FEATURE Data
Libraries could play key role in managing research data
David Stuart explores the potential role of the research library in the data age
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haring and long-term preservation of research data are increasingly important to the research process, strengthening the process of science and maximising a funder’s return on research investment. While some fields have embraced the sharing of data more fully than others, the sharing of research data is of growing interest across all scientific disciplines. However, we are still transitioning from a document-centric view of science to a data- centric view, and the infrastructure is not yet in place for the seamless sharing and reuse of scientific data. A growing number of increasingly sophisticated instruments and sensors mean that the scientific data available for sharing is growing rapidly, but there is a lot of work involved in extracting that data from researchers’ hard drives and ensuring that it is accessible in the long term. The rise of electronic publishing has disrupted traditional information roles, and the position that the library will hold in an increasingly data-centric science is not yet clear. There are undoubtedly opportunities, but if libraries move too slowly they may find other organisations fulfilling these roles.
A complex ecosystem The modern
scientific publishing system
has become increasingly complicated. The traditional publishing process could be modelled as a simple loop, with articles flowing from researchers to publishers to libraries and back to researchers. In contrast, the modern system is modelled more as a network – with new relationships and increasingly overlapping roles. Today, research papers are not only submitted to journals, but to institutional and subject repositories as well. Institutional repositories are often hosted by
library services, and hold grey literature as well as formal publications. In addition, the bundling of electronic journals by publishers diminishes the acquisitions role of the library, while open-access journals can potentially disrupt the traditional distribution role of publishing companies. All models are necessarily over- simplifications, and the traditional journal model was more complex than the simple loop suggested here. Nonetheless, it is clearly the case that organisational roles are increasingly less rigid in academic publishing. It is into this more fluid ecosystem that the need for more data-centric services has emerged. Increased interest in scientific data and a need for data-centric services provides a host of opportunities for the library to re- establish itself as having a central role within
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research institutions, but the overlapping roles of competing organisations mean that other organisations can quickly stake claims in areas that the library profession may have considered theirs by right.
The data lifecycle Data lifecycle models can provide a framework for considering the opportunities available to library services in the sharing of research data. The UK Data Archive research data lifecycle distinguishes six stages in the data lifecycle; processing data; analysing data; preserving data; giving access to data; and re- using data. Many of these stages can benefit from the skills of the library community. Effective data management starts at the beginning of the research process, not as an afterthought. Research libraries should be in
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