News from the International Digital Curation Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland

      Comments Off on News from the International Digital Curation Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland

The following is a guest post by 2016-2017 NAL Fellow Jennifer Proctor:

On my trip to this year’s International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC), held in Edinburgh, Scotland, I had the opportunity to attend some excellent presentations. I particularly enjoyed “Rich Information Hides in Missing Data” by Dr. Maria Wolters, which discussed the value of looking for patterns in the absence of data.  For instance, these patterns can help us understand why patients with medical reporting technology would stop using it at regular intervals. I was also fascinated by Alice Daish’s presentation, “Data-Driven Museums,” which looked at data use and data advocacy at the British Museum.

There were also some excellent posters, including the winner for best poster – “A Research Software Management Toolbox for Data Management Specialists” by Fernando Rios of Johns Hopkins University – which provided a useful flowchart of advice for research librarians advising on software reuse, citation, preservation, and metadata.

In addition, I was able to learn a lot about the curation, management, and reuse of scientific datasets at several presentations about current implementations and future directions for the FAIR principles –  that is, Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability.

About Katie Gucer

I am a scholar of information networks, past and present. As a member of the ARCLab team, I work on several projects in digital curation for the National Agricultural Library. I am building a Drupal-based digital library of historical materials illuminating the history of the Animal Welfare Act for the Animal Welfare Information Center (https://www.nal.usda.gov/awic). This two-year project incorporates a user study and serves as a catalyst for NAL to review and revise its broader digitization workflows and policies. I also study the production and dissemination if of practical knowledge in early modern England and Europe. My current book project, Web of Exiles, examines cross-cultural information exchange in 1582-1685, a taste of which can be had here: http://collation.folger.edu/2013/01/the-folgers-mazarinades-libraries-within-libraries/