2007/10/27: Cyberinfrastructure primer
I've finally had a chance to read the current issue of D-Lib. If you're involved in science, engineering, or technology librarianship you should NOT miss Anna Gold's two part article on Cyberinfrastructure, Data, and Libraries (full disclosure: Anna was my boss when we both worked at UCSD's Science and Engineering Library).Anna gives the best summary of the evolution of eScience/Cyberinfrastructure that I've read. Her bibliography alone is worth the price of admission. Even better, she describes the unique position of academic libraries amongst Cyberinfrastructure stakeholders and provides excellent advice on the new skills librarians should master if they hope to play a role in this emerging area.
This is key. I've often spoken to high level managers in science libraries who think that librarians do not have a role to play in the cyberinfrastructure and that data curation is best done by domain experts. Anna makes the point that "domain expertise may also be needed to provide credible expert help with data management problems or tools." It is indeed true that librarians aren't equipped to deal with peta scale storage and high performance computing. It is also true, however, that librarians are highly experienced with the assessment and selection functions inherent in developing "collections," developing standards and building communities of practice, applying metadata, preservation, managing licensing and access rights, and developing discovery services. Librarians know how to help people re-purpose information for multi and interdisciplinary use. Anna also suggests that library funding models may assist in the ongoing quest for a workable business model for data curation since libraries are accustomed to getting money from a variety of sources.
Go read this. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
Labels: cyberinfrastructure, data curation, digital preservation, eScience, metadata, scholarly communication
posted by Laura @ 9:26 AM
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