Goats in the Garden:Managing Data

Mark Leggott & Donald Moses, University of PEIAPLA Conference, May 2013

Challenge of Research Data

● Researchers almost all create digital data

● Funders are starting to require preservation and open access to funded research + data○ CIHR Mandate

○ March/13 meeting of Tri-Councils re Open Access

○ OSTP Memo of February 22, 2013

● No longer a choice to steward

● No longer a choice re article AND data

Examples from UPEI

● Running VREs for 5 years● Stewardship of research data increasing

○ Bioassay data from pharmaceutical research○ Survey data from surveys of teenagers○ Sightings of fox and coyote on the Island○ Climate change data/image sets○ Chemical molecule files○ Goat Anatomy atlas○ Digital collections used in research

Goat in the Garden

● Internally funded project to build annotation tool for anatomy images

● Built on existing Islandora modules designed for the Digital Humanities by Alan Stanley and discoverygarden

● Enhancements made by UPEI staff (PP & DM) to accommodate specific needs○ Finer line sizes, colour selector○ Integration with Drupal taxonomies○ MADS and MODS records

Fox and the Coyote

● Two different research groups tracking fox and coyote individuals on the Island

● VRE are essentially data collection/mapping sites

● Popular, provides alternative data collection as well as citizen scientist opportunities

Feels Like Rain

● PARCA: Partnership For Canada-caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation

● New VRE associated with Climate Change unit on campus

● Will contain wide range of data, goal is to provide access to all of PEI's mapping anf climate change data from all sources

Quantum Chemistry

● Provides a collaborative space for chemists to share chemical models and data

● Starting a phase 2 project in near future, which will release a Chemistry Solution Pack

● Provides functionality of expensive proprietary systems like SciFinder○ Simple 1 element ingest form○ Enrichment of record via Internet databases○ Records for researchers as well○ RSS Feeds, support for Latex, embedded code

● Using OpenBabel, Indigo, Checkmol, ChemDoodle

VRE Service

● Any researcher can request a VRE● Working on a standard VRE theme and

modules to ease maintenance● VREs used in Admin (e.g. Senate, Board),

Learning (e.g. Library Collections) and of course Research

● UPEI is now able to register DOIs so will soon be assigning DOIs to data

VRE Management Team

● 4 Librarians from 4 major areas● Meets weekly to review requests/projects● Reviews new requests and hands projects

off to Systems team● Recent challenges include 2 staff positions

that were not filled until recently● A challenge to keep up with demand● Charge researchers when possible

Islandora System

● Provides the foundation for RLs digital collections and VRE service

● Open source project, used all over the world, growing every month

● Version 7 latest, support for major digital library collections, management functions

● VRE functions are more custom, but will be a generic solution pack in late 2013 from discoverygarden

Buy-In

● VRE plan is part of the UPEI Strategic Research Plan

● Has the support of the Research office and is deployed across campus

● Main issue is resources to maintain 150+● Working on a more sustainable approach● Hiring staff and contractors to help● Strategic research grants = more staff

Regional Scene

● Support for research data from libraries is still mostly confined to open access articles

● MUN providing service with ePrints● Some institutions (UNB, Dal) starting to look

at how to support research data● CAIRN project would be one way to provide

services as need emerges● Emergence of VIVO and new research

platforms gives libraries opportunity

National Scene

● National scene not much different, a few institutions providing data stewardship○ SFU has received internal funding for a pilot○ 5 out of 21 OCUL institutions working with data,

most popular listed choice for an upcoming service● Still mostly taking a "library focused"

approach, with DSpace and Archivematica the commonly mentioned tools

International Scene

● OSTP has galvanized US organization to action - meeting mid May to discuss

● CDL (California Digital Library), UCSD and various institutions across the country have developed or developing programs

● Australia has invested 10s of millions in last year to build infrastructure

● UK has taken a step back with loss of funding for JISC and UKOLN

● Scape and other projects in Europe

Kevin Schurer, Director of the U.K. Data Archive

“Canada can’t get its act together [regarding research data].”