Data library
Encyclopedia
A data library refers to both the content and the services that foster use of collections of numeric, audio-visual, textual or geospatial
Geospatial
Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...

 data sets for secondary use in research. (See below to view definition from the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science.) A data library is normally part of a larger institution (academic, corporate, scientific, medical, governmental, etc.) established to serve the data users of that organisation. The data library tends to house local data collections and provides access to them through various means (CD-/DVD-ROMs or central server for download). A data library may also maintain subscriptions to licensed data resources for its users to access. Whether a data library is also considered a data archive may depend on the extent of unique holdings in the collection, whether long-term preservation services are offered, and whether it serves a broader community (as national data archives do).

Importance of data libraries and data librarianship

In August 2001, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) published SPEC Kit 263: Numeric Data Products and Services, presenting results from a survey of ARL member institutions involved in collecting and providing services for numeric data resources.

A list of university data libraries and similar organisations can be found on this page of IASSIST members' organisational websites.

Services offered by data libraries and data librarians

Library service providing support at the institutional level for the use of numerical and other types of datasets
Data set
A data set is a collection of data, usually presented in tabular form. Each column represents a particular variable. Each row corresponds to a given member of the data set in question. Its values for each of the variables, such as height and weight of an object or values of random numbers. Each...

 in research. Amongst the support activities typically available:
  • Reference Assistance — locating numeric or geospatial datasets containing measurable variables on a particular topic or group of topics, in response to a user query.
  • User Instruction — providing hands-on training to groups of users in locating data resources on particular topics, how to download data and read it into spreadsheet, statistical, database, or GIS packages, how to interpret codebooks and other documentation.
  • Technical Assistance - including easing registration procedures, troubleshooting problems with the dataset, such as errors in the documentation, reformatting data into something a user can work with, and helping with statistical methodology.
  • Collection Development & Management - acquire, maintain, and manage a collection of data files used for secondary analysis by the local user community; purchase institutional data subscriptions; act as a site representative to data providers and national data archives for the institution.
  • Preservation and Data Sharing Services - act on a strategy of preservation of datasets in the collection, such as media refreshment and file format migration; download and keep records on updated versions from a central archive. Also, assist users in preparing original data for secondary use by others; either for deposit in a central archive or institutional repository, or for less formal ways of sharing data. This may also involve marking up the data into an appropriate XML standard, such as the Data Documentation Initiative, or adding other metadata to facilitate online discovery.

See also

  • Digital curation
    Digital curation
    Digital curation is the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital assets.Digital curation is generally referred to the process of establishing and developing long term repositories of digital assets for current and future reference by researchers, scientists,...

  • Digital preservation
    Digital preservation
    Digital preservation is the set of processes, activities and management of digital information over time to ensure its long term accessibility. The goal of digital preservation is to preserve materials resulting from digital reformatting, and particularly information that is born-digital with no...

  • Open Data
    Open Data
    Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...

  • PANGAEA (data library)
    PANGAEA (data library)
    PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science is a digital data library and a data publisher for earth system science. Data can be georeferenced in time and space ....


Associations

  • IASSIST (International Association for Social Science Information and Service Technology)
  • DISC-UK (Data Information Specialists Committee — United Kingdom)
  • APDU (Association of Public Data Users - USA)
  • CAPDU (Canadian Association of Public Data Users)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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