An insider’s guide to data librarianship packed full of practical examples and advice for any library and information professional learning to deal with data.
Interest in data has been growing in recent years. Support for this peculiar class of digital information – its use, preservation and curation, and how to support researchers’ production and consumption of it in ever greater volumes to create new knowledge, is needed more than ever. Many librarians and information professionals are finding their working life is pulling them toward data support or research data management but lack the skills required.
The Data Librarian’s Handbook, written by two data librarians with over 30 years’ combined experience, unpicks the everyday role of the data librarian and offers practical guidance on how to collect, curate and crunch data for economic, social and scientific purposes.
With contemporary case studies from a range of institutions and disciplines, tips for best practice, study aids and links to key resources, this book is a must-read for all new entrants to the field, library and information students and working professionals.
Key topics covered include:
the evolution of data libraries and data archives
handling data compared to other forms of information
managing and curating data to ensure effective use and longevity
how to incorporate data literacy into mainstream library instruction and information literacy training
how to develop an effective institutional research data management (RDM) policy and infrastructure
how to support and review a data management plan (DMP) for a project, a key requirement for most research funders
approaches for developing, managing and promoting data repositories
handling and sharing confidential or sensitive data
supporting open scholarship and open science, ensuring data are discoverable, accessible, intelligible and assessable.
Readership: This title is for the practising data librarian, possibly new in their post with little experience of providing data support. It is also for managers and policy-makers, public service librarians, research data management coordinators and data support staff. It will also appeal to students and lecturers in iSchools and other library and information degree programmes where academic research support is taught.
Dec 2016 | 192pp
Paperback
9781783300471
Price: £54.95
CILIP members price: £43.95
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eBook (PDF)
9781783301836
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The Data Librarian's Handbook
ROBIN RICE and JOHN SOUTHALL
About the book Table of contents Reviews About the author Abstracts
1. Data librarianship: responding to research innovation
The rise of data librarians
Addressing early demand for data services in the social sciences
The growth of data collections
The origins of data libraries
A new map of support for services and researchers
2. What is different about data?
Attitudes and pre-conceptions
Is there a difference if data are created or re-used?
Data and intellectual property rights
The relationship of metadata to data
Big data
Long tail data
The need for data citation
Embracing and advocating data curation
3. Supporting data literacy
Information literacy with data awareness
Categories of data
Top tips for the reference interview
What has statistical literacy got to do with it?
Data journalism and data visualization
Topics in research data management
Training in data handling
4. Building a data collection
Policy and data
Promoting and sustaining use of a collection
Embedding data within the library
5. Research data management service and policy: working across your institution
Librarians and RDM
Why does an institution need an RDM policy?
What comprises a good RDM policy?
Tips for getting an RDM policy passed
Toolkits for measuring institutional preparedness for RDM
Planning RDM services: what do they look like?
Evaluation and benchmarking
What is the library’s role?
6. Data management plans as a calling card
Responding to challenges in data support
Leading by example: eight vignettes
The snowball effect of data management plans
7. Essentials of data repositories
Repository versus archive?
Put, get, search: what is a repository?
Scoping your data repository
Choosing a metadata schema
Managing access
Data quality review (or be kind to your end-users)
Digital preservation planning across space and time
Trusted digital repositories
The need for interoperability
8. Dealing with sensitive data
Challenging assumptions about data
Understanding how researchers view their research
Sensitivity and confidentiality – a general or specific problem?
A role in giving advice on consent agreements
Storing and preserving confidential data effectively
9. Data sharing in the disciplines
Culture change in academia
10. Supporting open scholarship and open science
Going green: impact of the open access movement
Free software, open data and data licences
Big data as a new paradigm?
Data as first-class research objects
Reproducibility in science
Do libraries need a reboot?