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E-science and Research Libraries Report from
ARL
The Association of Research Libraries has issued an excellent
survey of programs that major research libraries in the United States
and Canada are putting in place to meet the demands of E-science. I've
reproduced the announcement below.
This document will be very helpful for higher education
leadership and for policymakers as they try to get a sense of how
extensively and agressively research libraries are responding to these
challenges, and the level of maturity of the programs in place. Two
caveats: The focus of the survey was strongly centered on e-science,
as opposed to work in other important areas of e-science such as
digital humanities. And readers of the survey should not assume that
non-respondents are inactive in the e-science area; we know that
schedule and workload constraints made it impractical for some
institutions that are deeply engaged in such efforts to respond to the
survey and the follow-up interviews.
Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI
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August 12, 2010
For more information, contact:
Karla Strieb
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
karla@arl.org
E-Science and Data Support Services, Published
by ARL
Washington DC-The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has
published E-Science and Data Support Services: A Study of ARL
Member Institutions, which synthesizes data collected in a 2009
survey with subsequent interviews of several responding libraries.
Authored by Catherine Soehner, Catherine Steeves, and Jennifer Ward,
the study was sponsored by the ARL E-Science Working Group to build an
understanding of how libraries can contribute to e-science activities
in their institution and identify organizations and institutions that
have similar interests in e-science to leverage research library
interests.
The study draws on data from 57 of 123 ARL member libraries (a
46% response rate for the survey). Over 75% of survey respondents
reported that their institution either provides infrastructure or
support services for e-science or is planning infrastructure for such
activities. This finding demonstrates research libraries' rapid
engagement in e-science in recent years. Both the survey and the
authors' interviews detail how institutions are quickly rising to
meet the challenge of managing data and their diverse strategies for
doing so in the face of significant challenges regarding
infrastructure, funding, and staff resources.
The report presents the findings of the survey of ARL member
libraries and also includes six case studies compiled by the authors
to elaborate library e-science activities and collaborations.
Strategies for resourcing e-science services, staffing patterns, and
the influence of institutional culture are explored. In addition to
the case studies and survey findings, the report includes a
bibliography of related articles, reports, and Web sites, along with
the survey instrument and a selection of recent research library
position descriptions with significant e-science support components. A
free and open webcast is being planned for the fall.
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