T162 Geoscience Information Services: "Peak" Performances

Tuesday, 2 November 2010
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 405

E-SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

Paper number: T162-15
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:45 AM – 12:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

In 2008, an Ad Hoc Committee of science librarians from the five campuses of the University of Massachusetts met to discuss the challenges of e-science and prepare the Libraries for their role in e-science initiatives. In order to effectively collaborate with and earn the trust of researchers generating data sets, librarians must be aware of research trends in their fields, and be familiar with the methodologies used in different disciplines. The committee decided to plan a series of events to inform and prepare science librarians to engage research faculty as a first step toward active participation in e-science projects. An initial effort was to establish our own set of Principles Fundamental to the Role of the University of Massachusetts Research Libraries in e-Science, modeled on the principles presented by the ARL Joint Task Force of Library Support for e-Science in its Report, “Agenda for Developing e-Science in Research Libraries” (Joint Task Force on Library Support for E-Science, Association Research Libraries, 2007).

As we began work on these projects, it quickly became apparent that even on the Ad Hoc Committee only a handful of librarians had formal science education or experience. Since then, the Libraries have organized three annual events to increase our awareness and knowledge base: a cross-campus Symposium each spring on e-Science designed to open a dialog between research faculty and librarians to identify and establish fruitful collaborations, a Professional Development Day, focusing on bench research of a single discipline or lab, and “Science Boot Camp for Librarians,” a low-cost, regional professional development program designed as a casual but intensive immersion event into selected scientific subjects. Finally, we are identifying collaborative, data-intensive research projects already underway on and among our campuses.