A talk delivered by Stephen Pinfield at the Anybook Oxford Libraries Conference 2015 - Adapting for the Future: Developing Our Professions and Services, 21st July 2015
Stephen Pinfield: Research Data Management and Libraries: Work in Progress
1. Research Data Management &
Libraries: Work in Progress
Stephen Pinfield
Information School,
University of Sheffield
Bodleian Libraries Conference: Adapting for the Future:
Developing our Professions and Services, 21 July 2015
2. Overview
1. Research support and libraries
2. Data and research data management
3. RDM challenges: RDM as ‘wicked’ problem
4. Modelling institutional RDM: components,
stakeholders, drivers, influences
5. Leadership and libraries
6. Boundaries, collaboration and competition
7. Roles and skills
3. Acknowledgments
University of Sheffield,
Information School
Andrew Cox
Barbara Sen
Jen Smith
Eddy Verbaan
University of Sheffield,
University Library
Martin Lewis
Charles Sturt University,
Australia
Mary Anne Kennan
University of Pittsburgh,
USA
Liz Lyon
4. Identify
research
question/
issue
Design research
approach/
methodology
Identify and assemble
resources/funding required
Gather/
create data/
sourcesAnalyse
data/
sources
Interpret
data/
sources
Communicate
results
Consult other
communicated
research
Evaluate
effectiveness
of research
Research:
An investigation
undertaken to
acquire knowledge
and understanding
The Research Cycle
5. Provide access to
published content
and support its use
Provide access to
tools and expertise
Provide access to
funding information
Manage, describe,
preserve, share data
and other content
Provide data/
sources
Provide a ‘venue’ for
some research activity
(physical and virtual)
Assist research
communication
activity (systems
and support) – e.g.
open access
Identify
research
question/
issue
Design research
approach/
methodology
Identify and assemble
resources/funding required
Gather/
create data/
sourcesAnalyse
data/
sources
Interpret
data/
sources
Communicate
results
Consult other
communicated
research
Evaluate
effectiveness
of research
Research:
An investigation
undertaken to
acquire knowledge
and understanding
The Research Cycle
and the Library
7. ‘Data’
• “Data are facts, numbers, letters, and symbols
that describe an object, idea, condition, situation,
or other factors” (US National Research Council,
1999)
• Data: “alleged evidence” (Buckland, 1991)
• “Data may exist only in the eye of the beholder”
(Borgman, 2012) – community defined
• Data: Mass noun, sing. “Facts and statistics
collected together for reference or analysis”
(OED Online)
8. Research Data Management
Research data management: “the organisation of data,
from its entry to the research cycle through to the
dissemination and archiving of valuable results”
(Whyte & Tedds, 2011)
RDM “consists of a number of different activities and
processes associated with the data lifecycle, involving the
design and creation of data, storage, security, preservation,
retrieval, sharing, and reuse, all taking into account
technical capabilities, ethical considerations, legal issues
and governance frameworks”
(Cox & Pinfield, 2014)
11. 6 V’s of Data
Data Challenges
Variety
ValidityVelocity
Volume
ValueVisibility
(Laney, 2001; and others)
12. RDM as a ‘Wicked’ Problem
Rittel & Webber (1973)
1. No agreed formulation of the
problem
2. Things keep changing
3. No right answer
4. No test to see if a solution
will/has worked
5. No gradual solutions possible
6. Not list of comprehensive
solutions
7. Problem unique
8. Wicked problems derive from
other problems
9. Problem and solutions can be
seen from different perspectives
10. Problem and solutions have
direct affect on people
Horn & Weber (2007)
11. Multiple value conflicts in the
problem
12. Multiple constraints on solutions
13. Resistance to change
14. Data to describe the problem is
often missing
15. Multiple intervention points
16. Consequences of intervention
difficult to imagine
RDM has many of the
characteristics of a wicked
problem
(Cox, Pinfield, & Smith, 2014)
13. Wicked Problems and
Clumsy Solutions
“The point of the distinction between tame and wicked
problems is that if we know a problem is wicked we
operate differently…Unlike the elegant solution
possible for a clearly definable problem, we can only
hope for a clumsy solution to a wicked problem, one
that partly satisfies different stakeholders.”
“Nevertheless, in some senses it does not feel as
fundamentally intractable as a truly wicked problem or
so critical…”
(Cox, Pinfield, & Smith, 2014)
18. Storage
Security
Preservation
Compliance
Quality
Sharing
Jurisdiction
Drivers: Why?
Library IT Services
Academic
Departments
Senior
University
Managers
Research
Support
Services
Other Support
Services
Stakeholders: Who?
Researchers:
Arts and
Humanities
Disciplines
Researchers:
Social Sciences
Disciplines
Researchers:
Science
Disciplines
Researchers:
Engineering
Disciplines
Researchers:
Medicine and
Health
Disciplines
Researchers:
Multi-
Disciplinary
Collaborations
Strategies
Policies
Processes Technologies
Guidelines
Services
RDM Programme Components:
What?
19. Storage
Security
Preservation
Compliance
Quality
Sharing
Jurisdiction
Drivers: Why?
Library IT Services
Academic
Departments
Senior
University
Managers
Research
Support
Services
Other Support
Services
Stakeholders: Who?
Researchers:
Arts and
Humanities
Disciplines
Researchers:
Social Sciences
Disciplines
Researchers:
Science
Disciplines
Researchers:
Engineering
Disciplines
Researchers:
Medicine and
Health
Disciplines
Researchers:
Multi-
Disciplinary
Collaborations
Acceptance
Cultures
Demand
Incentives
Roles
Governance
Politics
Resources
Projects
Skills
Communications
Context
Influencing Factors: How?
Strategies
Policies
Processes Technologies
Guidelines
Services
RDM Programme Components:
What?
20. Leading on Policy
Development
From late 2014; N=170; Australia 34/39; Canada 17/74; Germany 8/48;
Ireland 7/8; Netherlands 12/16; New Zealand 7/7; UK 85/169
(Cox, Kennan, Lyon & Pinfield, Forthcoming)
“Does your
institution have a
formal research
data management
(RDM) policy in
place which
covers issues
such as retention,
storage and
sharing?”
21. Leadership
Leadership Improvisation
(Grint, 2008)
1. Questions not answers
2. Relationships not structures
3. Reflection not reaction
4. Positive deviance not
negative acquiescence
5. Negative capability
6. Constructive dissent not
destructive consent
7. Collective intelligence not
individual genius
8. Community of fate not a
fatalist community
9. Empathy not egotism
Design Thinking
(Brown, 2008)
• Empathy
• Integrative thinking
• Optimism
• Experimentalism
• Collaboration
22. Support Services Roles
RDM infrastructure
components
Lead department
RDM policy and strategy Library
Data management planning Research office
Managing active data IT Services
Data selection and handover ?
Data repositories IT services, Library, Research office
Data catalogues Library, IT services, Research office
Guidance, training and support Library, Research office, IT services
Case study: Division of likely roles of the three main professional
services in RDM, using the DCC’s components of an RDM
infrastructure headings
(Verbaan & Cox, 2014)
23. Support Services Roles
Library
Research
Office
IT
(Based on analysis
by Martin Lewis)
Repository management -
Metadata -
Data literacy -
Date of publication -
Data service landscape -
Intellectual property -
Digital preservation -
Data storage -
Data transmission -
Data migration -
Data security -
Authorisation /
authentication -
- Research funders
- Research costing
- Research policy
- Research integrity
- IP, patents,
commercialisation
24. Boundaries and the “Third
Space”
Academic
Professional
Service
“Third
Space”
(Based on
Whitchurch, 2013)
25. Identity ‘dispositions’ Characteristics
‘Bounded professionals’
(voluntary or involuntary)
Work within clear structural boundaries (e.g.
specialist function, job description)
‘Cross-boundary professionals’ Actively use boundaries and cross-boundary
knowledge for strategic advantage and institutional
capacity building
‘Unbounded professionals’ Lack of consciousness of boundaries; focus on
broadly-based projects across the university, and
contribute to institutional development
‘Blended professionals’ Dedicated appointments spanning professional and
academic domains
“Dispositions” of Professional Staff
(Whitchurch, 2013)
26. Boundaries, the “Third
Space” and RDM
Academic Library
RDM
“Third
Space”
Research
Office
IT
Services
(Based on
Whitchurch, 2013)
?
31. References
• Borgman, C. L. (2012). The conundrum of sharing research data. Journal of the American Society
for Information Science and Technology, 63(6), 1059–1078. doi:10.1002/asi.22634
• Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard Business Review, 86(6), 84.
• Cox, A. M., Kennan, M.A., Lyon, L., & Pinfield, S. (Forthcoming). Mapping the maturity of research
data management in libraries: An international study exploring leadership, service development,
and workforce capacity and capability
• Cox, A. M., & Pinfield, S. (2014). Research data management and libraries: Current activities and
future priorities. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 46(4), 299-316.
doi:10.1177/0961000613492542
• Cox, A. M., Pinfield, S., & Smith, J. (2014). Moving a brick building: UK libraries coping with
research data management as a “wicked” problem. Journal of Librarianship and Information
Science, (Pre-published April 2014). doi:10.1177/0961000614533717
• Dempsey, L., Malpas, C., & Lavoie, B. (2014). Collection directions: The evolution of library
collections and collecting. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 14(3), 393–423.
doi:10.1353/pla.2014.0013
• Grint, K. (2008). Wicked problems and clumsy solutions: The role of leadership. Clinical Leader,
1(2), 11–15.
• Horn, R., & Weber, R. (2007). New tools for resolving wicked problems: Mess mapping and
resolution mapping processes. Watertown, MA: Strategy Kinetics LLC. Retrieved from
http://robertweber.typepad.com/strategykinetics/New_Tools_For_Resolving_Wicked_Problems_E
xec_Summary.pdf
32. References
• Laney, D. (2001). 3D data management: Controlling data volume, velocity and variety. Stamford,
CT: META Group. Retrieved from http://blogs.gartner.com/doug-laney/files/2012/01/ad949-3D-
Data-Management-Controlling-Data-Volume-Velocity-and-Variety.pdf
• Pinfield, S., Cox, A. M., & Smith, J. (2014). Research data management and libraries:
Relationships, activities, drivers and influences. PLoS ONE, 9(12), e114734.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0114734
• Rittel, H., & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2),
155–169.
• Verbaan, E., & Cox, A. M. (2014). Occupational sub-cultures, jurisdictional struggle and third
space: Theorising professional service responses to research data management. The Journal of
Academic Librarianship. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2014.02.008
• Whitchurch, C. (2013). Reconstructing identities in higher education: The rise of third space
professionals. London: Routledge.
• Whyte, A., & Tedds, J. (2011). Making the case for research data management. Edinburgh: Digital
Curation Centre. Retrieved from http://www.dcc.ac.uk/webfm_send/487