorities

Andrew Cox and Stephen Pinfield Information School, University of Sheffield

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science June 28, 2013

Emerging Services – Comparison*

High expectations of prioritising/ planning delivery over next 2-3 years.

So how far should we match ‘technical’ services with Repository Manager roles& ‘informational/ consultancy’ with e.g. Subject Librarian?

What do we find Repository Managers doing in service development?

•rough, some fields merged, figures averaged

% current (plan) US, Ca UKPolicy/ advocacy - 51 (61)

Online guidance 25 (46) 24 (52)

DMP support 26 (28) 25 (46)

Early career awareness - 32 (43)

Reference – find, use, cite 49 (33) 42 (57)

Impact tracking - 11 (28)

RDM advocacy, consultancy - 28 (26)

Outreach RDS providers 16 (30) -

Direct participation 27 (24) -

Data transformation 16 (33) 12 (36)

IPR, copyright, licensing - 33 (46)

Data appraisal/ selection 17 (38) -

Preparing data for deposit 15 (33) -

Data catalogue, metadata 23 (34) 16 (56)

Data repository 18 (39) 19 (51)

Examples- New Universities

• Three “post-1992” institutions– University of Northampton, Oxford Brookes University, University of East

London – Postgrad students= 2500, 4260, 6795 respectively

• Repository manager led, or actively engaged in developing– Policy response to funder requirements– Online guidance– Support for data mgmt planning– Outreach to engage with other service providers – Surveys/ interviews to scope research data, practices and requirements – Skills development for Subject Librarians

• In each case Subject Librarians getting involved, see reskilling need with some resistance

Examples- New Universities

• Three “post-1992” institutions– University of Northampton, Oxford Brookes University, University of

East London (Postgrad students= 2500, 4260, 6795 respectively )

• Repository manager led, or actively engaged in developing

– Policy response to funder requirements– Online guidance– Support for data mgmt planning– Surveys/ interviews to scope research data, practices and

requirements – Skills development for Subject Librarians

Oxford Brookes UniversitySeveral hundred research active staff

Strategy to build research profile, interdisciplinary research & infrastructure

Driver: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council policy expectations

Steering group PVC led, action by repository and research office mgrs

Awareness training to faculty, with DAF survey follow-up, Subject Librarian involvement and subsequent training

Roles of Repository & Subject Librarians?

• Subject Librarians getting involved, see reskilling need (some resistance)– ACRL Report– “Reassigning existing library staff common tactic” – … “Identifying and collecting data and data sets to include in

repositories has become increasingly important, leading to the need to train staff members whose collection experience may be limited to mostly traditional materials.”

• Repository managers active in kickstarting ‘softer’ capabilities in our experience

• If the hat fits wear it, but try it out first!

Gaps and Challenges?

• Challenge - getting data, fulfilling the consultancy role

• Gap - Guiding researchers on what to keep

• Recommending repos – certification both a challenge and gap!

• Preservation – a bridge to be built and crossed – resource challenge

• Data publication – new genres e.g. data blogs and data papers, new workflows and skills

Thank you

Questions, comments?Your experiences?

Other national surveys?