Friday Lightning Talks
Dataverse: Platform for Discovery of Library Purchased Secondary Datasets
Presenters: Chantal Ripp, Felicity Tayler and René Duplain, University of Ottawa
Abstract: The Interdisciplinary Data Team (IDT) at the University of Ottawa Library acquires, manages and makes accessible quantitative and geospatial data in support of research and instruction at the University of Ottawa. Currently, the Library acquires and stores its machine readable datafiles on a Web server and makes them discoverable through various portals, including the library catalog, HTML web pages, and links through LibGuides. This leads to inconsistencies, where users have to search for these data in multiple places and with varying quality and robustness of metadata. The pandemic and working remotely prompted the IDT to explore new modes of delivery of its data collection.
In order to support effective data discovery, and thus reuse of the data, the IDT undertook a proof of concept to leverage Scholar’s Portal Dataverse to host a collection of library purchased secondary data. Scholar’s Portal Dataverse provides the ability to create institutional collections and manage access permissions, including restricted access to institutional IP ranges, thus satisfying access conditions of licensed data products. In this lightning talk, we will describe how we worked out the issues and modeled operational practices within the Dataverse self-directed learning group. We will also show how the proof of concept project moving forward will enable the Library’s IDT to better manage and make data discoverable for the benefit of researchers and students at the University.
A Sharp Increase in the Demand for Scholar Portal's ODESI and Dataverse during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Presenter: Dr. Channarong Intahchomphoo, University of Ottawa
Abstract: Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic there have been a sharp increase in demands for accessing health, social inequality, and economic data of Statistics Canada surveys through the Scholar Portal's ODESI, a web-based data portal. Interestingly, those COVID-19 data demands are not only coming from public health and medical researchers, but they are actually coming from all faculties including Education, Law, Management and Social Sciences. This situation demonstrates that COVID-19 pandemic receives research interests from all disciplines. Moreover, due to the limited availability of COVID-19 research data in Canada, there have been many discussions among researchers on how to share and reuse research data in the Scholar Portal Dataverse which have been contributed by researchers from various disciplines across universities in Ontario. This is the key moment for university libraries and the Scholar Portal to communicate to the public about the benefits of research data sharing and how the Scholar Portal Dataverse is ready to serve the Tri-Agency new policies on research data sharing and management for their funded projects. Scholars Portal deserves more appreciation and recognition from researchers, professors, and students.
ODESI: Ten Years Later and Still Going Strong
Presenter: Jane Fry, Carleton University
Abstract: When we developed ODESI 10 years ago, we had a vision for our data users in Ontario – to be able to easily access public use datasets, whether microdata or aggregate data. Over 10 years later, ODESI is still going strong, and the usage statistics are there to prove it. This lightning talk looks at the progression of ODESI usage overall and at Carleton University, and what has been done to enhance it.
Digital Music Scores in Scholars Portal
Presenters: Kyla Jemison and Trevor Deck, University of Toronto
Abstract: In these times, access to online resources has become increasingly important for students and researchers. Contemporary classical music scores have been difficult to access online (though a number of platforms have popped up in the past year); this is still an emerging area of practice. Libraries can have a role to play in ensuring preservation, access, and metadata for digital scores. In 2018 the University of Toronto Libraries began a project to acquire, preserve, and provide access to a collection of digital music scores. The scores were acquired from Plangere Editions, a local music publisher, and published online through Scholars Portal. This project enabled us to develop a workflow for preparing the scores as pdf files; editing and creating metadata in MARC; transforming the metadata into BITS; and publishing the pdf files and metadata through Scholars Portal. We hope to use the workflow developed during the Plangere project for similar initiatives in the near future; we are currently communicating with other local publishers to acquire more digital scores.
CAESC Electronic Usage Statistics Needs Survey
Presenters: James Watson, Trent University, and Andrea McLellan, Health Sciences Library, McMaster University (on behalf of the OCUL-IR Collection Assessment & Evaluation Sub-Committee)
Abstract: The OCUL-IR Collection Assessment and Evaluation Sub-Committee (CAESC) designed and circulated a survey on current practices in OCUL libraries regarding usage statistics. The survey results indicate that libraries actively collect usage statistics, and librarians consider this data important for making effective collection development decisions. Librarians and staff expressed the need for better support in terms of time, training, and access to statistical tools.