Opinions of a Wolf

After the GIS hands-on session, I attended one final session presented by Katherine McNeill, Social Sciences Data Service and Economics Librarian at MIT.  This was a great session and included a discussion portion for sharing of ideas and challenges with colleagues.

• There is a tradition of being able to replicate scientific results.
• The NSF and NIH have data sharing requirements.
• MIT librarians saw an opportunity to support faculty as data producers not just data consumers.
• They now have a research data management team that provide: a workshop, website, data storage, and consultations.
• The individual consultations consist of: initial meetings; advice on documentation, intellectual property, confidentiality, data conversion and file format issues; and facilitate deposit of data in archive or repository
• Recommends “Conducting a Data Interview” by Witt and Carlson
• Don’t be afraid to reach out to faculty.
• It can be difficult for specialists to figure out how to make data accessible to undergrads or the everyman.
• Issues to Consider
• What is your organizational culture?
• Assess the needs of your researchers.
• Relationship to other departments in the university.
• Relationship between data specialists and subject librarians.
• Do the issues span disciplines or are they discipline specific?
• Facilitating compliance without coming across as police.
• Educate users to expect this service.
• Determine level of service to be provided.
• Learning from other institutions.
• Recommended resources: IASSIST, Digital Curation Centre, ICPSR, ARL Resources for Data Management Planning
• In conclusion, build on your expertise.  Be pioneering, thoughtful, proactive.  Let what faculty need be your guide.  Reach out to your colleagues.