Victoria Martin - Demystifying eResearch: A Primer for Librarians

Understanding means simplifying.

Jacques Bertin, Semiology of Graphics

Victoria Martin

Copyright 2014 by ABC-CLIO, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Martin, Victoria, 1961

Demystifying eResearch : a primer for librarians / Victoria Martin.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9781610695206 (pbk.) ISBN 9781610695213 (ebook) 1. Internet research. I. Title.

ZA4228.M37 2014

001.40202854678dc23 2014024061

ISBN: 9781610695206

EISBN: 9781610695213

18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.

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Demystifying eResearch: A Primer for Librarians, as captured in the subtitle, is intended as a start-up guide to eResearch and how eResearch pertains to the library community. Technical descriptions of the software and computing technologies related to eResearch are outside of the scope of this book (there are many specialized works that address this task). Nor does this book offer a comprehensive view of eResearch. Instead, the book takes the broadest possible approach to the complex topic of eResearch by surveying its core themes and concepts and clarifying key points of tension that surround it in easy-to-read and simple language. It provides the reader who has little or no experience in the area of eResearch with a clear understanding of what eResearch is, how it impacts a librarys mission, services, and collections, and how librarians can contribute to eResearch activities at their parent institutions and other research communities. Key terms are defined and explained. Relevant library initiatives and best practices are described. Essential resources and readings are suggested. The book also identifies requisite skills and emerging work requirements and recommends training and professional development opportunities for those librarians who might be expected to repurpose themselves or expand upon their existing competencies to meet the challenges of working in the eResearch environment. This combination of conceptual overview of eResearch coupled with a description of specific resources and real-world examples of eResearch activities within the library community is designed to quickly increase the readers level of competence with regard to eResearch and their awareness of the current state of eResearch librarianship.

The book is intended for both novice and experienced librarians who have an interest in expanding their understanding of eResearch and how it impacts the libraries where they work. Although its primary audience is librarians and information professionals, this book can also serve as a useful reference resource for anyone else who is interested in eResearch or whose work involves answering questions about eResearch. It can also be used to support introductory graduate courses in the research process, eScience, research data management, scholarly communication, and collaboration, and digital curation.

I would like to acknowledge the support of the University Libraries at George Mason University granting me research leave to work on this book. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of several people who contributed to the writing of this book, including: Douglas Hernandez, reference and instructional support specialist at Mercer Library, George Mason University, for assisting me with information search and citation verification; Barbara Ittner, managing editor at Libraries Unlimited/ABC-CLIO, for helping me in the process of editing and providing suggestions for improving my manuscript; Emma Bailey, senior production editor at Libraries Unlimited/ ABC-CLIO, for her prompt, helpful responses to my questions; and N. Magendra Varman, associate program manager at Lumina Datamatics Ltd., for his infallible guidance during the book production process. A special thank you goes to my husband James, my proofreader extraordinaire, for his patience and support while I shepherded this book through its development.

Some material in this book appears in a chapter I authored titled Developing a Library Collection in Bioinformatics: Support for an Evolving Profession, which appears in Library Collection Development for Professional Programs: Trends and Best Practices, edited by Sara Holder, copyright 2013, IGI Global (http://www.igi-global.com). This material is used by permission of the publisher.

The practice of eResearch is rapidly being adopted in many disciplines, from the sciences to the humanities. It has diverse characteristics, operates in different contexts, and is becoming increasingly distributed across multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research collaboration efforts. Even though at least some knowledge of eResearch is becoming an expected area of competency for librarians, eResearch librarianship is still a relatively new and not yet well-defined field. While most librarians may be familiar with the terms eResearch and eScience (which are sometimes used interchangeably for the same concept), they are not always familiar with the concepts themselves and thus might find them intimidating. This book aspires to offer a strong, yet accessible, overview of the eResearch concept and how it pertains to libraries and library services.

The book has two parts, which are further divided into chapters. Each chapter introduces a new topic, includes key term definitions, explains core ideas, offers specific examples of relevant resources, and, when appropriate, provides a historical overview of the topic. Endnotes and a list of suggested resources on the topic are included at the close of each chapter. The book concludes with a glossary and a subject index.

Part I offers an overview of eResearch by defining and explaining:

1. Key terms and concepts such as the difference between eResearch and traditional research practices
2. Research data and characteristics and types of research data
3. Research data formats and naming conventions
4. Research data documentation and metadata
5. Data management and preservation
6. Data management planseResearch-enabling technologies such as Grid computing, the Internet, cloud computing, visualization, the Social Web, and Virtual Research Environments
7. Internet-based tools for scholarly communication; exploration of new publishing models and peer-review processes; and dissemination and preservation of research results and discoveries
8. Researchers attitudes toward technologyeResearch practices across various disciplines

Although computational tools and research methodologies for conducting eResearch were initially used in science domains, these tools and methodologies are beginning to support data-intensive research across all other disciplines as well. Part I bridges the concept of eResearch to other fields, including the social sciences, the arts, and the humanities, and explores the growing interdisciplinary nature of current research practices.