24 research outputs found
A Small Liberal Arts College Librarian at RDAP: Observations on Translating our Work Between Institutions
Get PDFThis commentary describes the impressions of a first-time attendee from a small liberal arts college (SLAC) to the Research Data Access and Preservation (RDAP) Summit, in May 2019, and observations about the makeup of the conference in terms of types of jobs and types of institutions represented among the attendees. The author also outlines a more general difficulty librarians from any institution face in adapting lessons learned and examples given by research data management librarians at other institutions, due to differences in institutional structure. The commentary suggests ways data management professionals might make reuse of ideas and solutions easier for one another, by analyzing why solutions work at different types of institutions, and by developing our understanding of how to replicate successful projects and practices in different organizational structures. The author discusses the value of attending RDAP Summit for librarians from smaller institutions such as SLACs, and compares the RDAP experience with professional development opportunities regarding data librarianship that are available on a region-by-region basis.
The substance of this article is based upon the author’s experience at RDAP Summit 2019
Planning for Data Curation in the Small Liberal Arts College Environment
Get PDFMount Holyoke College is in an unusual position among small colleges: as a top National Science Foundation (NSF) grant money recipient among liberal arts colleges, we also face the same responsibilities as larger institutions in preparing for new NSF requirements stipulating data management plans in grant proposals. Like other small liberal arts colleges, we have smaller sets of resources at hand than large research universities, which makes our preparations for the new guidelines even more of a challenge. As we have begun to discuss ways to help our faculty and restructure our operations to manage ever more digital content, we have found that collaboration, both within and outside our institution, has proven essential in moving forward.
Initial conversations among Mount Holyoke\u27s Library, Information, and Technology Services departments led to helpful dialogue on improvements to our networking infrastructure, as well as new engagement with our grants office. These conversations led to the discovery of data in need of preservation, and to further meetings with faculty to discuss their needs. We also turned to our near neighbors, the Five Colleges, Inc. in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. We have unique advantages in being able to collaborate via existing relationships to potentially build shared services and systems that would be difficult for one small college to support individually. Partnering on the establishment of a shared repository tool to assist with data curation (such as DSpace, Fedora, or another system) would allow us to pool staff talent, experience and perspectives. Solutions shared between campuses will promote sharing of data between institutions, and hopefully further collaboration between researchers, which would greatly benefit our students. We have also reached out to peer groups such the Oberlin Group of libraries in small liberal arts colleges, to assess their approaches to the new data management requirements. As we collect this information, we find that the challenge of data management is an opportunity to build relationships within Mount Holyoke College and at different levels (local, regional, national) beyond our gates. We are moving forward on the assumption that we should partner wherever possible because our needs and infrastructure for data management are so similar to those at other small colleges; we are starting to build what we hope will be an effective machine of relationships, collaborative architecture, and shared expertise.
To further explore the shared goals and hopes for the future of data curation in smaller institutions, we summarize feedback from both our near neighbors in the Five Colleges, and from our national peer groups such as the Oberlin Group. We also assess our strengths and challenges within Mount Holyoke College and summarize the current state of scientific data on campus, and our hopes for providing better systems for data curation in the future
Science-Technology Division
Get PDFThe Chair\u27s column talking about what is happening within the division and the upcoming 2012 Conference in Chicago
Science-Technology Division New Members
Get PDFThe Science-Technology Division welcomes its new members
