My recent learning – research data and open data

[ElizabethECharl]

What?

Of the various things I have learnt over the last week or so I have chosen to relate that I have recently learnt about research data and open access and in particular Open data  –

Open data is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share alike.[1]

This concept has been buzzing around in the information/library world for a number of years but with the recommendation of the Finch Report regarding publicly funded research being published in open access journals – this has come more to the fore and now coincides with Open Educational Resource (OER). I have been aware that this was on the horizon but only recently realised that I would have to become more familiar with this practice as it will impinge on certain aspects of my teams’ work. Alongside making publicly funded research findings published in articles available, there has been a growing pressure for the raw research data to be also open. This then ensure that experiments can be replicated/checked or new theories arrived at by being able to access the raw data. This is what I have been learning about in-depth in the last couple of days. The concern from my viewpoint was to get a better understanding and to work out the ramifications for workloads, training, support, etc.

How and why?

I read a couple of articles on research data and open access/data and the Open data handbook [1], then had a discussion with one of my informed colleagues who has been keeping a watching brief on this and attended a one day conference where the topic was on the programme.  I learnt about the different types of research data: raw data, research ready, output datasets, published catalogue, and how researchers use these.  I knew about ‘big data’ before this conference but it was informative and useful to note that the majority of researchers focus their research more on the long tail from ‘research  ready’ to ‘ published catalogue’ than on ‘raw data’. During the presentation I was trying to work out how and what type of support, with such subject specialism and data would my team and colleagues be expected to provide and what skills would be required.

The problems that researchers are encountering, a lack of expertise in data management that they may look to the Library to provide or advise them on was also covered.  Ensuring that new researchers are trained how to systematically organise and maintain their research – creating/providing inhouse training or using OER such as MANTRA . The need to consider calling on this expertise or the required support should be part of the institution’s checklist when a researcher submits their bid for funding. This is to be followed up by the relevant librarian discussing/suggesting possible options in preserving the data and making it accessible (controlled if necessary).  I discussed with other delegates how they were dealing with this issue and it was clear that maintaining and hosting the raw data is not something that many libraries have been actively involved in so far.  This was about to change at my institution as the Research Committee set new policy in place that all researchers will have to adhere to regarding where and how any publicly funded research raw data will be stored and made accessible.  After reflecting on the conference and all I heard and saw I had to consider what other issues we may be called upon to deal with and where the resources will be found, especially as the staff in question may well need to be up-skilled to meet this challenge in their various subject disciplines as subject context is so important.

I will undertake further reading including some of the papers that were mentioned in the conference and once I have had a chance to reflect further I will discuss this with my staff. Later I will be contacting colleagues at University of East London Library (a partner institution) where currently as part of a JISC funded project they are rolling out training for their liaison librarians. I will be drafting a briefing paper with some possible options as to how this issue can be addressed, taken forward and an agreed timeline. The storage of and making accessible researchers’ data will link seamlessly into our repository but the rules and regulation for this will also need to be reviewed and amended where necessary by the various committees.  I might also take this opportunity to collaborate by creating a one-issue Bloomsbury Librarians Group to bring like-minded staff together to discuss and share their experiences of implementation. This should keep the momentum going and ensure ownership by individual liaison staff.

My motivation for learning about this is obvious from what I have stated above.  It is also because as this is something that I know the service will have to get to grips with, I would much prefer that we have as long a lead-up time as possible. Also the fact that this is not a task I will undertaking myself requires that I have a clear understanding of the issues and processes so I can advise and support the staff who will be doing it.  I think my learning is situated at certain points in each of the following categories of the table: know that, know how, and  knowing in action.

 

[1] Open data handbook at: http://opendatahandbook.org/en/what-is-open-data/

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