Data Access and Management: the Library’s Role

March 26-27, 2012

Hosted by Brad Gulliford and Jeff Downing

Please join us for an e-forum discussion. It’s free and open to everyone!
Registration information is at the end of the message.

Each day, sessions begin and end at:

Pacific: 7am – 3pm
Mountain: 8am – 4pm
Central: 9am – 5 pm
Eastern: 10am – 6pm

Description

Sets or collections of data (including scientific, social services, and demographic) have become more visible and available.  Libraries are places of information storage and access, but are data and data support services a good fit for libraries and librarians?

Traditionally, researchers stored and administered their data independently of libraries (although there were some repositories).  Now conventional libraries are contemplating an expansion of their services to include assistance in locating data, acting as consultants as researchers file data management plans, and making data accessible via local hosting.

This e-forum will discuss the collections aspect of hosting large data files, the acquisitions aspect of “accessioning” materials requiring no shelving or payment, and the technical services aspect of sharing responsibilities with reference.  We will also discuss providing information about filing data management plans and making original data accessible.

Brad Gulliford and Jeff Downing are librarians in the acquisitions and collection development department of the library of the University of Texas at Arlington, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Brad’s subject areas are most of the sciences and engineering, and he blogs at Scholarly communication, Open Access, Open Science ( http://blog.uta.edu/~bradley/). Jeff covers economics, political science, psychology, and urban planning, and, drawing on his technical services experience at the Superconducting Super Collider Library, serves on the reference desk of UT Arlington’s Science and Engineering Library.

*What is an e-forum?*

An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion. Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free. See a list of upcoming e-forums at: http://bit.ly/upcomingeforum.

*To register:*

Instructions for registration are available at: http://bit.ly/eforuminfo. Once you have registered for one e-forum, you do not need to register again, unless you choose to leave the email list. Participation is free and open to anyone.

 Posted on behalf of the ALCTS Continuing Education Committee