Aligning library services with emerging research data needs

Aligning library services with emerging research data needs

University of Tennessee Libraries Visit 4/19/13

Andrew Sallans, Head of Strategic Data IniBaBves,

University of Virginia Library

CreaBve Commons License ”Aligning library services with emerging research data needs", 4/19/13 by Andrew L. Sallans is licensed under a CreaBve Commons AJribuBon-‐ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

A view of the UVA research landscape

•  Focus on moving up rankings •  Part of strategy is an increased focus on research acBviBes

and grant funding •  Around $300M per year in research funding, with drops in

recent years in part due to less available funding and more compeBBon –  Most from NIH, but also lots from NSF, DOD, DOE


Many strategies…

•  Commission on the Future of the University (COFU) in 2007 –  ParBcularly the creaBon of two centers for computaBonally-‐intense research –  hJp://www.virginia.edu/planningdocuments/commission/

•  Development of cyberinfrastructure to support research –  Internet2 partnerships, fiber upgrades, Hydra, Academic PreservaBon Trust, Digital

PreservaBon Network, etc.

•  Many iniBaBves starBng up by faculty to advance research agendas, enable recruitment of top faculty, top postdocs, top students –  QuanBtaBve CollaboraBve –  Big Data –  Census Research Center possibility –  Assorted school strategic plans for research


Where does the Library stand?

•  Public services •  CollecBons •  Subject liaisons •  DigiBzaBon

TradiBonal services profile, resource focus on support for teaching,

discovery, and access to collecBons content

•  Electronic Text Center (eText) •  GeospaBal StaBsBcal Data Center (GeoStat) •  Scholars Lab •  Research CompuBng Lab •  Digital Media Lab

Successful “edge” iniBaBves to meet

emerging needs over past two decades not

well integrated into core


What value might the Library bring to the new strategic agenda?

•  What are the high value services? –  FaciliBes are in high demand, but largely as a study space for students –  Many researchers only use online services/collecBons –  Demand in new areas

•  Departments are reclaiming and repurposing smaller domain libraries •  Even harder to easily sort support funcBons into buckets

–  Who supports analysis? –  Infrastructure? –  Data management requirements?


Enabling research, teaching, and learning through services, collections, tools, and spaces for the faculty and students of today and tomorrow.

Source: hJp://strategy.library.virginia.edu/

Strategy map


Top Library prioriBes

•  Improve the Student Experience -‐ create a coordinated focus on student experience across the Library system

•  Digital Preserva=on -‐ build capacity for digital preservaBon of all formats •  Data Services -‐ establish a full suite of services to support scholars' ability

to acquire, create, use, manage and preserve data •  New Collec=on Models -‐ develop new resource distribuBon models and

collaboraBve methods for collecBon access •  Alderman Renova=on -‐ secure funding for major renovaBon of Alderman

Library •  What's Next Process -‐ experiment with new ways to become a flexible

and nimble organizaBon that is beJer prepared for a changing future


Data management: a specific need and opportunity

•  May 2010 announcement of upcoming NSF DMP requirement •  Administrators recognize new requirement and insufficient

researcher preparedness as a risk to future funding goals •  Our team was already headed in this direcBon, and had built

experience in this broader area through previous efforts •  Library made case to take on support, and received

endorsement and buy-‐in from research and IT leadership


An evoluBon of services

Electronic Text (Etext) Center and GeospaBal and StaBsBcal Data (GeoStat)

Center, 1990s-‐2006

Science and Engineering

Digital IniBaBve (SEDI) Lab, 2003 -‐2006

Research CompuBng Lab

(RCL), 2006-‐2010

ScienBfic Data ConsulBng

(SciDaC) Group, 2010-‐Present

What comes next?


Genng SciDaC started: May 2010

Assessment

Planning

ImplementaBon

Data Interviews

Data Management Plan Support

Data in the InsBtuBonal Repository


Engaging on many fronts •  Advising on data management planning •  ConsulBng on data management process improvement and curaBon •  Training on requirements and best pracBces

•  DMPTool for efficiency in offering DMP services and sharing best pracBces •  Policy revision and recommendaBons •  Serving as the bridge for insBtuBonal data management services

•  Repository services (Libra, Academic PreservaBon Trust, Digital PreservaBon Network)

•  ContribuBng use cases and real requirements to development efforts

•  Involvement in naBonal iniBaBves to develop parts of our support model •  Developing collaboraBons to share and gain experBse

Front-‐line Services

Process Improvement

Infrastructure Development

Community-‐wide

CreaBve Commons License ”Aligning library services with emerging research data needs", 4/19/13 by Andrew L. Sallans

is licensed under a CreaBve Commons AJribuBon-‐ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Assessment / data interviews

•  Over past two years we conducted about 25 data interviews –  Focus on learning about research data pracBces at UVa and idenBfying

service needs/opportuniBes –  IntenBon of leading into consulBng opportuniBes

•  Ended up with conundrum of how to manage “unique” condiBons of each research environment against common characterisBcs of data management within domains and insBtuBonal framework


Assessment workflow

Conduct Data Interview

Send iniBal report to researcher for approval/review

Distribute final report and begin DM

ImplementaBon with Researcher

Produce "Data Interview Report"

Extract acBon statements from

“DM Vitals RecommendaBons

Report"

Code Data Interview

answers in the “DM Vitals” tool


Turning the assessment into recommendaBons

•  Must be a fast process •  Must create acBonable and repeatable recommendaBons •  Must reduce subjecBvity •  Must weigh all assessment factors •  Must address present DM condiBon while showing path for

improvement


DMVitals to score the assessment

•  Data management best pracBce statements –  UVa sources (ISPRO, SciDaC Guidelines) –  ANDS long-‐term sustainability scoring model

•  8 data management categories •  Data interview quesBons and responses •  Incorporated data management maturity index of Crowston &

Qin Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for ScienBfic Data Management (SDM)

See full presentaBon from IASSIST 2012: hJp://www.slideshare.net/ASallans/dmvitals-‐a-‐data-‐management-‐assessment-‐recommendaBons-‐tool-‐iassist-‐2012


Example of similar sustainability model

Crowston, K. & J. Qin. (2010). A capability maturity model for scien=fic data management. In: Proceedings of the American Society for Informa=on Science and Technology, October 24-‐26, 2010, PiWsburgh, PA. (Poster)


DMVitals scoring


DMVitals report view


RecommendaBons package


Planning / data management plan support

•  IniBally asked to provide boilerplate text for researchers, we resisted this approach

•  Began providing services by developing a very user-‐centered template approach, incorporaBng Q&A and guidance

•  Heavy focus on collaboraBve development with our team and iteraBve revision


Data management plan support today

•  We’ve consulted directly on about 50 DMPs over the course of the past 2 years

•  IniBal focus was NSF and science/engineering, but we’ve now seen them from most domains and funding agencies

•  We offer 2 business day turn-‐around on review, iteraBve feedback and advising


Scaling the DMP consulBng service

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Growth of DMPTool Plans by Ins=tu=on

U of Virginia

Average of partners

Average of all insBtuBons counted

Max of all insBtuBons counted

Min of all insBtuBons counted


DMP consulBng review

•  We worked with our sponsored research office to review all DMPs submiJed by UVA to NSF

•  We have not yet completed our full analysis (and will not be sharing the results publicly) but iniBal review shows a few general trends: –  Very clear which DMPs we reviewed –  PreJy clear which DMPs were copied from those we reviewed –  Significant room to improve amongst invesBgators in understanding of

what’s required and what resources are available to support compliance


DMP consulBng next steps

•  Despite administraBve buy-‐in and endorsement, and community appreciaBon of our efforts, use is sBll lower than desired and overall quality of DMPs (per our study) is sBll very sub par

•  Working to get agreement for pilot of mandated DMP review as checkpoint within one school’s grant review processes –  Low cost and risk to school, potenBal high return to grant rates, plan

quality, and compliance –  High value agreement for sustaining our services and ensuring broader

impact of efforts upon insBtuBonal goals


ImplementaBon / data in the insBtuBonal repository

•  Improvement of upstream data management pracBces to improve quality in downstream preservaBon

•  Development of mechanisms for preservaBon of data


Shising into “operaBonal” support

•  ImplementaBon of grant-‐driven DMPs (cited as highest value service by one dean)

•  Plans for the sake of doing beJer research, efficiency, cost-‐savings, risk miBgaBon

•  Using notebook approach •  SBll wrangling with how to keep things moving and genng

people to act (carrot vs. sBck)


Selected addiBonal efforts

•  Data Rights and ResponsibiliBes Guidance –  hJp://www.lib.virginia.edu/brown/data/datarights.html

•  Data Management Day at UVA •  Graduate Student Data Management Portal

–  hJp://pages.shanB.virginia.edu/SciDaC_Grad_Training/

•  Graduate Student Data Management Bootcamp (in partnership with Virginia Tech Libraries)

•  ASERL/SURA Model Language for Research Data Management Policies –  hJp://www.aserl.org/wp-‐content/uploads/2013/01/ASERL-‐

SURA_Model_Language_RDM_Policy_Language_FINAL.pdf

•  ARL SPEC Kit on Research Data Management Services (in collaboraBon with JHU, data presently being collected)


What comes next?


Emerging research data services

•  A complete suite to match the emerging research needs •  Five person Data Services Leadership Team for strategy,

faculty advisory group expected to happen soon •  Data management as a useful cornerstone at Bmes •  Other areas:

–  GIS (currently have two FTEs) –  StaBsBcal consulBng (just hired new FTE, searching for second now) –  Data acquisiBon (just hired new FTE) –  Metadata consulBng (just restructured, shising now) –  Data archiving? Data mining? Data wrangling? Data modeling?


Staffing these emerging services

•  Retraining •  Reframing of posiBons •  Offering job share opportuniBes for people to develop skills

and experience in new areas •  Fresh hires, including non-‐tradiBonal (ie. Domain PhDs)


Core team composiBon


Name Title Training Percent Time Area of Focus

Andrew Sallans

Head of Strategic Data IniBaBves

MLIS MSMIT

Full-‐Bme Management, planning, IT, budgeBng

Sherry Lake Senior Data Consultant

MLIS Full-‐Bme Planning, programming, storage, metadata

Bill Corey Data Consultant

MLIS Full-‐Bme Policy, ownership, metadata

Andrea Denton

Health Sciences Data Consultant

MLIS 4 hours per week

Clinical research, IRBs

Ricky PaJerson

Data Consultant

PhD Astronomy

Half-‐Bme ScienBfic data, methods, funded research

Summer interns

MLIS Full-‐Bme for 10 weeks

Project based

Ongoing struggles…

•  How do we involve the broader Library staff? •  In overall Library services, what can we stop as we shis into

these new areas of focus? •  Beyond our culture, how do we persuade our users to see the

Library differently? •  CommunicaBon about exisBng efforts and management of

expectaBons


Closing points

•  Change in perspec=ve: This can be a great role for the Library, but it requires change and openness to doing things differently and acquiring different skills

•  Deeper involvement in research: SupporBng researchers as they “acquire, create, use, manage, and preserve” data demands deeper involvement in the research process

•  Collabora=on and partnerships: success in this area depends upon the ability to effecBvely coordinate services with other parts of the research process


QuesBons?

Contact: Andrew Sallans

[email protected] TwiJer: @asallans


Education

Aligning library services with emerging research data needs