This librarian works at the University of Chicago's John Crerar Library, providing science research services. Some key services implemented include systematic reviews, data management plans, research impact metrics, and compliance with public access policies. The librarian collaborates with various departments on campus, including the Institute for Translational Medicine and the Center for Health and the Social Sciences. Professional development activities have included teaching a data management curriculum to librarians and providing ORCID support to biological scientists. The goal is to identify and strengthen research services for faculty, students, and staff across the sciences.

1. Connecting Social and Health Sciences Data:
This Librarian’s Life
Michelle B. Bass, PhD, MSI
University of Chicago, The John Crerar Library
Future and In-Process Goals
Resources
1. Clinical Tools, Inc. Guidelines for Responsible Data Management in Scientific Research. Funded by the Office of Research Integrity, US Department of Health and Human Services.
2. Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements with Institutes of Higher Education, Hospitals, and other Non-Profit Organizations. Circular A-110 Revised 11//19/93 as
further amended 9/30/99. Office of Management and Budget. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a110/ on April 15, 2016.
3. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). (2012). Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving: Best Practice Throughout the Data Life Cycle (5th
ed.). Ann Arbor, MI.
4. Manuel, Tyrus. (2016, March 21). The Content Corner: Social Media Metrics and the Challenge of Effective Measurement. Retrieved from DigitalGov.gov on March 21, 2016.
5. Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School. Module 2: Types, Formats, and Stages of Data. New England Collaborative Data Management Curriculum,
http://library.umassmed.edu/necdmc
6. Greenhalgh, T. (2016). An open letter to The BMJ editors on qualitative research. BMJ, 563, 352. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i563
7. Thirty Million Words Initiative. Retrieved from http://thirtymillionwords.org/
Graph icon created by Erin Standley from the Noun Project (CC BY 3.0); Group of People icon created by Blake Thompson from the Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)
Measuring Impact Beyond the Citation Count
• Using alternative metrics (altmetrics) to gauge the impact of research efforts is a timely topic and
one with many possible solutions.
• There are many commercial products available that use techniques such as DOI tracking and
text-mining to search for the mention of a researcher, an article, or a grant to aggregate a “measure”
of a given research project’s impact. But how do you truly measure impact when there is a “fading
relevance of the click” and lack of consensus for determining what counts as engagement?4
• Need to balance the “ease” of commercial options with the cost of these products
• Looking to other health sciences libraries for models which incorporate commercial products and
librarian supported assessment, visualization, and reporting of research impact
ORCID implementation in the Biological Sciences
• Work with Biological Sciences Division (BSD) Office of Faculty
Affairs deans and administrators to encourage adoption of ORCIDs
for established researchers (e.g. who already have a Researcher ID
and a Scopus ID) to connect existing accounts and use ORCID as
their digital CV.
• ORCID Drive-In sessions are being held at a cafeteria at the
medical center heavily trafficked by BSD clinician researchers for
quick and easy ORCID registration and one-on-one consultation
while waiting for lunch
Defining Science Research Services
Hypothetical: Tracking exercise at
the YMCA with community health
program to see correlation
between weekly weigh-ins and
activity.
Social Science
Data
Health Science
Data 5
Survey responses
Demographics
Economic
indicators
Focus group and
individual interviews
Opinion
polling
Measurements from
laboratory instruments
Specimen
Observations
or field studies
Computer modeling
Geospatial Data
Social Health
Science Data
ITM Research Example: Thirty Million
Words® Initiative: parent-directed
program designed to harness the power
of parent language to build a child’s
brain. Multimedia platform teaches
parents curriculum and provides
quantitative linguistic feedback from
weekly recordings of a child’s language
environment by the LENA word
pedometer. 7
Data defined:
• is any information or observations that are associated with a particular project,
including experimental specimens, technologies, and products related to the
inquiry.1
Research data defined:
• the recorded faculty material commonly accepted in the scientific community as
necessary to validate research findings, but not any of the following: preliminary
analyses, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer reviews, or
communications with colleagues. • “recorded ” material excludes physical objects
(e.g. laboratory samples).2
• social science research data include audio and video formats, geospatial data,
biomedical data, and Web sites.3
“...As the first person to fill this position, the successful candidate has an
opportunity to identify and shape emerging research services and strengthen
existing services for faculty, students and staff in the sciences at the University”.
I am the Science Research Services Librarian at the University of Chicago John
Crerar Library. The following are a list of science research services I have worked to
implement on campus through collaborations with my colleagues in the University of
Chicago Library.
• systematic reviews • data management plans • research impact metrics •
• compliance with public access policies • data storage solutions •
There is often a dichotomy drawn with health sciences data falling solely under
quantitative research and social science and humanities work under qualitative.
However, there is an increase in qualitative research being conducted in health
sciences settings as well as a call for acceptance of such studies into high impact
journals.4
Campus Connections
WHO: University of Chicago Institute for Translational Medicine, member of the
National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Awards consortium
FOCUS: Converting biomedical research into health improvement through funding
opportunities for new researchers, education and training on clinical research, and
computation and analysis tools for large biological data sets.
PROJECT: Research Impact Solutions (see future and in-process goals)
WHO: Center for Health and the Social Sciences (CHeSS)
FOCUS: interdisciplinary center working in support of research
in health and the social sciences.
PROJECT: Oral Health, Systemic Health, Well-Being, and the Social Sciences
(http://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/chessoralhealth)
Outreach to departments and centers in the Biological and Physical Science Divisions has
been a main focus during my first year in this position.
WHO: University of Chicago Graham School Continuing Liberal and Professional
Studies Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics Program
FOCUS: adult learners in liberal arts, business, and professional disciplines
PROJECT: Inaugural cohort of MSc in Biomedical Informatics
(http://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/mscbioinf)
Teaching Research Data
Services
Another facet of my job as Science Research
Services Library is to inform colleagues of research
tools and resources available to support current
trends and activities.
New England Collaborative
Data Management
Curriculum
http://library.umassmed.edu/necdmc/index
WHO: Information professionals from across the University of Chicago
community including librarians from the University of Chicago Library
and consultants from the Research Computing Center
WHAT: New England Collaborative Data Management Curriculum with
complementary readings; met once a week over seven weeks in winter
2016 quarter
OUTCOMES: Participants, including my five science librarian colleagues,
have basic-level of familiarity with data management; Curated list of
University policies and training materials on data storage, backup, and
security, legal and ethical considerations for research data, and archiving
and preservation requirements (particularly when dealing with health
sciences research data)
= 200 people