Curtin Library Rocking the (meta)data

<p>Research data is being increasingly recognised as a valuable output of research and as a valuable resource for further research. Managing research data is a challenge that is being taken up on many fronts but it is a particular challenge for academic libraries who have a role in supporting research through maximising the discovery and reuse of research data. Traditional library skills are being deployed on a new front, but the learning curve is steep.</p> <p>During 2014/15 the John de Laeter Centre for Isotope Research (JDLC), a Perth-based multi-institutional research infrastructure centre, will commission a new mineral analyser TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyser (TIMA) instrument that will be used on up to 2,000 samples from the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), characterising the mineralogy of the samples into searchable digital mineralogical and geochemical datasets.</p> <p>Curtin University Library, in partnership with the Centre and supported by funding from the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) Major Open Data Collections program will work towards the creation of an appropriate metadata schema for these datasets, the capture and enhancement of the metadata for a 150 sample subset of the collection under that schema and the making of that metadata available to Research Data Australia (RDA) and the AuScope portal to facilitate discovery and access to the datasets by the international research community.</p> <p>What was the role played by the library, what library skills sets needed to be developed, which software solutions were employed and how does a collaborative project such as this one lead to the mainstreaming of research data discovery as a library service?</p

THETA 2013 - Next Generation Library Management Systems

<p>Flipped Session on Next Generation Library Management Systems - introductory material.</p

THETA 2013 - Planning the (virtual) Library - leadership at the edge of the real world

<p>Planning the (virtual) Library - leadership at the edge of the real world</p> <p>Over the last 20 years the virtual library has grown up alongside the traditional physical library. The virtual library has emerged from the multiple threads of the information revolution; ubiquitous network connectivity, growth in bandwidth capacity, the digital shift of resources and services, maturing of web technologies, cloud computing, mobility of computing devices, students living their lives in the always-on and other technological and social factors all of which have made the virtual world a substantive and essential part of the real world. The virtual library is no different.</p> <p>There has been a long and effective tradition of managing the various interconnected elements of the physical library. The strong management of the physical space and its related resources and services has enabled the physical library to be reshaped and refreshed so as to maintain its relevance to the changing educational and scholarly environment. This can be seen around Australia by the continued investment in repurposing existing library spaces and in the building of substantial new university libraries. Evidence of the success of the strong management of the physical space can be found in the record numbers of students who pass through the gates of the physical library.</p> <p>However the virtual library, whilst still developing and maturing, is also now a ‘real’ library. Yet the virtual library doesn’t yet have the same strong management tradition. Indeed the management methods that have been so effective with reshaping the physical library need to be re-conceptualised and applied to the management of the virtual library. This re-conceptualisation has been the focus of activity during 2012 at Curtin University Library.</p> <p>I propose to give an insight into the process and the outcomes of that effort to manage the virtual library. I will share the principles that have been developed to guide the planning and future shaping of the virtual library. I will describe the mechanisms developed to balance strong ownership and leadership of different virtual library elements whilst avoiding fragmentation of the virtual library into silos or paralysis by consultative committee. I will explore the short and long term strategic goals that have emerged from thinking of the virtual library as a real library and not an intangible shadow of the traditional, physical library.</p> <p>These insights will be of interest to all academic libraries who are grappling with the same issues, and of interest to our academic colleagues who are finding their own feet in the virtual classroom and virtual laboratory and these insights will be of interest to the IT professionals who provide much of the infrastructure that has made the virtual library a real presence in the academic community. Truly we are all working at the edge of the (real) world.</p

Content Is King: Developing And Expanding The Australian Digital Theses Program

<p>Paper given at the conference Information Online at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre on 1-3 February 2005.<br></p

Ranking and benchmarking for repositories

<p>Presented at the CAUL Research Repositories Community Event, Melbourne, 12-13 November 2015.</p