Presentation given by Julia Barrett, Head of Research Services, and Jane Nolan, Maps and GIS Librarian, University College Dublin Library, at the CONUL Annual Conference held on May 30-31, 2018 in Galway, Ireland.

1. An Leabharlann UCD
Julia Barrett julia.barrett@ucd.ie
Jane Nolan jane.nolan@ucd.ie
UCD James Joyce Library
Enhancing User
Engagement and
Experiences through the
Development of UCD
Library’s Geospatial
Services

2. 2
GIS stands for ‘Geographical Information Systems’
Just as we use a word processor to write documents and deal with words
on a computer, we can use a GIS application to deal with spatial
information on a computer.
https://docs.qgis.org/testing/en/docs/gentle_gis_introduction/introducing_gis.html
GIS can be used in almost every discipline to visualise and
analyse data
Any data which includes spatial or location information can be shown
on a map and analysed: heritage trees ; places in a poem; measles
outbreaks ; constituency boundaries ; blue flag beaches ; folklore
traditions ; archaeological sites ; traffic accidents ; types of habitats
WHAT IS GIS?

3. Turn spreadsheets, lists,
written reports into maps!

4. 22% response rate
and in the FEEDBACK
FROM THE SURVEY:
Respondents cited the lack of
available training, skills and
assistance at UCD as key
barriers to using GIS.
The Library addressed the
need to provide both training
and assistance across
campus by introducing a
centralised GIS support
service, ensuring a positive
impact for researchers
KEY OUTCOMES OF
THE GIS SURVEY:
• Creating a GIS
LibGuide
• Running GIS
workshops where
participants are
taught the basics of
using GIS software
• Holding drop-in
GIS Clinics for UCD
staff & students to
get help with their
GIS projects
GIS SURVEY 2012

5. Visualise your data on a
map: how to create a map
with Google My Maps
Introduction to ArcGIS:
visualising environmental
data using ArcGIS
Creating stories using maps
/ timelines to display on
websites with StoryMapJS
and TimelineJS
Display your historic map
over modern data:
georeferencing to enable
visual comparisons
Visualise your data on a
map : how to create a map
with Scribble Maps

6. UCD Library GIS Guide
The GIS guide has been accessed by
154 different countries, reaching a
global community via 27,906 views
between March 2014 and April 2017.

7. • Geomedicine Tracking
patient’s location history to determine
if environmental and industrial hazards
put them at risk for certain types of
diseases
• Crime Patterns Allocating
and dispatching police officers where
it’s needed most by studying locations
of crime activities
• Landfill Site
Selection Analysing and
eliminating sites within a buffer
distance of sensitive populations
(elderly, schools, hospitals, etc)
• Music State supported music
provision in Ireland, county-by-county
• Economics Spatial analysis of
executive car sales in Ireland
JAN 2016 – APRIL 2018
83 INDIVIDUALS HAVE VISITED THE
FREE GIS CLINICS FOR HELP

8. …created to show the benefits
and impact that these new GIS
Library services have had in
their first few years
UCD LIBRARY IMPACT CASE STUDY

9. “As a literary scholar working with ecologists to promote
research on the cultural value of our coastlines, the
[Library’s] GIS clinic was invaluable in showing
me how to produce multi-layered maps which
visualise the relationship between culture and
ecology. The clinic provided an accessible step-by-
step guide to GIS mapping, a tool which is very
rarely used in my discipline.
The maps I have made as a direct result of the clinic have
already been used in conference presentations and research
funding applications, and have helped to make my research
more accessible to scholars outside my field.”
(Prof. John Brannigan, School of English, Drama & Film)
DEMONSTRATE VALUE AND
IMPACT

10. Mapping UCD Research
http://giscore.binghamton.edu/gi
sday/posters/2018/Stackpole.pdf
LIBRARY AND SCHOOL OF
GEOGRAPHY PARTNERSHIP

11. Library and School of Geography
Partnership – Mapping UCD Research
• Aligns with UCD’s
Strategic Objectives
– Increase the quality,
quantity and impact of our
research, scholarship and
innovation
– Conduct strong
interdisciplinary research
and education
• UCD Research
– UCD Impact Case Studies /
Public Engagement
• Makes a visual impact &
tells a story
• OSi sponsorship
• Prize for best two posters
– Judging panel to include OSi
and UCD Research
• Open to all disciplines
• Week long exhibition
– an opening with launch,
speeches, awards
• Online exhibition
– Linked to from GIS LibGuide
• Builds a Community of
Practice
MAPPING UCD RESEARCH

12. Training v consultations
(showing v. doing)
• Level of knowledge
• Complexity of tool
• Complexity of query
• Continuing need to use
tool (PhD v. one-off)
• Time available
• Volume of requests
Specialist expertise
• in high demand
• cannot always be developed
through re-skilling
Graduate students
• GIS experts
• pass knowledge on to Library
staff
Need to manage expectations
• manage the inevitable tension
between developing / delivering
services and users wanting more
• clarity on what we can and
cannot do
CHALLENGES
Skills – Users Skills – Library Staff

13. • Fragmentation v. cross-campus / mainstreaming
– Provision of services outside funded research centres or
Schools of Geography / Archaeology which are well
catered for
• Mainstreaming – module integration
– Humanitarian Action : Geopolitics (Masters)
– How to Research Archaeology (MA)
– Local Planning Project (Masters)
– In the future – more generally available GIS modules
for u/grad and p/grad
• Consultation / Clinic Space
CHALLENGES

14. National Mapping Agreement
• Supply of free Ordnance Survey mapping data for
the public sector, including 3rd Level Institutions
• Method of delivery still to be finalised
• Opportunity for libraries to build geospatial services
across the campus

15. Opportunities…for enhancing user
engagement & experiences
• Powerful research tool
• Decision-making
• Analysis and interpretation
• Impactful communication of research findings
• Digital / spatial literacy
• Employability
• Position services
• attract global students and researchers
• design cross-campus services
• National Mapping Agreement (NMA)
www.slideshare.net/JISC/getting-
the-most-out-of-digimap-for-colleges
OPPORTUNITIES