Flying Solo: Data librarians working outside of traditional roles - Presented by McCafferty
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Research Data Librarians10 / 13
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Musical ensembleJava appletCoordinate systemNatural numberUniverse (mathematics)Computer programmingUltraviolet photoelectron spectroscopyIterationXML
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Grand Unified TheoryStatisticsRelational databaseUser interfaceSoftwareContent (media)MappingDatabaseFocus (optics)Interactive televisionRow (database)Service (economics)Data managementJava appletMereologyProcess (computing)WebsiteRevision controlPhysical systemMetadataWeb 2.0Complex (psychology)Server (computing)InformationStandard deviationGeometryCanadian Mathematical SocietyIntegrated development environmentRepository (publishing)Group actionSoftware repositoryLattice (order)Computer animation
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Computer networkIntegrated development environmentBlock (periodic table)Level (video gaming)EmailStatisticsGrand Unified TheoryWebsiteDigital object identifierMetadataService (economics)Content (media)SoftwareDatabaseINTEGRALSoftware developerOnline helpMultiplication signStandard deviationComputer animation
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Multiplication signSoftwareLibrary (computing)Computer programmingProjective planeObservational studyTerm (mathematics)Repository (publishing)Universe (mathematics)Design by contractWeb portalInformationCartesian coordinate systemProcess (computing)Information managementStirling numberIntegrated development environmentCoordinate systemComputer animation
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Projective planeInformationFitness functionCuboid
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MathematicsSoftwareGoodness of fitMathematicsAreaMultiplication signOpen setFilm editingMereologyAtomic numberTerm (mathematics)Staff (military)Attribute grammarGame controllerDesign by contractProjective planeDescriptive statisticsMoment (mathematics)Focus (optics)Context awareness
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Library (computing)Domain nameMoment (mathematics)Complex (psychology)Lattice (order)MetadataUniverse (mathematics)Product (business)AreaStaff (military)CurveSoftware developerWave packetData managementMassGroup actionProjective planePresentation of a groupMultiplication signTouchscreenLibrary (computing)PlanningOnline helpObservational studyDesign by contractMereologyColor confinementVideo game
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Library (computing)Grand Unified TheoryDampingProduct (business)Projective plane
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Library (computing)Real numberMultiplication sign
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Library (computing)Standard deviationSet (mathematics)Data storage deviceInternetworkingFirewall (computing)Product (business)Euler anglesAreaDebuggerSoftware repositoryField (computer science)MetadataData managementSuite (music)SoftwareStandard deviationIdeal (ethics)WordFront and back endsOnline helpEmail
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Multiplication signStreaming mediaProcess (computing)Library (computing)Different (Kate Ryan album)Shooting methodBitForceAreaComputer animation
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ForceMoment (mathematics)Multiplication signLibrary catalogComputer animation
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Data managementStrategy gameHypermediaException handlingMultiplication signData managementProjective planeComputer animation
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:00
Okay, my name is Siobhan McCafferty and I'm the Research Data Coordinator for NANORP, which is the National Agricultural Nitrous Oxide Research Program. NANORP is the most recent iteration of the National Nitrous Oxide and Gas Emissions Research Program, hence the name, and this program brings together researchers from at least 10 Australian universities and six institutions and governments.
00:24
NANORP is coordinated from QUT in Brisbane and I'm part of a small team of two embedded in the Healthy Ecosystems and Environmental Monitoring Group, which is part of the Institute for Future Environments. My job covers all things data management but the focus of it now is a service manager for the N2A Data Repository and Portal.
00:41
For those who like technical information, the Portal is our own version of a MediCat repository, which is Java and Tomcat, developed by the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity, using the software's web server, a Postgres relational database management system and an LDAP. Other features that were spliced on are a geo-service software for mapping
01:00
and a web interface which allows users to access and interact with the records. We also have an OAI PMH Metadata Harvest to Research Data Australia and the system has an integrated DOI minting facility. Minting is provided by ANZ using a nice little piece of software called website contents managed using Joomla CMS,
01:22
PHP and MySQL as a database and I developed the content for the website. I also advise on data and metadata standards, licensing and access and encourage researchers to provide us with their data and metadata either by self-upload or via morpho upload software. Integrated DOI minting facility and our minting services provided by ANZ with a
01:44
nifty little piece of software that we developed called DOI Monkey. Website contents managed with Joomla, PHP and MySQL as a database. So there's a whole lot of stuff going on in the background that's taken care of by our wonderful developer Moises. I also advise on data and metadata
02:04
standards, licensing and access and I encourage researchers to provide us with their data and metadata either by self-upload via morpho or with my help. I spend a fair amount of time talking to researchers about what they need, how to get their data where it's meant to be and how to make it useful for other people. How did I get where I am now?
02:25
Like many librarians this is not my first career. My academic background was in philosophy and religious studies and I began my studies in Wellington, New Zealand at Victoria and it continued at Stirling and over at the University of Glasgow. I've got lots of years teaching at universities and working in libraries to support myself while I tried to develop an academic career.
02:45
Consequently I had a nice collection of soft skills and technical experience. So when the GFC hit Europe and jobs in the humanities became scarce I moved countries and I began training to be an archivist which eventually became a study for Masters in Information Management at ECU and led to my current incarnation. While I was nearing the
03:07
end of my studies I took on a short term contract with a new e-research team based at the Institute for Sustainable Resources at QUT. That team was externally funded by project work and our bread and butter was repositories and data portals for scientific research
03:21
and developing scientific software and applications. I was also involved then in a few ANS projects and also with the TURN data portal which Michelle was working on so got to know a few people. In 2012 ISR disbanded and became the Institute for Future Environments at QUT and I was absorbed into the heme, so absorbed back into the bloodstream
03:45
of the the Institute and for the remaining duration of the NANOP program I was their data librarian or research data coordinator. The main challenges of my work will be familiar to everyone. The first one is working in an emergent sector. Data librarians and information
04:02
specialists don't fit in traditional boxes and it's often difficult for employers and funders to see why and where you fit and that can make writing proposal crossings difficult. So when projects come up that will need my work it's often been difficult to say why they need my work. I was very lucky to work in a project, an overarching project that was willing to take on
04:26
new technologies and try and develop them but sometimes your funders don't really understand that which brings us to funding. NANOP researchers work with gas emissions and climate change and they're not very favoured areas of funding at the moment unfortunately. There's also been a
04:43
lot of cuts to long-term research funding which has put a serious squeeze on research and made it necessary for us to curtail some schemes and change the scope of others. It's also meant I've need to expand my role to kind of fill the gaps where other members of staff may have been, which I think has been quite positive actually. Most of our projects are
05:03
short-term and run on a skeleton staff now and funding will also unfortunately endanger the future of my portal. So it's possible that we're going to lose this internationally important collection. To counter this we've changed some of our practices and descriptions of our aims. For example instead of our research looking at farming practices and man-made gas emissions
05:21
we talk about increasing yields for low fertilizer usage. We try and make what we're doing very focused towards farmer needs, agricultural needs and working with industry to provide solutions rather than a purely academic kind of climate modelling focus. The other challenge has been culture change. Soil science is a very traditional area or has been
05:46
and being part of an emergent sector working in an interdisciplinary way with a traditional area has been very challenging but also a lot of fun. So research in general as well as traditionally being an area where sitting on your data and keeping it secure and secret was necessary
06:03
and the way to get ahead in your academic career was to have exclusive data to write about and the more exclusive the more secret the data the better. Working to spread the idea that sharing data was the way forward and even more so open data was the way forward has been very difficult. So I've employed carrot and stick methods. So we have a really useful big stick
06:24
which is our researchers get funding for supplying us with their data. It's built into their contracts so no data, no funding but I don't want to use the stick all the time. I prefer the carrot and I want to really make researchers aware of the benefits of making the data open and that putting it into a repository such as ours, putting DIY on things, linking
06:45
things up is going to be beneficial particularly to early career researchers because they're the guys that are going to drive this. So making open data and data sharing work for my researchers has been key. We've got really tight licensing and attribution controls so they can see their data is protected and we make sure to broadcast any good use of our data. Someone uses it in an
07:06
article and make sure everyone in the network knows about it. Something gets published everyone knows about it. We make sure to broadcast all the good press and make researchers aware that they can use other open data as well to augment their own so kind of spread the good news.
07:20
How do I manage without the supporting compliance of a library? I was really lucky when I picked up that first contract. I had a great mentor and friend as my manager and he helped walk me through a lot of things that I needed to know. It was a massive learning curve and it was really daunting to walk into freshman study as well and changing sectors
07:43
but I was invited to every meeting going, every workshop and every product presentation whether I really needed to be there or not for a while. So I was made aware of the complexity of data and metadata management and encouraged to read and explore current issues in the area and slowly I built a very practical picture of data librarianship as it applied to me.
08:02
Maybe not as broad as other people but certainly I learned what I needed to know. I also had a team that was willing when it had the funding to take the risk on an emergent area and send me to get training as the need arose and made sure I could attend workshops. If I asked to go to something 99% of the time yes no problem how can we help which was
08:23
wonderful. I also have an excellent relationship with the library. I'm sitting in it right now. I actually work here two days a week at the moment and I've worked with them as much as possible towards common goals and they've really included me and others like me in the university in their planning. We consult in relevant aspects of both our domains. We go to a lot
08:42
of the same meetings. I've also got a strong project team. We've in the past been larger but now there's two of us and my developer is a great guy, really knowledgeable, willing to sit down and explain things to me. He has endless patience and likewise anything that he needed to know I sat down and talked to him through it as well.
09:03
The last thing would be because I'm part of the university I am subject to staff development so even though I'm not really within the university data librarian group when I'm working for IFE but I can still get access to the same training for example project management training.
09:20
I was able to attend that and last on the screen there was willingness to ask for help. I was really lucky during some of our projects that everyone was in the same boat. We were developing things from scratch. We were making new exciting products and I could ask what are you doing? How are you doing it? I'd ask guys at ANZ QUT to go in the coffee shop.
09:41
I asked everyone their opinions. How do I develop my skills? I think I kind of covered that there. I just went to everything going. I've maybe got a real eclectic collection of qualifications and skills because of that but every time I needed to upskill I had the opportunity or I could seek out the opportunity and was supported. What advice would I give to others
10:02
who are thinking of moving into a role such as yours? First of all, I've said this before, be an advocate for your users front end and back end. They're the people that create and consume the data and the metadata. They're our ultimate audience and if the product doesn't suit them then it won't get used no matter how pretty it is or how much work you've put in.
10:21
Nobody will want it. So ask your researchers what they need and be prepared to negotiate and make concessions from your ideals about data management to make sure that they get that. Be flexible. Having an open and flexible attitude invites open and flexible dialogue. If a researcher is having problems with the software and everyone does,
10:40
it's not the easiest thing to use, then I'll try and find the best way to help them. Some people like emails, some people like online help, some people like to be visited. If they have firewall problems I will upload their data sets even though I encourage them very strongly to do it themselves. If they break the internet I will fly to help them. Even if they're in Western Australia I will be there. Keep high standards.
11:03
Because data repositories are evolving and it's an emergent area it's easy for people who are newly in contact with data librarianship to say oh that'll do, you know it looks good, fine. But in keeping to a great best practice in an industry standard and being seen to do so you convey the importance of data management and storage and you find that people will rise
11:24
to your standards as well especially when you can couple that with a willingness to be flexible in your approach and to help your contributors. You'll hopefully end up with an excellent product for the end. For example I have researchers who are very very busy. I say I know you're busy but we really need all those metadata fields. Here's a pre-filled in Word document with what
11:42
I already have. You just need to have technical details, get it back to me, get it up. That way everyone reaches their deadlines, you know milestones are met and everyone's happy. And that's me. Thank you very much everyone. Any questions? How do we attract people to data librarianship when it's largely unknown misunderstood field? Go and talk at them about
12:03
it and how wonderful it is. Attract people to come and be data librarians. Really go, for me, go to different academic streams, go to different disciplines and talk to people about how they can apply what they know because a lot of the time you know we
12:21
develop these collection of skills and there's not all the jobs there in academia or in industry and people who know a little bit about an area can learn a lot about another thing, put them together and suddenly they're great data librarians. How to make it attractive? I don't know maybe yeah we just talk to them a lot more. Be more present,
12:40
don't hide in cupboards like I'm doing at the moment. We've got another one that comes in that says are there traditional librarian skills that give a pathway into data librarianship? Sure, cataloging. I learned a whole lot when I was doing my paper on cataloging that I directly apply all the time but I'm maybe not the best person to ask because I'm not a
13:01
negotiator. I purposely negotiated my way through my qualifications so I didn't need to do very traditional librarian things. I think all of the skills that we develop in traditional librarianship are applicable especially the people skills, interview techniques, all of them. You mentioned you attended as many conferences etc to learn. How did you convince management
13:20
to fund this as I quite pretend anything as there is no not money? Yeah when we had funding early in the project that was a lot easier I will admit that but I do fund myself in some situations so they'll partially fund me or I will pay for something and agree that I can have the time during work to go to it. So some of it is negotiation time
13:43
because of funding issues. Fantastic, thank you Siobhan.
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