Post on 23-Feb-2016
description
Research Data Management Services at the MIT Libraries
Amy StoutASEE
June 2011
As science changes…
So do science libraries
Don’t panic!
You have the skills you need
Try new things…
Just call them “pilots”
Science changes the tools…
And the tools change science.
Our ability to produce data has outpaced
Our ability to organize and store it.
As science changes…
So do science libraries.
What can librarians do to support the new trends in science?
Learn as much as possibleabout departmental research
And the data deluge
Translate what libraries do…
Into data management services for researchers
What are our strengths?
We respond with agility to rapidly changing environments
We understand the fields we support
We know how to organize information
We know how to make information accessible
We know how to preserve information
From Science, May 23, 2011
“A data archivist would be a mix of librarian, IT expert and physicist, with the computing skills to keep porting data to new formats but savvy enough about the physics to be able to crosscheck old results on new computer systems.”
-- Rescue of Old Data Offers Lesson for Particle Physicists
How much physics do you need to know?
The original team of Google translation experts who won accolades for their excellent software that could translate Chinese and Arabic consisted of NOT ONE Chinese or Arabic speaker. – from The Most Human Human
What data management services can librarians provide?
Inform researchers of data issues that may impact them
Provide guidance on how to organize, store and preserve data
Offer solutions to data management problems
How did the MIT Libraries get started in this area?
Study group started in 2006
Broadened our membership in 2008
Services we offer our research community
http://libraries.mit.edu/data-management
Managing Research Data 101
Bioinformatics for Beginners
One-on-one consulting
• Format migration• Answering questions• Writing data management plans
The NSF Data Management Plan requirement
Radish
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/62236
How to handle non-MIT contributors?
Esoteric file formats
A preservation conundrum
Open-source software
Multiple file/zip file issues
Inconsistent metadata
Esoteric information – not for the layperson!
Future directions
Creating data profiles of individual researchers
And data audits of whole departments
Developing a service model for assisting researchers in the lab
Outreach to liaison librarians
Support more projectsfor DSpace@MIT
Remember…
• As science changes, so do science libraries• Don’t panic! You have the skills you need• Try new things… just call them “pilots”