Topic: Research practices
Upcoming Event
December 11, 2023
The Research Data Support Landscape
Findings from a National Inventory of University Services
Research universities often offer a range of support services to researchers who conduct data-intensive research, though these services are often so dispersed that neither researchers nor administrators fully understand what services are offered and how to access them. The national distribution of research data support services is even more opaque. At the CNI Fall 2023 Membership Meeting on December 11 at 5:20-6:10 pm ET, Dylan Ruediger will participate in a lightning session on “The Research Data…
Blog Post
August 15, 2023
The Future of Annual Meetings and Scholarly Societies
New Report from Ithaka S+R and JSTOR Labs
As the pandemic recedes into memory, scholarly societies find themselves at a crossroads. For the past several years, the decision to hold hybrid or virtual meetings was dictated by outside forces: it is now a matter of choice. Though the virtual meetings of 2020-22 mostly failed to provide the rich social and networking experiences that in-conference meetings provide, they were more accessible to a much wider, and more diverse, community of scholars.
Research Report
August 15, 2023
Of Meetings and Members
The Interconnected Future of Conferences and Scholarly Societies
As the pandemic recedes into memory, societies find themselves at a crossroads. For several years, the decision to hold hybrid or virtual meetings was dictated by outside forces: it has now become a question of societies’ priorities, mission, and values. It is too early to tell whether the virtual meetings of 2020-22 were anomalies, but a casual observer might reasonably describe the “new normal” as nearly identical to the old one. A closer view suggests a more nuanced picture.
Blog Post
July 17, 2023
Draft Report for Community Input
Shared Infrastructure for Scholarly Communication
We’re thankful for all the comments the draft report received. We will publish a final revised version in October. A robust and nimble infrastructure is imperative to support the vital work of scholarly communication and effectively and efficiently meet the emerging service needs of different stakeholders. Publishers and other scholarly communication services and providers rely on this shared infrastructure in many key parts of their work, and it forms a foundational part of their technology stack and service…
Past Event
July 12, 2023
What’s Next for Generative AI in Higher Education?
AACRAO Technology & Transfer Virtual Summit
Over the past year, AI has transformed from a specialized tool into an easy to use mass market product. The speed of this transformation has left many colleges and universities playing catch up as generative AI touches every aspect of higher education, including their core missions of educating students and supporting academic research. In a rapidly evolving landscape, how can universities make strategic decisions about when and how AI can support student learning and faculty research? Ithaka S+R is…
Blog Post
June 15, 2023
Made by Hand
The Case for Manual Data Collection in an Era of Automation
When designing a research study a key consideration is which research method—or methods—will yield the best insights. Here at Ithaka S+R we conduct applied research related to the education and cultural heritage sectors, and so we aim to collect evidence that can be used for immediate social benefit, such as towards improving policies and programs within institutions. Today we describe a method we regularly employ: manually collecting data from public facing websites. The information we can find through public websites…
Blog Post
June 1, 2023
Coordinating Research Data Services
Key Barriers and Questions
This spring, 107 librarians, administrators, and staff from the 29 universities participating in Ithaka S+R’s Building Campus Strategies for Coordinated Data Support project began to identify barriers to streamlining their research data support services. The project’s first two meetings brought together representatives from university units involved in supporting academic researchers: librarians, senior administrators, research officers, and research computing staff. Working primarily in small groups roughly divided by professional capacity, participants described the ways that different university units—and different institutional…
Blog Post
May 24, 2023
Making AI Generative for Higher Education
Announcing the Partners for a New Multi-Year Research Project
The ability of computers to create content is advancing rapidly, spurring an investment arms race within the technology sector. As new products like ChatGPT and Midjourney turn AI into a part of daily life, universities are facing decisions about how students, instructors, and researchers can best engage with these new tools. This fall, as part of a two-year research project, Ithaka S+R is convening a select group of universities committed to making AI generative for their campus community. Today we…
Blog Post
April 25, 2023
Reflecting on Restricted Access to a Chinese Research Lifeline
The rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and China are prompting both nations to restrict exports of technologies with military applications or in areas with significant economic value. Increasingly, these restrictions are calling international commitments to the open sharing of academic research into question. Last month, the Chinese government announced new restrictions on international access to the most important academic database in China, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI) (中国知网). For researchers in the US the CNKI is…
Research Report
April 24, 2023
Common Scholarly Communication Infrastructure Landscape Review
Scholarly communication is the process through which research products and outputs (such as articles, audiovisual materials, data, code, and research methods) are created, assessed, improved, shared, disseminated, and preserved in a variety of modes including through formal and informal publications, conferences, and other academic networking methods. Shared infrastructure is a key enabler for delivering the services that authors and readers need. It is composed of standards, platforms, technologies, policies, and the communities that enable and support them.
Past Event
April 12, 2023
The Nelson Memo… Now What?
The US OSTP’s Nelson Memo, which requires immediate public access to federally funded research papers, sent a shockwave across the scholarly communications landscape. Now that the first policy implementations of the memo are out, what impacts will it have on different stakeholders in our community? A panel of publishers and librarians, including Ithaka S+R’s Roger Schonfeld alongside Colette Bean, Angel Cochran, Steven Inchcoombe, and Barbara Rockenbach, will reflect on how they plan to support researchers and what these changes mean…
Blog Post
March 22, 2023
Campus Strategies for Data Support Services
Welcoming the Second Cohort
What research data services do campuses currently offer and are researchers aware of them? What funding models can support the costs of centralized data services? Where in the larger organizational structure should these services reside? How can institutions make informed staffing decisions to ensure the expertise needed to support current and future services? As the need for robust, effective, and coordinated research data services on college campuses grows increasingly acute, these are some of the key questions members in our…
Blog Post
March 14, 2023
Making AI Generative for Higher Education
The ability of computers to create original content is advancing rapidly, spurring an investment arms race within the technology sector. As these advancements touch every area of higher education, universities face decisions about how and when AI can support student learning and faculty research. This fall, Ithaka S+R is convening a two-year research project in collaboration with a select group of universities committed to making AI generative for their campus community. Together we will assess the immediate and emerging AI…
Issue Brief
March 6, 2023
Are the Humanities Ready for Data Sharing?
This issue brief suggests that one key perspective that humanists can bring to larger debates about data sharing and open access research outputs is their uniquely well-developed infrastructure for the public sharing of knowledge creation, exemplified in the many public humanities initiatives that are a highly visible and vibrant part of humanities scholarship. Many recent public humanities projects emphasize community-driven, collaborative data generation efforts, in which knowledge is co-created with community participants not for the community.
Blog Post
February 2, 2023
Building Campus Strategies for Data Support Services Project Kicks Off
With 2023 coined the “year of data” by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and data-intensive research methods growing across disciplines, campuses throughout the US and Canada are recognizing the strategic need to build a centralized approach to providing data support services to researchers. These services are often provided by the library, in addition to other campus units scattered across the university. Developed over time and with minimal coordination, data support services tend to exist in silos,…
Blog Post
December 16, 2022
Reflecting on the Ithaka S+R Fellowship Program
A Conversation with Two Former Fellows
Each year, Ithaka S+R welcomes a cohort of early-career researchers to join our team as fellows. Over the course of 12-16 weeks, the program immerses the fellows in our projects and partnerships, providing the opportunity to make real contributions to research that tackles critical challenges in higher education, advances equity, and fosters innovation.
Blog Post
December 5, 2022
Coordinating Research Data Support Services Across Campus
Announcing a Second Cohort
This fall, Ithaka S+R announced a new cohort-based research and consulting project to help universities coordinate research data support services across campus. Demand for the first cohort has been overwhelming, making it clear just how timely and important this topic is to university leaders. For this reason, we are pleased to announce that we are organizing a second cohort so that more universities can participate in this project.
Blog Post
October 12, 2022
The Library Director Survey 2022 is Live!
We are excited to announce the launch of the 2022 Ithaka S+R Library Director Survey. In order to track high-level strategic and leadership perspectives across the field, we conduct a national survey of academic library deans and directors every three years. Consistent with previous survey cycles, this iteration of the study will provide insights into issues of strategic priorities, budgeting, staffing, and collections, as well as introduce new questions designed to track emerging trends in the field.
Past Event
November 4, 2022
Aligning the Research Library with the University’s Organizational Strategy
2022 Charleston Conference Panel
On Friday, November 4 at 12:15 – 1:00 pm, Ithaka S+R Vice President of Organizational Strategy and Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums Roger Schonfeld will chair a Charleston Conference session discussing an Ithaka S+R research report co-published with ARL and CARL, on aligning the research library with the university’s organizational strategy. The panel will feature perspectives from leaders at academic libraries about their institutional strategy and more, with K. Matthew Dames, Anne Houston, and Jennifer Fabbi. Learn more about the…
Blog Post
September 6, 2022
Coordinating Research Data Support Services Across Campus
Announcing the Launch of a New Cohort-Based Research and Consulting Project
Data-intensive research methods are used by researchers in a wide and growing number of disciplines and are now central to the research enterprise. As these methods spread, universities are making significant investments in developing campus services to provide critical support for big data research. We are excited to announce a project that will bring together a select cohort of librarians and campus representatives to develop strategies for coordinating campus data support services.