Partnering with Agronomy Faculty to Create a Framework of Data Sharing

Our librarians are partnering with scientists to help them describe, preserve, manage, and share the data generated by their research. In one instance, the librarians are working with an Agronomy faculty member to create a data collection of water quality samples gathered at the University\u27s Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE). The project has two phases: the first to ingest and archive five years\u27 worth of past data as a batch process, and the second to integrate our tools into the data collection process so that current and future data flows into the repository. Metadata from the water quality sample data collection is harvested, aggregated with metadata from other repository collections, indexed for searching, and presented on the web in a context with other digital library content such as e-prints and digitized archival collections. But completion of the technical aspects of the project is not the only goal for librarians. Building relationships with the faculty is also an integral component to success of this data project. This is so faculty can understand and utilize the skills that librarians bring to the table. Librarians bring a blend of traditional skills, such as searching, and other less recognized skills: awareness of scholarly communication issues, interest in improving and increasing access to information, preservation of information and the broader impact of information beyond a single discipline. This poster describes the technical specifications of the data ingestion and will demonstrate the construction and maintenance of a successful partnership with a faculty member. Poster presented on April 29, 2008, at the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) annual conference hosted by Ohio State University in Wooster, Ohio