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Taking Stock of CAR in your Library Researchers & CAR Specialists

This article discusses the important roles that researchers and CAR (Computer-Assisted Reporting) specialists play in providing access to information, organizing and maintaining collections, and analyzing data. It also highlights the skills and tools necessary for these roles and provides insights on managing structured and unstructured data. The article addresses the pitfalls of unclear lines of authority and responsibility, overlapping tasks, poor communication, and credit issues in the partnership between researchers and CAR specialists.

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Taking Stock of CAR in your Library Researchers & CAR Specialists

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  1. Taking Stock of CAR in your LibraryResearchers & CAR Specialists Margot Williams The Washington Post SLA June 2004

  2. Researcher/Librarian Providing answers Providing access to information Organizing & maintaining collection Training CAR Specialist Data analysis on-demand Cost/benefit analysis of data projects Find patterns in data that lead to stories Guide and help write data projects Training Core Missions

  3. Researcher/Librarian Search logic & strategy Online resources Offline & offsite resources Text archiving and retrieval Text processing Spreadsheets CAR Specialist Spreadsheets Relational databases Statistical analysis Programming languages GIS Social network analysis Skills & Tools

  4. Researcher Daily stories Graphics Weekenders Long-term projects Intranet resources CAR Specialist Weekenders Long-term projects In-house database resources for newsroom access Dailies Computer-assisted Reporting & Research

  5. Researcher/Librarian MANAGING UNSTRUCTURED DATA Info retrieval Info capture Info organization & categorization CAR Specialist MANAGING STRUCTURED DATA Data capture Data mining Data analysis The Process

  6. Researcher/Librarian Selecting Negotiating Acquiring Processing Organizing/Cataloging Maintaining Archiving CAR Specialist Negotiating FOIA/Legal Cleaning Processing Data Dictionary Maintaining Data Warehousing Information-handling Tasks

  7. On the Web • Spheres of Influence: Bush Campaign Pioneers • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/pioneers/pioneers_spheres.html • Guantanamo: a Holding Cell in the War on Terror • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58702-2004May1.html

  8. Partnership between researchers and CAR specialists • Complement--Work separately on different parts of complicated big projects. • Supplement--Work together on the same parts of complicated big projects. • Synergy--Cross-fertilization of CAR and research skills.

  9. The Pitfalls: Researchers vs. CAR specialists • Unclear lines of authority & responsibility • Overlapping tasks • Poor communication • Credit issues

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