1. 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:

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Library Units and Data
Public Services
Collections
Digital Information

9. 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 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):

10. 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
Data archives
Telephone/

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

12. 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

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

14. 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

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

16. 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
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:
Green, T. (2009). We need publishing standards for datasets and data tables OECD Publishing White Paper. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from
Griffiths, A. (2009). The publication of research data: Researcher attitudes and behaviors. The International Journal of Digital Curation, 4(1), Retrieved from  
IASSIST website:
ICPSR website:
Mahoe, R. (2004). Reflections on the Dissertation Process and the Use of Secondary Data. Educational Perspectives, 37(2), Retrieved from
Nelson, B. (2009). Empty Archives. Nature, 461(7261),
Olken, F., & Gey, F. (2006). Social science data library manifesto. Retrieved from
Read, E. J. (2007). Data Services in Academic Libraries: Assessing Needs and Promoting Services. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(3). Retrieved from