TALE OF A POLICY TYRO Patricia Hswe Penn State University Libraries 3 April 2012 LIS590IP Information Policy GSLIS UIUC
Paths for this talk A glimpse at what I do in my job Examples of policy questions in repository services development Challenges of developing research data management policies The current policy climate
WHAT I DO AS A DIGITAL COLLECTIONS CURATOR
One could say the gamut Key role user advocate for digital collection content Digitized collections access and management activities Includes assessment of systems, tools, and user interfaces delivering digital collections Publishing and curation services development Curation = lifecycle management of content and data, adhering as much as possible to best practices and standards Repository services platform Exploring tiered service approach to journal publishing Leadership in research data management services Consult with faculty on data management plans Workshops for graduate students Research, write, present and publish. Rinse. Repeat.
TOTALLY NEW TO POLICY WONKISHNESS
Where have policy issues arisen? Repository services development What kind of content will we accept? Who will get to submit? What will get a CAT record? What will not? Who s going to check for copyright violations? What about metadata? Are we ensuring preservation and access forever? How much storage will we offer? Will this be a final resting place, or something to do things with like, a collaborative environment?
Cross roads store, bar, "juke joint," and gas station in the cotton plantation area, Melrose, La. (LOC); http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2178266871/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-wanderers-eye/4494147652/
So, we seek out existing models provided by other institutions, where repository services are long-standing. And we seek out guidance provided by places like Repositories Support Project.
RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT POLICIES Addressing funder mandates on an institutional level
Penn State University 24 campuses ~ 86,200 students World Campus ~ 10, 300 students 96,500 total * 6,010 full-time faculty 2009-2010: $780 million in research funding, 60% of it federal dollars o $102 million - industry-sponsored 8 interdisciplinary research institutes 2 institutes focused on defense research * total includes full-time and part-time students
Start of an infrastructure... Research Data Management Services Team (RDMST) Begun in December 2010 early responders Surveyed former & pending NSF PIs at Penn State Data Curation Working Group Lots of very busy administrators Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Office Long-established group working with researchers on multimillion dollar grant-funded projects Occasional collaboration with RDMST But need more than this to develop policies
The infrastructure has to matches users needs Stakeholders in research data management. Diagram inspired from version in Mark Thorley s presentation at the 7 th Research Data Management Forum on Incentivising Data Management and Sharing. 2011 DCC.
Institutions are now starting to respond by developing infrastructure, but we need to allow a similar transition period for these to be embedded and reward mechanisms to develop so policies can become practice. S. Jones. (2012). Developments in research data funder policy. International Journal of Digital Curation
Current policy climate: where we are at present More involvement from subject specialists Data Curation Profiles Toolkit - http://datacurationprofiles.org/ Consultations on data management plans Stakeholders in repository services development Grant-funded project to explore how faculty manage their intellectual workflow and curate their collected research materials and how librarians can help Participation from College of Education, subject specialists, digital records archivist, digital collections curator, and head of special collections library ARL/DLF e-science Institute Developing strategic agenda for library support of e-science research methods and practices
QUESTIONS? phswe@psu.edu More info: http://patriciahswe.net