e-Social Science and Evidence-Based Policy Assessment : Challenges and Solutions

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An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Researchers’ Data Management Practices at UVM: Integrated Findings to Develop Research Data Services

This article reports on the integrated findings of an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design aimed to understand data management behaviors and challenges of faculty at the University of Vermont (UVM) in order to develop relevant research data services. The exploratory sequential mixed methods design is characterized by an initial qualitative phase of data collection and analysis, followed by a phase of quantitative data collection and analysis, with a final phase of integration or linking of data from the two separate strands of data. A joint display was used to integrate data focused on the three primary research questions: How do faculty at UVM manage their research data, in particular how do they share and preserve data in the long-term?; What challenges or barriers do UVM faculty face in effectively managing their research data?; and What institutional data management support or services are UVM faculty interested in? As a result of the analysis, this study suggests four major areas of research data services for UVM to address: infrastructure, metadata, data analysis and statistical support, and informational research data services. The implementation of these potential areas of research data services is underscored by the need for cross-campus collaboration and support

Library and Information Science Education and eScience: The Current State of ALA Accredited MLS/MLIS Programs in Preparing Librarians and Information Professionals for eScience Needs

The purpose of this study is multifaceted: 1) to describe eScience research in acomprehensive way; 2) to help library and information specialists understand the realm of eScience research and the information needs of the community and demonstrate the importance of LIS professionals within the eScience domain; 3) and to explore the current state of curricular content of ALA accredited MLS/MLIS programs to understand the extent to which they prepare new professionals within eScience librarianship. The literature review focuses heavily on eScientists and other data-driven researchers’ information service needs in addition to demonstrating how and why librarians and information specialists can and should fulfill these service gaps and information needs within eScience research. By looking at the current curriculum of American Library Association (ALA) accredited MLS/MLIS programs, we can identify potential gaps in knowledge and where to improve in order to prepare and train new MLS/MLIS graduates to fulfill the needs of eScientists. This investigation is meant to be informative and can be used as a tool for LIS programs to assess their curriculums in comparison to the needs of eScience and other data-driven and networked research. Finally, this investigation will provide awareness and insight into the services needed to support a thriving eScience and data-driven research community to the LIS profession

Introducing Reproducibility to Citation Analysis: a Case Study in the Earth Sciences

Objectives: Replicate methods from a 2019 study of Earth Science researcher citation practices. Calculate programmatically whether researchers in Earth Science rely on a smaller subset of literature than estimated by the 80/20 rule. Determine whether these reproducible citation analysis methods can be used to analyze open access uptake. Methods: Replicated methods of a prior citation study provide an updated transparent, reproducible citation analysis protocol that can be replicated with Jupyter Notebooks. Results: This study replicated the prior citation study’s conclusions, and also adapted the author’s methods to analyze the citation practices of Earth Scientists at four institutions. We found that 80% of the citations could be accounted for by only 7.88% of journals, a key metric to help identify a core collection of titles in this discipline. We then demonstrated programmatically that 36% of these cited references were available as open access. Conclusions: Jupyter Notebooks are a viable platform for disseminating replicable processes for citation analysis. A completely open methodology is emerging and we consider this a step forward. Adherence to the 80/20 rule aligned with institutional research output, but citation preferences are evident. Reproducible citation analysis methods may be used to analyze open access uptake, however, results are inconclusive. It is difficult to determine whether an article was open access at the time of citation, or became open access after an embargo

Using the Visualization Software Evaluation Rubric to explore six freely available visualization applications

Objective: As a variety of visualization tools become available to librarians and researchers, it can be challenging to select a tool that is robust and flexible enough to provide the desired visualization outcomes for work or personal use. In this article, the authors provide guidance on several freely available tools, and offer a rubric for use in evaluating visualization tools. Methods: A rubric was generated to assist the authors in assessing the selected six freely available visualization tools. Each author analyzed three tools, and discussed the differences, similarities, challenges, and successes of each. Results: Of the six visualization tools, two tools emerged with high marks. The authors found that the rubric was a successful evaluation tool, and facilitated discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the six selected visualization pieces of software. Conclusions: Of the six different visualization tools analyzed, all had different functions and features available to best meet the needs of users. In a situation where there are many options available, and it is difficult at first glance to determine a clear winner, a rubric can be useful in providing a method to quickly assess and communicate the effectiveness of a tool

Bringing All the Stakeholders to the Table: A Collaborative Approach to Data Sharing

Objective: This paper examines a unique data set disclosure process at a medium sized, land grant, research university and the campus collaboration that led to its creation. Methods: The authors utilized a single case study methodology, reviewing relevant documents and workflows. As first-hand participants in the collaboration and disclosure process development, their own accounts and experiences also were utilized. Results: A collaborative approach to enhancing research data sharing is essential, considering the wide array of stakeholders involved across the life cycle of research data. A transparent, inclusive data set disclosure process is a viable route to ensuring research data can be appropriately shared. Conclusions: Successful sharing of research data impacts a range of university units and individuals. The establishment of productive working relationships and trust between these stakeholders is critical to expanding the sharing of research data and to establishing shared workflows

Data Curation for Big Interdisciplinary Science: The Pulley Ridge Experience

The curation and preservation of scientific data has long been recognized as an essential activity for the reproducibility of science and the advancement of knowledge. While investment into data curation for specific disciplines and at individual research institutions has advanced the ability to preserve research data products, data curation for big interdisciplinary science remains relatively unexplored terrain. To fill this lacunae, this article presents a case study of the data curation for the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) funded project “Understanding Coral Ecosystem Connectivity in the Gulf of Mexico-Pulley Ridge to the Florida Keys” undertaken from 2011 to 2018 by more than 30 researchers at several research institutions. The data curation process is described and a discussion of strengths, weaknesses and lessons learned is presented. Major conclusions from this case study include: the reimplementation of data repository infrastructure builds valuable institutional data curation knowledge but may not meet data curation standards and best practices; data from big interdisciplinary science can be considered as a special collection with the implication that metadata takes the form of a finding aid or catalog of datasets within the larger project context; and there are opportunities for data curators and librarians to synthesize and integrate results across disciplines and to create exhibits as stories that emerge from interdisciplinary big science. The substance of this article is based upon a poster presented at RDAP Summit 2019

Assessing and Improving Library Technology with Service Blueprinting

Objective: The objective of this article is to illustrate the application of service blueprinting—a design tool that comes from the service design tradition—for assessing and improving library technology services. Setting: A mid-sized library at a public university in the western United States. Methods: A service blueprint was co-created by library and IT staff in a design workshop in order to map the operational flow of a data visualization display wall. Results: Guided by the service blueprint, the project team identified points of improvement for the service of the data visualization display wall, and developed recommendations to aid further applications of service blueprinting. Conclusions: Ultimately, service blueprinting was found to be a useful tool that can be applied to assess and improve library technology services

Building A National Research Data Management Course for Health Information Professionals

Background: In August 2017 the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Training Office (NTO) was awarded an administrative supplement from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to create training for librarians in biomedical and health research data management (RDM). The primary goal of the training was to enable information professionals to initiate or enhance RDM at their institutions. Case Presentation: An eight-week online course was developed to address key concepts in RDM. Each module was organized around measurable learning objectives using existing subject resources, such as readings, tutorials, and videos. Within each module, an expert in the field co-facilitated relevant discussions, created and graded a practical assignment, and answered questions. Thirty-eight participants were selected for this initial cohort. Mentors were assigned to each participant for guidance in completing a required project action plan to further their RDM goals at their institution. The course was evaluated through pre- and post-tests and an online questionnaire. Results: Thirty participants successfully completed the online course work and project, and gathered at the National Institutes of Health for a Capstone Summit. Students demonstrated improved knowledge of RDM concepts between the pre- and post-tests. Most students also self-reported increased skill and confidence. Practical assignments with individual feedback from experienced data librarians were the most valued aspect of the course. Time to complete each module was underestimated. Conclusions: The initial offering of this training program improved the RDM skills and knowledge of participants and enabled students to add or enhance services at their institutions. Further investigations are necessary to determine the longer-term impact on the individuals and their libraries. While many of the participants will need additional training to become part of the data-ready workforce of health information professionals, completing this training is an important step in their professional development

Secure, performance-oriented data management for nanoCMOS electronics

The EPSRC pilot project Meeting the Design Challenges of nanoCMOS Electronics (nanoCMOS) is focused upon delivering a production level e-Infrastructure to meet the challenges facing the semiconductor industry in dealing with the next generation of ‘atomic-scale’ transistor devices. This scale means that previous assumptions on the uniformity of transistor devices in electronics circuit and systems design are no longer valid, and the industry as a whole must deal with variability throughout the design process. Infrastructures to tackle this problem must provide seamless access to very large HPC resources for computationally expensive simulation of statistic ensembles of microscopically varying physical devices, and manage the many hundreds of thousands of files and meta-data associated with these simulations. A key challenge in undertaking this is in protecting the intellectual property associated with the data, simulations and design process as a whole. In this paper we present the nanoCMOS infrastructure and outline an evaluation undertaken on the Storage Resource Broker (SRB) and the Andrew File System (AFS) considering in particular the extent that they meet the performance and security requirements of the nanoCMOS domain. We also describe how metadata management is supported and linked to simulations and results in a scalable and secure manner