The Emerging Career of Data Librarianship in Academic Libraries Hailey Mooney Data Services and Reference Librarian Michigan State University Libraries Outline for talk: -Evolution of research data -Roles and service plan for data librarians -Data Reference -Touch on my professional research interests -training -Questions at end Contact Information: mooneyh@msu.edu http://dataservices.lib.msu.edu

What is data (to a data librarian)? Data as a primary source Types of Data Numeric Machine-readable data files Non-numeric Traditional primary sources: private documents (letters, diaries), media (written record, oral record, films, photographs), physical materials Wisdom Knowledge The first thing we have to do is settle on a common understanding of just what “data” is. Many different definitions for data Primary source Forms the foundation/building blocks of the “information hierarchy” Data are observations or facts about the world around us that require context and interpretation to be made sense of Funneling down even farther: differentiate between two types of data Numeric: machine-readable data files interpreted using statistical software programs Anything that can be coded into numbers Information Data

Types of Numeric Data in the Social Sciences Primary Data (Researcher created) Surveys Micro level (individuals) Cross sectional or longitudinal Social, economic, demographic Macro level (aggregations) Secondary/Archival Data (Created for purposes other than academic research) Administrative Records Government, business

Data vs. Statistics You have to know what you’re looking for in order to find it, so I want to parse out another definition that is important to data librarians.

Data Archives Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Subject-specific Roper Center Public Opinion Archives Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA) Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) University University of Wisconsin Data & Information Services Center (UW DISC) International German Social Science Infrastructure Services Association (GESIS) As the archive term suggests, these institutions facilitate access to datasets by providing long-term preservation support (as we migrate from one technology to the next), and also working with researchers through the process of submitting datasets and providing adequate documentation.

Evolution of Social Science Data and Quantitative Research 1896 Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company, a predecessor of IBM 1897 Emile Durkheim publishes Suicide 1935 Dr. George Gallup founds the American Institute of Public Opinion 1940 the Current Population Survey is established 1947 Roper Center for Public Opinion Research founded 1948 National Election Studies begin 1951 UNIVAC, the first civilian computer is delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau 1962 ICPSR founded 1968 Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software is first released 1972 Nat’l Opinion Research Center (NORC) conducts first General Social Survey (GSS) 1974 First Internat’l Assoc. of Soc. Sci. Info. Service & Tech. (IASSIST) Conference 1981 Internat’l Business Machines (IBM) releases the Personal Computer 1982 Library Trends special issue on “Data Libraries for the Social Sciences” 1985 National Science Foundation begins to require data sharing 1994 ICPSR launches first WWW homepage 1997 Fedstats.gov is launched 1998 ICPSR data is available for download from the WWW 2001 Numeric Data Products and Services SPEC Kit published Data services is emerging in the sense that clearly defined support for the format of numeric datasets within libraries is receiving increased and more widespread attention, but the history of social science data is relatively long. This timeline is focused on important dates in the life of machine-readable data---but collection of social statistics goes back even farther

Library Data Services “The mission of Michigan State University Library Data Services is to make numeric data resources available to students, faculty and staff to support curricular, research, and general information needs.” Services Provided: Data Set Identification (Reference) Instructional Support Data Set Acquisitions What you’ll notice is that this is the same type of work done by any subject specialist librarian: the difference is that instead of specializing in a particular academic discipline, I specialize in a format of information that crosses multiple subject areas.

Library Units and Data Public Services Collections Digital Information

This diagram, prepared by Martin Donnelly of the Research Data Management Forum, conceptualizes the roles and skills involved with handling the entire lifecycle of data: from creation, ingest, management/curation and preservation, to access and use and reuse. Data creators: social science researchers both producing and using Data Scientist: computing specialists and statisticians working with technical methods to manipulate/analyze data Data managers: are those people working behind the scenes, particularly in repositories and archives, managing preservation and metadata: everything that is needed host data and to make access possible Data librarian: facilitates that access through organization, collection building, and reference services. Research Data Management Forum: RDMF2: Core Skills Diagram http://data-forum.blogspot.com/2008/12/rdmf2-core-skills-diagram.html as cited in Pryor, G. & Donnelly, M. (2009). Skilling up to do data: Whose role, whose responsibility, whose career?. International Journal of Digital Curation, 2 (4): 158-170.

Data Reference Reference Interview: Define the Unit of Analysis Who or what? (social unit) When? (time) Where? (geography) Accessing Research Data Has it been collected, published, distributed? Data Librarian’s Toolkit Traditional library resources and search strategies Research Guides http://dataservices.lib.msu.edu Data archives Telephone/Email

Professional Development and Research Interests IASSIST: International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology Scholarly communication, data sharing and citations

The Context for Data Citations Information Standards Publishing: Journals, Books, etc. Library Systems: Organization, Search, Retrieval Style Manuals Citations Reference Desk: Known-item searches Research Data Use & Reuse Data Citations Citation Analysis Behavior Motivations Data Sharing Scholarly Communication Creation  Evaluation  Dissemination  Preservation

Do authors cite data? Sometimes, but not consistently! Frequency of Data Citations n=49

Training for Data Librarians Data Services Foundation MLIS Relevant coursework: Research Methods, Advanced Reference, Government Information Social Science B.A. (or statistics) On-the-job experience and support Professional Associations and Networks ICPSR Summer Institute Data Curation/Management Foundation MLIS Relevant coursework: archives and preservation, computer programs and systems, metadata On-the-job experience and support Professional Associations and Networks Digital Curation Centre, ICPSR Digital Curation

Questions? In summary: -definitions -historical context -roles and services -data reference -data sharing and citation

Selected Resources Altman, M., & King, G. (2007). A proposed standard for the scholarly citation of quantitative data. D-Lib Magazine, 13(3/4). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1045/march2007-altman Cook, M. N. C., Hernandez, J. J. C., & Nicholson, S. C. (2001). Numeric Data Products and Services. SPEC Kit (pp. 93): Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Leadership and Management Services. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED463758) Retrieved from ERIC.  Digital Curation Centre website: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/ Green, T. (2009). We need publishing standards for datasets and data tables OECD Publishing White Paper. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/603233448430  Griffiths, A. (2009). The publication of research data: Researcher attitudes and behaviors. The International Journal of Digital Curation, 4(1), 46-56. Retrieved from http://www.ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/viewFile/101/76   IASSIST website: http://www.iassistdata.org/  ICPSR website: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu. Mahoe, R. (2004). Reflections on the Dissertation Process and the Use of Secondary Data. Educational Perspectives, 37(2), 34-37. Retrieved from http://www.hawaii.edu/edper/pdf/Vol37Iss2/Reflections.pdf Nelson, B. (2009). Empty Archives. Nature, 461(7261), 160-163. Olken, F., & Gey, F. (2006). Social science data library manifesto. Retrieved from https://hpcrd.lbl.gov/staff/olken/ssdl/ssdl_manifesto.html Read, E. J. (2007). Data Services in Academic Libraries: Assessing Needs and Promoting Services. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(3). Retrieved from http://www.rusq.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/46n3/read.pdf