Ahead of the CurV: digital curator vocational education

In this paper, we describe the work of the EC-funded DigCurV project. We examine the context of the project, the methods and findings of its extensive survey work, and the development of proposed frameworks for evaluating and delivering a digital curation curriculum

Education alignment

This essay reviews recent developments in embedding data management and curation skills into information technology, library and information science, and research-based postgraduate courses in various national contexts. The essay also investigates means of joining up formal education with professional development training opportunities more coherently. The potential for using professional internships as a means of improving communication and understanding between disciplines is also explored. A key aim of this essay is to identify what level of complementarity is needed across various disciplines to most effectively and efficiently support the entire data curation lifecycle

D5.3 National Meetings Reports 2012

In 2012, DigCurV Partners organised or attended National Meetings for the express purpose of promoting the activities of DigCurV and the Curriculum Framework development. At each meeting, the rationale behind the lenses was discussed, and the uses of lenses themselves were explained. Many partners used the meetings as a means to promote DigCurV. UGOE suggest that their meeting ‘…served as a platform for the exchange of experiences...’ and highlighted how useful the meeting was for networking. Other partners found other useful feedback from the meetings, particularly with regards to promoting future events, discussing the Curriculum Framework in its current form, and using the CURATE! game as a means of raising topics for discussion. This report looks at each national meeting in turn by country of the reporting partner. Details of the reports are presented in sections looking at the audience profile of the event, the outcomes of the meetings, and the impact of the meeting. The report concludes with a summary of the feedback and information taken from each meetng, and present recommendatons for future meetngs and work of the network

Mainstreaming Digital Curation: An overview of activity in the UK archives and records management profession

This paper seeks to describe recent moves to address the need for digital curation training from within the UK archives and records management profession. It outlines how such training has been included within established archival education programmes, at Aberystwyth University and University College London, as well as discussing moves by the recognised professional body, the Archives and Records Association, to address the issue of providing digital curation training to existing professionals, as part of their continuing professional development (CPD).preprin

Digital Curation Education and Training: From Digitization to Graduate Curricula to MOOCs

This paper traces the development of digital and data curation curricula. Due to the brief length of this paper, the focus is on North American initiatives and primarily on continuing education programs. It explores the strengths and weaknesses of professional workshops and the creation of graduate-level courses, certificates, degrees and MOOCs, as well as the role of funding agencies in this process. It concludes with an analysis of what is missing and what is needed to create the workforce required to steward digital assets in the foreseeable future

Understanding Roles and Responsibilities of Data Curators: An International Perspective

Data curation has emerged as a new area of responsibility for researchers, librarians, and information professionals in the digital library environment. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a large research project sponsored by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), under the auspices of its Library Theory and Research (LTR) Section. The primary objective of the project is to identify the characteristic tasks and responsibilities of data curators in both international and interdisciplinary contexts. The ultimate objective, however, is to develop a “data curation ontology” that will better define the profession and support the development of educational curricula to train future data curators

Developments in research data management in academic libraries: Towards an understanding of research data service maturity

This paper reports an international study of research data management (RDM) activities, services and capabilities in higher education libraries. It presents the results of a survey covering higher education libraries in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK. The results indicate that libraries have provided leadership in RDM, particularly in advocacy and policy development. Service development is still limited, focused especially on advisory and consultancy services (such as data management planning support and data-related training), rather than technical services (such as provision of a data catalogue, and curation of active data). Data curation skills development is underway in libraries, but skills and capabilities are not consistently in place and remain a concern. Other major challenges include resourcing, working with other support services, and achieving ‘buy in’ from researchers and senior managers. Results are compared with previous studies in order to assess trends and relative maturity levels. The range of RDM activities explored in this study are positioned on a ‘landscape maturity model’, which reflects current and planned research data services and practice in academic libraries, representing a ‘snapshot’ of current developments and a baseline for future research

Could Collaborative Research between Two Major Libraries Help Consolidate Digital Preservation and Break the “Project Cycle”?

The successful preservation of digital assets requires maintenance, continuity of service, and proactive stewardship.1 An ongoing challenge for Bodleian Libraries (of Oxford University) and Cambridge University Library (CUL) has been taking outputs from time-bound digital preservation projects and turning them into ongoing uninterrupted services. This is not a challenge which is specific to Bodleian Libraries and CUL, but it has been recognized as a difficult transition for many organizations to make. The Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge (DPOC) project (2016–2018) is a collaboration between Bodleian Libraries and CUL which is supported and funded by The Polonsky Foundation. Bodleian Libraries and CUL have historically strong ties, and have previously collaborated on digital preservation projects. Both organizations also have experience creating digital preservation resources, for which stewardship at the end of projects has been transferred over to staff within the libraries for maintenance. However, siloed preservation activities have so far not translated into institution-wide, ongoing programmatic digital preservation activities