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Scientists’ Data and Information Practices and Needs

UC3 Summer Webinar Series. Scientists’ Data and Information Practices and Needs. Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee and Mike Frame, USGS June 15, 2011.

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Scientists’ Data and Information Practices and Needs

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  1. UC3 Summer Webinar Series Scientists’ Data and Information Practices and Needs Carol Tenopir, University of Tennesseeand Mike Frame, USGS June 15, 2011

  2. Scientists’ Data and Information Practices and Needs: A Baseline Assessment & Implications for LibrariesCarol Tenopir, University of Tennesseeand Mike Frame, USGSCo-Leaders of the DataONE Usability & Assessment Working Group

  3. Provide universal access to data about life on earth and the environment that sustains it Build on existing cyberinfrastructure Create new cyberinfrastructure Support new communities of practice

  4. Assessment-stakeholders Public Officials Publishers Data Managers Libraries & Librarians Scientists Citizen-scientists Students& Teachers

  5. Data Life Cycle Assessment

  6. Baseline Assessment of Scientists (2010) n=1329 n=1317

  7. Meet the Scientists: Joe & Mabel Joe is a biodiversity scientist employed by a government agency. He acts as a program manager and consultant. Joe oversees collection of new data in the field and also manages historical data from other providers. Joe has data from a variety of different projects conducted over the years. Mabel is an academic environmental scientist. She collects and records data in the field on a variety of specimen variables and environmental impacts. Mabel has a data set related to her personal research interests, as well as data collected for a university museum collection.

  8. Lessons Learned

  9. Scientists need a variety of data types and many scientists are interested in sharing data.

  10. Data Types

  11. Current Sharing Practices

  12. Many are interested in sharing data Percent agree

  13. Joe & Mabel: About Sharing Data “We are torn between putting it out there for everyone and worry about suffering the risk of something bad happening with it. Saddest thing would be if the data loses its use, where it isn’t shared.” “I don’t think I would be opposed to it. It would not be a decision I would make personally; we would have to have permission to share.” “I’m interested in having data available to researchers interested in larger questions, particularly climate change questions.” “If NBII required anyone who extracted data through the portal to also share data with the portal, then a resounding yes.”

  14. 2. There are many barriers to sharing data and conditions that must be met.

  15. Gap Between Willingness to Share and Accessibility

  16. Interest in Data Sharing

  17. Conditions on data sharing Percent agree

  18. More challenges .. Percent agree

  19. More challenges .. Percent agree

  20. Joe & Mabel: About Restrictions & Conditions to Sharing Data “We will share it with people who want to use the data for restoration or research. If a consultant wants data to make money, then we are hesitant to hand it out.” “Is there a mechanism by which we can know when our data is being used? Knowing how valuable we are to the general public comes from the use of our data.” “We want to make sure that those of us who have been involved in gathering the data get appropriate recognition for it.” “If someone were to ask about rare or endangered plants, I would limit that information to appropriate people: natural heritage, universities and federal agencies.”

  21. 3. There are different needs, attitudes, and practices between scientists who work in government agencies and those who work in academia.

  22. “I am satisfied with …” Percent agree/strongly agree

  23. Responsibilities for Data • Academic respondents are more likely to have sole responsibility for approving access to some or all of their datasets. • Academic 83%, Government 63%

  24. Organizational Involvement • Government respondents are more likely to agree their organization was involved in: • “managing data during the life of the project” • Government 52%, Academic 39%, • “storing data beyond the life of the project” • Government 53%, Academic 46%

  25. Joe & Mabel: The View from Government & Academic Organizations “I don’t have the authority to make decisions about data sharing. “ “Our data sharing policy makes it difficult for us to withhold parts of the datasets we receive. As a result, some data contributors only share sub-sets of their data.” “I don’t have anything I’m keeping private. I’m willing to put it all out there.” “If other people are using my data then I somehow need to report that. I need to know how it’s being used and if any publications result.”

  26. 4. The skill level of scientists and use and access to appropriate tools varies across the data life cycle.

  27. What metadata standard do you currently use? Metadata standard

  28. Joe & Mabel: About Metadata “For contemporary sets, the person who submits the data also submits a metadata record. We create another record representing what we think it is. We have one version of the data, submitter may have a version they keep on their website. We want to be able to show that these are two different things.” “We write FGDC records.” “For my research, very little metadata has been created. For metadata associated with the museum collection, Darwin Core has been used.“ “We are currently redoing all of our collection databases at the museum. We are building an in-house system. We looked at available standards and decided to write our own.”

  29. 5. Scientists need assistance across the data life cycle.

  30. My organization provides…

  31. More challenges .. Percent agree

  32. Joe & Mabel: Looking for Assistance “Ideally, we would like for our research results to be disseminated in a way that’s accessible and digestible to not just academics but to everybody.” “Manpower. We need more people to handle these sorts of things.” “Maximum utility of the data would require geo-referencing of the data. We would need help geo-referencing the part of the collection that isn’t geo-referenced.” “It is cumbersome to put those data sets together, but only because it is important. If there were ways to automate some of that information collection out of the data sets, it would help.”

  33. Data Life Cycle Scientist Challenges Will I get credit for my work? What is a data management plan? What is metadata? What tools do I use? Are there standards? How much will it cost? Who can help me? Where do I preserve my data? How do I preserve my data?

  34. Future Assessments Scientists: BL Scientists: FU Library Policies: BL Library Policies: FU Librarians: BL Librarians: FU Policy Makers: BL Policy Makers: FU Educators: BL Educators: FU

  35. Library and Librarian Surveys • Library (1 per library) current practices • Librarian (individuals) attitudes and perceptions • Started with ARL libraries (spring and summer 2011; 38 library responses and 223 librarians so far) • Will expand to other North American academic libraries and librarians

  36. Librarian & Library Assessment Are RDS priority? Level of knowledge & skills ? Level of participation with data? Level of involvement with metadata? Role in partnering with researcher? Is there an agency repository that accepts data? Role of librarian discovering data? Stewardship role (select & deselect)? Role of the librarian to help preservation?

  37. Library SurveyResearch Data Services (RDS) - Research data reference/consultation services to researchers are provided by individual discipline librarians (33%) or dedicated data librarians (17%) or a combination of both (50%). - Almost half of the libraries (45%) do not have policies and/or procedures associated with research data services.

  38. Library SurveyCollaboration for RDS n=18

  39. Library Survey Staffing issues n=28

  40. Library SurveyOpportunities for Staff for RDS n=25

  41. Librarian Survey • Distributed to 950 librarians • Science, data, metadata, scholarly communication, digital collection, electronic resources librarians • 223 people replied at least one question

  42. Librarian Survey • Interact with faculty, students, or staff in support of RDS 28% Yes-integral part, 41% Yes-occasionally, 32% No (n=221) • With faculty or staff consultation on n=193 n=192 n=194

  43. Frequency of research data services performed by the librarian n=167 n=166 n=167 n=167

  44. Librarian Survey • Outreach and collaboration w/ other RDS • Off campus 61% Never, 34% few times a year (n=157) • On campus 51% Never, 34% few times a year (n=157) • Participation in … about RDS n=158 n=158 n=156 n=158

  45. Librarian SurveySkills & Expertise n=157

  46. Librarian Survey Most important motivation to be involved in RDS

  47. Next steps • Follow-up to ARL libraries and librarians • Expand scope to other academic libraries • Federal libraries/librarians • Data Managers • Other Working Groups looking at citizen scientists and UG educators

  48. Questions? Carol Tenopir ctenopir@utk.edu Mike Frame Mike.frame@usgs.gov

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