1. DATA AT THE
REFERENCE DESK
Exploring Reference Resources
Elliott Shuppy (shuppy@wisc.edu), 2014
2. Central Question:
What do we as librarians need to know
about locating research data if we get
asked at the reference desk?
3. Objectives:
Today we will...
1) differentiate between registry and repository
2) select a registry and to locate research data
repositories
3) search for and locate a data set within a
repository
4. Research Analyses vs. Data
(Top) Jaatinen K, Jaari S, O'Hara RB, Öst M, Merilä J. (2009). Relatedness and spatial proximity
as determinants of host-parasite interactions in the brood parasitic Barrow's goldeneye
(Bucephala islandica). Molecular Ecology 18: 2713-2721. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04223.x
(Right) Jaatinen K, Jaari S, O'Hara R, Öst M, Merilä J. (2009). Data from: Relatedness and
spatial proximity as determinants of host-parasite interactions in the brood parasitic Barrow's
goldeneye (Bucephala islandica). Dryad Digital Repository. doi:10.5061/dryad.1600
5. Registries
• Help identify and locate
research repositories
• Multidisciplinary
• Increase access and
visibility
• Both users and bibliographers create and curate records
6. Activity 1
Individually in your assigned registry,
locate possible repositories given this
reference question:
“I’m trying to find research data in
evolutionary biology.”
A) Databib (databib.org)
B) Re3data (re3data.org)
7. Coming in 2015
• Databib and Re3data plan to merge their two projects
Single sustainable registry
Incorporate best features of each
Reduce duplication
re3data.org Team. (2014, March 25). DataCite, re3data.org, and Databib Announce Collaboration. Retrieved from http://www.re3data.org/2014/03/datacite-
re3data-org-databib-collaboration/
8. Repositories
• Allows permanent storage and access to research data
• Heterogeneous landscape:
Subject specific
Metadata standards differ
Curators vary
9. Activity 2
All, using Dryad (datadryad.org) locate
the correct research data based on the
revised reference question:
“Specifically, I’m trying to find
recent data on cyprinid fishes. I’m
pretty sure it was in the Journal of
Evolutionary Biology.”
10. What is here now
• Accesses data from most influential repositories in one
place
• Difficult to centralize data due to varying metadata
schemas
11. Wrap-up
• Not a perfect process, we will have to dig
• There are many individual resources
• No centralization even with “centralized tools”
• Continue conversation around data reference
