Location
Forney Hall (FRNY) G140
Session Number
Session 07
Start Date
22-6-2010 3:30 PM
End Date
22-6-2010 4:30 PM
Keywords
data staging repository, data curation, data sharing, data publication
Description
The opportunities for new discoveries made possible by the widespread availability of large amounts of data are much in the news, as are the challenges associated with sharing research data and preserving it for the long term. Cornell University Library is engaged in a pilot project (funded by the National Science Foundation) to test the feasibility of a local “staging” repository to support data sharing among research collaborators while research is in progress, and to provide tools and support to publish data to permanent disciplinary or institutional repositories. DataStaR (short for “Data Staging Repository”) aims to leverage local support and infrastructure as well as external resources to ensure access to data. Researchers may store and share data with selected colleagues, select a disciplinary repository or Cornell’s own institutional repository for data publication, create high quality metadata in the formats required by external repositories and Cornell’s institutional repository, and obtain help from data librarians with any of these tasks. Supporting data sharing while research is in progress allows the library to engage with researchers much earlier in the research process, alerting DataStaR staff to opportunities to curate, publish and preserve research data. We describe the overall design and operation of the system, partnerships with Cornell researchers, and the benefits and challenges associated with taking this approach to data curation.
DataStaR: a data staging repository to support the sharing and publication of research data
Forney Hall (FRNY) G140
The opportunities for new discoveries made possible by the widespread availability of large amounts of data are much in the news, as are the challenges associated with sharing research data and preserving it for the long term. Cornell University Library is engaged in a pilot project (funded by the National Science Foundation) to test the feasibility of a local “staging” repository to support data sharing among research collaborators while research is in progress, and to provide tools and support to publish data to permanent disciplinary or institutional repositories. DataStaR (short for “Data Staging Repository”) aims to leverage local support and infrastructure as well as external resources to ensure access to data. Researchers may store and share data with selected colleagues, select a disciplinary repository or Cornell’s own institutional repository for data publication, create high quality metadata in the formats required by external repositories and Cornell’s institutional repository, and obtain help from data librarians with any of these tasks. Supporting data sharing while research is in progress allows the library to engage with researchers much earlier in the research process, alerting DataStaR staff to opportunities to curate, publish and preserve research data. We describe the overall design and operation of the system, partnerships with Cornell researchers, and the benefits and challenges associated with taking this approach to data curation.