UCD School of

Information and Library Studies

Virtual Research Environments and the Librarian

Judith Wusteman

Overview

• E-research

• What are VREs?

with (mainly UK-based) examples

• Potential roles for librarians

• Implications

Computerintensive

Data intensive

Collaborative

Multidisciplinary

E-Research

Virtual Research Environment (VRE)

“A set of online tools and other network resources and technologies interoperating with each other to support or enhance the processes of a wide range of research practitioners within and across disciplinary and institutional boundaries.”

Mike Fraser, 2005

“A VRE helps researchers from all disciplines to work collaboratively by managing the increasingly complex range of tasks involved in carrying out research.”

JISC VRE 3, 2009

authorise

provenance

awareness

monitor resource /

process

discover resources

publish output archive

data

re-use data

invoke computation

configure a resource

transfer data

collaborate

communicate authenticate

Researcher

See Voss, A. & Procter, R “Virtual Research Environmentsin Scholarly Work and Communications” LHT, (2009)

Computerintensive

Data intensive

Collaborative

Multidisciplinary

VRE

Research 2.0

“the extension of Web 2.0 tools to support academic and other research”

Yuwei Lin “Research 2.0”, Qualitative Researcher Issue 8 June 2008

Computerintensive

Data intensive

Collaborative

Multidisciplinary

VRE

D4ScienceDIstributed colLaboratories Infrastructure on Grid ENabled Technology 4 Science

Computerintensive

Data intensive

Collaborative

Multidisciplinary

VRE

“The role of the library in data-intensive research is important and a strategic repositioning of the library with respect to research support is now

appropriate.”

Skills, Role & Career Structure of Data Scientists & Curators: Assessment of Current Practice & Future Needs

Alma Swan and Sheridan Brown , Report to the JISC, July 2008

The data imperative: libraries and research dataJune 2009

Joint RLUK/SCONUL e-research Group

“This was an excellent opportunity to confirm the extraordinary interest of librarians in this area as well as the difficulty to clarify their role and where the necessary funding comes from to allow addressing the challenge.”

http://eidcsr.blogspot.com

• IBBRE - Internet Based Behavioural Research Environment

• VRIC - Virtual Research Integration Collaboration

• MyExperiment Repository Enhancement

Repurposed

The VRE: Generic or specific?

Research group

Domain Institution

• Virtual Environments for Research in Archaeology

JISC VRE II funded project

Aims to produce a fully-fledged virtual research environment for the archaeological community

• http://vera.rdg.ac.uk/

• VERA• is a Collaborative Project

Computer Science• School of Systems

Engineering, University of Reading

Archaeology• Department of Archaeology,

University of Reading• The York Archaeological Trust• User Requirements• School of Library, Archive and

Information Studies,• University College London

© Claire Warwick

A VRE for the Study of Documents and Manuscripts

BVREH Building a Virtual Research Environment for the Humanities

Drenthe, G & Goris, G.

Tales of the Revolt: Sharing, Enhancing, and Disseminating Sources

TEXTvre: VRE for textual studies

The VRE: Generic or specific?

Research group

Domain Institution

http://www.ucd.ie/ojax/

Diane H. SonnenwaldFormerly Director of the Center for Collaborative Innovation in Göteborg

From Sept 09: Head of UCD School of Information and Library Studies

• eSocial Science repository/collaboratory to support ILS

research, education & practice

- Data collection instruments

- Digital learning objects

• Metrics to evaluate collaborative knowledge work

in industry

• Collaborative information behavior theory &

research methods

•

• Design & evaluation of 3d telepresence technology to

support collaboration in eMedicine & eScience

OneVRE to Join them all

29

Research Information Centre (RIC)British Library & MicrosoftSlides with thanks to Stephen Andrews

30

Project home page

Searching the literature – federated sources

31

Searching the literature – results page

32

Project repositories - bookmarks

33

Project repositories – the Slide Library

34

Searching the project repositories

35

Funding

36

Funding – creating a proposal

37

Librarians and VREs

• Related activities

• Potential roles

• Implications

Related activities

• Online university environments – Library website – VLE – Institutional portal – Departmental websites

• Web 2.0– Social networking

• Research support– Data curation

VREs: Potential role for librarians

• VRE development

• VRE training

• VRE use

Agile software development

OSS development?

Web 2.0

User Centred Design

Iterative

OpennessUser Control

User CentredVRE

VRE Development

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

• Manifesto for Agile Software Development We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Agile software development

• Iterations of 2-4 weeks

• Only as much documentation as necessary

• Early coding

• Working version - stable, testable software

• Close collaboration and rapid feedback between developers, users and customers

Usability Testing / User Testing

• Representative users performing representative tasks in the presence of a tester

• From Usability Labs…

• ….to usability testing

on 10 cents a day

Current library involvement in VRE development

No library involvement

included in our initial surveynot to the extent that we would

have liked....partly due to lack of response to our requests to meet

Why were libraries not involved?Difficult to give a clear

reason.

the aims of the project did not merit contact with librarians

we consulted... anyone who was actively involved

in the research lifecycle

such a specialised application, ...they'd much rather

talkto someone who is in the same

profession.

on advisory committee

we fed back any comments

Current library involvement in VRE developmentworking directly with library services as

part of the research process was foreign to the [science] research teams involved.

primary resources

were not within

library domain

…too concerned with tightly controlling what would be produced –

made it difficult to respond to what researchers actually want.

Deliberate lack of involvement

challenging views on items in collection…

”Are librarians ready for this?!”

library represented on steering group

but no work package assigned to them

VREs: Potential role for librarians

• VRE development

• VRE training

• VRE use

Lessons learned from JISC VRE phases 1 and 2Frederique Van Till, JISC Podcast 2009

• Importance of a multidisciplinary team– Researchers– IT managers and providers– Faculty – Librarians “very important to work with librarians”

• Importance of understanding researcher’s needs from the start.

The librarian’s view

“There are… some roles that librarians are more reluctant to own, except at an ancillary level, these being the primarily technical tasks of supporting information technology systems (including networks and authentication), providing the technical skills to create and manage Virtual Research Environments, and managing the vast datasets generated by e-science and grid-based projects.”

Swan and Brown 2007

Implications

• For librarian role/career structure

• For professional curriculum

• Other – Staffing– Resources– For discussion…

Implications for librarian role/career structure

“Librarians have a more active role to play in the research process … the move out of a purely service position (no matter how proactive in going out into schools and faculties) and move into something closer to a research partner.”

Implications for professional curricula

Systems development

Agile developmentData curation

User Centred Design

Usability testing

Usability

Web 2.0 development

OSS development

Research methodologies

Intellectual Property Rights

HCI

Web technology

Web management

Inter-institutional cooperation

Implications

• For librarian role/career structure

• For professional curriculum

• Other – Staffing– Resources– For discussion…

For discussion

• What is the role of the librarian in relation to VREs?– Development– Training– Use

• “Change management and staff development strategies to get librarians to recognise and develop their potential role in VREs”