Should We Keep Everything Forever? Determining Long-Term Value of Research Data

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's library-based Research Data Service (RDS) launched an institutional data repository called the Illinois Data Bank (IDB) in May 2016. The RDS makes a commitment to preserving and facilitating access to published research datasets for a minimum of five years after the date of publication in the Illinois Data Bank. The RDS has developed guidelines and processes for reviewing published datasets after their five-year commitment ends to determine whether to retain, deaccession, or dedicate more stewardship resources to datasets. In this poster, we will describe how the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign preservation review planning team drew upon appraisal and reappraisal theory and practices from the archives community to develop preservation review processes and guidelines for datasets published in the Illinois Data Bank.Ope

Discovery of a family of γ-aminobutyrate ureas via rational derepression of a silent bacterial gene cluster

Gaburedins, a family of γ-aminobutyrate (GABA)-derived ureas, have been discovered by deletion of gbnR, an arpA-like putative transcriptional repressor in Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 10712. Comparison of metabolite profiles in the wild type and mutant strains revealed six metabolites in the mutant that are lacking from the wild type. The structure of gaburedin A was established by HRMS combined with 1- and 2-D NMR spectroscopy and was confirmed by total synthesis. The other metabolites were confirmed as congeners using HRMS, MS/MS and feeding of putative biosynthetic precursors. Two genes, gbnA and gbnB, are proposed to be involved in gaburedin biosynthesis. Consistent with this hypothesis, deletion of gbnB in the gbnR mutant abolished gaburedin production. This is the first report to disclose the discovery of novel natural products via rational deletion of a putative pathway-specific regulatory gene

Overly honest data repository development

After a year of development, the library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has launched a repository, called the Illinois Data Bank (https://databank.illinois.edu/), to provide Illinois researchers with a free, self-serve publishing platform that centralizes, preserves, and provides persistent and reliable access to Illinois research data. This article presents a holistic view of development by discussing our overarching technical, policy, and interface strategies. By openly presenting our design decisions, the rationales behind those decisions, and associated challenges this paper aims to contribute to the library community’s work to develop repository services that meet growing data preservation and sharing needs.Ope

Check and Understand Presentation

The Check and Understand steps to curating research data are explained in this presentation

University of Illinois Year of Cyberinfrastructure Final Report

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a leader in computing and information technology (IT). Our leadership role has both produced and been produced by a culture of innovation. Many efforts have arisen over the years that have been the product of this culture. While the university’s commitment to developing digital infrastructure, resources, and support services has served campus researchers well, it has become clear that a more coherent and unified approach to assessing and addressing the IT services and support needs of campus researchers is imperative. With the support of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Chief Information Officer, we embarked on the Year of Cyberinfrastructure (Year of CI). Through this effort, we engaged researchers across disciplines to gain an understanding of the challenges they face in order to inform how we, as a campus, should move together to address these needs. We confirmed that researchers tend to assemble needed resources and services on their own, often out of necessity. While this practice has allowed those with the ambition or, more frequently, the absolute need, to advance their fields, it has primarily benefitted only those researchers and their collaborators. Providers of resources and services have brought value to the research process, but this value has been accrued in a largely disjointed manner that has tended to favor the power users of technology. The Year of CI effort has made clear that our research support landscape is not only lacking coherence but is also very uneven across academic and research units. To support modern research practices and to be competitive and preeminent in the academic community and the world, the 21st century research university must provide a foundation of research IT infrastructure and services that are accessible by all disciplines. Our campus needs a strong vision for how IT supports research, along with the ability to realize and evolve that vision in lockstep with the changing needs of the research community and the technologies available to meet those needs. Though Illinois faces significant financial challenges, it is time to be bold and make an investment to allow the university to emerge from these challenges as the premier destination for faculty, postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate students, and research staff who seek to work in a world-class modern research environment. It is time to provide the infrastructure that will grow the campus research portfolio to new heights. The Year of CI has provided the initial assessment of the campus and indicates the steps we must take to develop the digital support ecosystem that will allow the campus to realize its vision of preeminence in research.Ope

Evaluate Presentation

The Evaluate step to curate research data is explained in this presentation

Chapter 5. Overlooked and overrated data sharing: Why some scientists are confused and/or dismissive

This chapter is an expert from the book Curating Research Data, Volume One: Practical Strategies for Your Digital Repository edited by Lisa R. Johnston published by American College & Research Libraries (ACRL) in January 2017. The book is available from the American Library Association in print and as a open access e-book at www.alastore.ala.org. ISBN-13: 9780838988589Ope

Checklist of DCN CURATE Steps

A checklist and introduction to the Data Curation Network CURATE Steps for curating research data

Public Access to Articles and Data for Funding Agencies

This presentation was prepared in Fall 2015 to cover upcoming public access requirements as they apply to grant funded researchers.Ope