Integration of Data and Publications - Alliance for Permanent Access

Report on Integration of Data and Publications Grant Agreement no.: 261530
The majority of participants believed that libraries should have a role as repositories of
data. Some traditional library skills are applicable to data management, such as
collection management and information retrieval skills and the libraries established
relationship with researchers as teachers of information literacy skills means that they
are well placed to provide guidance to researchers in the creation of data management
plans.
If libraries are to become more involved in the integration of data and publications then
there may well be a necessity to develop software development skills to support the
exploitation of data as well as expertise in the area of intellectual property (IP) in order
to ensure that the rights of the creators of the data are protected.
The increase in the use of integrated data means that boundaries between libraries, data
centres and publishing are blurring, possibly, as one participant stated, becoming one
intellectual unit, and this has perhaps the greatest implication for future roles.
Why Libraries?
As a further provocation participants were asked why libraries should have a role in
data exchange? This question not only served to draw out the rational for the
repositioning of libraries but also helped highlight some of the barriers to library
involvement in data exchange.
Reflective of an issue raised in chapter 2, researchers are not interested in archiving or
curating data themselves and there is a real danger of fragmentation if these activities
are left up to individual researchers. Libraries already have a track record in
supporting researchers in their work.
This could present an argument for institutional repositories but on the other hand,
there may be a danger of fragmentation if libraries become repositories of data where
discipline specific international resources such as PANGAEA or GenBank are available
and a preferable solution for researchers. Also, libraries’ existing strengths lie in
creating structure rather than storage.
Approaches to data publishing
Much of the dialogue in the workshop focused on the approach that should be taken to
encourage, sustain and support data publishing and data integration. First of all, there
was a general sentiment that there is a need for a definition of metadata for research
data.
There is also a need to focus on interoperability rather than specific subject domains,
regions or institutions. This could pose a problem for libraries as existing library
information infrastructures are not always easy to make interoperable.
At the same time it is important to work with researchers and research groups at local
and project level. As one participant put it “local effort can result in global solutions”.
Opportunities for Data Exchange (ODE) –www.ode-project.eu 86