28 research outputs found
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University of Massachusetts Amherst Response to Draft Desirable Characteristics of Repositories for Managing and Sharing Data Resulting From Federally Funded Research
Response to the Office of Science and Technology Policy\u27s Draft Desirable Characteristics of Repositories for Managing and Sharing Data Resulting from Federally Funded Research.
Original call for public response is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/17/2020-00689/request-for-public-comment-on-draft-desirable-characteristics-of-repositories-for-managing-an
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Building Data Services with a Minimum Viable Product Mindset
Lightning talk from the 10th Research Data Management Roundtable. Discusses the process of Minimum Viable Product, and how it is beneficial in developing services
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Writing With Librarians: Reporting Back on Turning Your Poster or Presentation Into an Article
Objective: The objective of this article is to report on the process and effectiveness of a workshop presented at the Research Data Access and Preservation Summit 2019. Reporting back on how the workshop was developed and the impact it had on participants can inform future workshops on writing for librarians. Workshop materials are available in an associated OSF project.
Methods: The authors approached workshop development holistically—that writing is a craft that requires habits and networks, and that participants are interested in hearing the technical guidelines of writing and submitting an article. The workshop dedicated time to activities meant to build a plan for writing. Data presented in this article was collected using Qualtrics, and is reported on in aggregate. Participants responded to the survey before the workshop started and after the conclusion of the workshop.
Results: Participants reported that the workshop gave them a plan for how to move forward with transforming their presentation or poster into an article, and that they generally felt more empowered to write.
Conclusions: This article suggests that it is important to provide an avenue for authors to develop professionally around writing. Attendees were eager for an opportunity to develop their writing, and to learn more about the opaque processes related to publishing an article, like how double-blind peer-review works and the different types of articles. The authors hope that others can reuse the materials presented at the workshop and provide more avenues of professional development for librarians and library professionals.
The substance of this article is based upon a workshop at RDAP Summit 2019
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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
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Tapping into Specialist Knowledge: Strategies to Enhance Data Services Support through Collaboration
Library professionals with data responsibilities often collaborate on data-related support with fellow library professionals, units across campus, and student and faculty researchers. It is through these collaborations and partnerships that libraries can leverage the infrastructure and diverse skill sets needed to build effective and successful data-related support for the campus community. Yet, how these partnerships form and the shapes they take, particularly within the library, varies.
In this panel, we share strategies for collaborations between data professionals and subject and technical services librarians designed to enhance library and campus support for data literacy, data management, data visualization, and other data-related needs. The panelists present several strategies that focus on the reciprocal nature of building relationships, teaching/learning new technologies, and sharing expertise within the library. With each strategy, the panelists share their experience implementing it and highlight how successful collaborations resulted in broader impact and increased exposure of the library
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Digital Repositories as a Way to Manage Data and Reputation Beyond Publications
Institutional Repositories (IRs) can be (and are) implemented at Universities and Colleges to capture organization output and non-traditional research objects and artifacts. Repositories can help improve workflow and reporting mechanisms: e.g., it’s a known place to deposit data or papers, and repository managers (typically in the Library) get usage statistics, and we can tell some interesting stories about use. IRs can: help improve the attention and impact of university-affiliated published research showcase work (e.g, top 10 downloads; spotlight paper; recent additions; and more) help with management of work created on a campus – i.e., ensure research generated on campus is managed by the campus ensure information is preserved and made available for long term access.
Putting data or images in a repository can also help authors keep control of their work – many repositories offer extremely permissive licenses that allow authors to maintain ownership of their work. e.g., you are not handing over copyright of these materials to publishers (and thus – very often -- giving them exclusive control of that content)
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Supporting Big Data Research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
This project aimed to examine the research support needs of faculty who employ “big data” and data science methodologies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The study was conducted by the University Libraries and was part of a larger suite of parallel studies of big data researchers at institutions of higher education across the U.S. The study was coordinated by Ithaka S+R whose goal is to “help academic and cultural communities know what is coming next, learn from rigorous and well-designed research studies, and … improve their performance and further their missions.” Under the guidance of project coordinators from Ithaka S+R, librarians at 21 participating institutions—including Boston University, Northeastern, Texas A&M, and several University of California campuses—interviewed researchers across our campuses and compiled independent research results and recommendations for creating or enhancing local services and supports. In addition, participating institutions contributed their findings to a final capstone report by Ithaka S+R. The Ithaka capstone report provides a cumulative view of the evolving needs of big data researchers and includes recommendations for how the Libraries and campus research support structures can most effectively and strategically grow our support for this rapidly expanding area of research needs
Connecting Fragmented Support on Campus: Growing Research Data Services Programs Through Collaboration
Research data services are provided by multiple units across and beyond the library, which is why communication and collaboration are paramount to building support for researchers. By exploring how Research Data Services (RDS) programs can function in the fragmented landscape of research support on campuses, we outline the role of collaboration in building programs. In this paper, we discuss building an RDS program by emphasizing three strategies for collaboration: collaborating within the library, collaborating across campus, and collaborating externally with those without direct ties to your organization. The aim of this paper is to offer attainable examples and strategies for building collaborations across campuses for libraries that have small or nascent RDS programs—how to approach and cultivate partnerships, how to set realistic goals, and how to work holistically within the fragmented academy
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Yours, Mine, Ours: Some Best Practices for Authors Writing Collaboratively
The authors of this article focus on the best practices we learned through our experiences in scholarly writing, with a specific focus on the collaborative writing process. For the sake of this paper, we define collaborative writing as a collective process of creating a scholarly work for distribution, either through formal (e.g., peer-review) or informal (e.g., white paper) venues. This article is, in part, in response to our lack of formal training and addresses a situation in which we felt other researchers might find themselves. We hope to provide starting points for others interested in writing collaboratively and help empower those wishing to have a broader conversation about writing. Our scope here is limited to collaborative writing, and as such, we exclude other components of collaborative scholarly work, such as generating an idea, pursuing a grant, or analyzing data. Nevertheless, we do endeavor to provide resources and advice broadly applicable and relevant to all disciplines.
After a brief literature review, included to provide a broader context, the authors give some background information on their own experiences with co-authorship prior to this article. However, the authors dedicate most of this article to presenting reflections, advice, and a curated list of open-access resources related to some of the critical aspects and challenges of collaborative writing