The research team from the School of Informatics and Computing (SoIC) at Indiana University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) will develop a conceptual framework for assessing libraries’ capacity for big data curation. The purpose of this planning project is to provide a research-based foundation for a full project, which involves the development of a big data curation capacity assessment toolkit that will be freely available to academic and public libraries. The conceptual framework will be informed by three specific research activities: (1) systematic literature review of institutional/organizational capacity and big data and data curation literatures, (2) development and administration of an online survey to understand current library data curation practices, and (3) in-person focus groups on the topic of big data curation capacity in academic and public libraries with an expert panel.
This planning project will have a major impact on libraries, both academic and public. A conceptual framework will be essential in implementing sustainable and scalable big data curation programs, and it will assist library staff (e.g., data curators, data librarians, and library administration) in understanding their current environments as well as potential impediments to building successful curation programs. By better understanding their capacity for big data curation, the outcomes of the project should have a direct impact on their work, in particular their efforts to implement effective big data curation programs across the country. As project outputs, the project team will generate a bibliography for capacity and big data curation; collect information from library professionals about their current curation practices in libraries; and create a conceptual framework for assessing libraries’ capacity for big data curation while specifying the necessary conditions for increasing it. These outputs will provide informative sources for academic and public libraries that are interested in or are planning curation programs.
