How Important Are Data Curation Activities to Researchers? Gaps and Opportunities for Academic Libraries

Authors

Lisa R. Johnston, University of MinnesotaFollow
Jacob Carlson, University of MichiganFollow
Cynthia Hudson-Vitale, Washington UniversityFollow
Heidi Imker, University of IllinoisFollow
Wendy Kozlowski, Cornell UniversityFollow
Robert Olendorf, Pennsylvania State UniversityFollow
Claire Stewart, University of MinnesotaFollow

ORCID IDs

Lisa R. Johnston

Claire Stewart

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 6(1): eP2198, pp. 1-24.

doi: 10.7710/2162-3309.2198

Comments

Copyright © 2018 Lisa R. Johnston, Jacob Carlson, Cynthia Hudson-Vitale, Heidi Imker, Wendy Kozlowski, Robert Olendorf, and Claire Stewart.

This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract

Introduction: Data curation may be an emerging service for academic libraries, but researchers actively “curate” their data in a number of ways—even if terminology may not always align. Building on past user-needs assessments performed via survey and focus groups, the authors sought direct input from researchers on the importance and utilization of specific data curation activities. Methods: Between October 21, 2016, and November 18, 2016, the study team held focus groups with 91 participants at six different academic institutions to determine which data curation activities were most important to researchers, which activities were currently underway for their data, and how satisfied they were with the results. Results: Researchers are actively engaged in a variety of data curation activities, and while they considered most data curation activities to be highly important, a majority of the sample reported dissatisfaction with the current state of data curation at their institution. Discussion: Our findings demonstrate specific gaps and opportunities for academic libraries to focus their data curation services to more effectively meet researcher needs. Conclusion: Research libraries stand to benefit their users by emphasizing, investing in, and/or heavily promoting the highly valued services that may not currently be in use by many researchers.