Topic: Research practices
Blog Post
June 13, 2022
The Library’s Role in Facilitating Users’ Experiences Navigating Computing and Data Services
An Interview with Susan Ivey, Director of the Research Facilitation Service at North Carolina State University
Since 2012, when Ithaka S+R began systematic exploration of the changing needs and practices of researchers, the stunning growth in the accessibility of large datasets and the computing power necessary to work with them has transformed research practices across disciplines. As big data methods have spread, universities have responded by expanding their research support service offerings. Libraries have been the most active players in this space, but many campus units—including information technology offices, research computing centers, and academic…
Past Event
June 23, 2022
Dylan Ruediger at RBMS 2022
On June 23, Dylan Ruediger will join panelists to discuss the findings from the Teaching with Primary Sources Project and its impact “post”-pandemic. For more information see abstract below. For more information on the conference, please visit this link. Session Title: Does it still fit? Engaging with the Ithaka S+R Teaching with Primary Sources Project “Post”-Pandemic Date: June 23, 2022 Time: 3:00 PM EST Remember that report from Ithaka S+R last spring about supporting the needs of instructors…
Blog Post
April 14, 2022
The Importance of Alignment for the Research Library
Academic libraries exist to serve the needs, over the long-run, of their parent institutions. To be successful, then, it is imperative that each research library regularly works to ensure its ongoing alignment with its parent university. Institutional alignment is, however, a complicated endeavor. In a project Ithaka S+R co-published with ARL and CARL, my colleagues Danielle Cooper, Catharine Bond Hill and I examined the strategic directions of research universities in North America to determine how…
Research Report
April 12, 2022
Aligning the Research Library to Organizational Strategy
Ithaka S+R was commissioned by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) to examine the strategic directions of research universities with the objective of identifying common themes that research libraries can consider in aligning to advance the research and learning mission both individually and collectively. This project draws on interviews and other forms of engagement conducted in 2021 with more than 60 university leaders across research libraries in the US and Canada.
Past Event
March 28, 2022
Aligning Data Support Services to Researchers’ Needs
Danielle Cooper and Dylan Ruediger at CNI Spring 2022 Membership Meeting
Danielle Cooper and Dylan Ruediger will present on “Aligning Data Support Services to Researchers’ Needs” at the CNI Spring 2022 Membership Meeting in San Diego. About the session As data-intensive research has become the norm in an expanding number of academic fields, universities have adapted by offering a wider range of data support services. Previous research by Ithaka S+R has demonstrated that university libraries have been especially active in this space and are now the largest single…
Past Event
March 17, 2022
Data Support Services Needs in the DIY Era
Dylan Ruediger at the RDAP Summit
On March 17th, from 12:45 – 1:45 PM, Dylan Ruediger will moderate a panel on “Data Support Services in the DYI Era” at the RDAP Summit. For more information about the Summit, please see the RDAP website. Abstract This panel will highlight findings from a recent national study of the research practices of fresearchers working with big data. Our findings suggest that many researchers prefer to learn new skills and tools using internet resources and tutorials rather than…
Blog Post
January 18, 2022
Ithaka S+R is Growing: Join Us!
Over the past few years, the scope and breadth of Ithaka S+R’s work has grown substantially. The Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums program has seen increases in cohort projects that explore critical issues facing libraries; grant funded initiatives focused on digital preservation, higher education in prison, student success, and museum leadership; national surveys of faculty, community college administrators, and archivists; and sponsored work on topics including the health of the research enterprise and diversifying collections. To…
Blog Post
January 12, 2022
Preprints: Their Evolving Role in Science Communication
New Publication
We are pleased to announce the publication of Preprints: Their Evolving Role in Science Communication by Iratxe Puebla and Jessica Polka, both of ASAPbio, and Ithaka S+R’s Oya Y. Rieger. It is part of the Charleston Briefings: Trending Topics for Information Professionals series. This briefing discusses the history and role of preprints—scholarly manuscripts posted by the author(s) to a repository or platform to facilitate open and broad sharing of early work without any limitations…
Blog Post
December 15, 2021
Building Sustainable Data Sharing Communities
Announcing the Participants in an NSF-Funded Incubation Workshop
Across the country and around the world, communities of researchers are voluntarily sharing data across disciplinary and institutional borders. Understanding the motivations, practices, and challenges faced by members of these communities is important to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other funders seeking to promote and normalize data sharing and reuse. However, questions remain about how to best support data communities as they emerge and mature. Some of the most urgent issues involve documentation,…
Past Event
December 14, 2021
Understanding Research Cores: An Overview of a Critical Component of Research Infrastructure
Roger Schonfeld at CNI Fall 2021 Membership Meeting
On December 14, Roger Schonfeld will present at the CNI Fall 2021 Membership Meeting on Ithaka S + R’s new report, “What is a Research Core? A Primer on a Critical Component of the Research Enterprise” that illuminates the research core landscape. Research cores, sometimes also referred to as core instrumentation facilities, are shared research enablement facilities that are used on a cross-department if not institutional basis. Notwithstanding pandemic disruptions, trends to improve research support for academic science are taking…
Blog Post
December 9, 2021
Charting a Path Forward for Academic Conferences
Announcing the Cohort for Our Project on the Future of Scholarly Meetings
Conferences and meetings are among the most venerable and vital services scholarly societies provide to members. They serve as gathering places for communities and important venues for scholarly communication. They are also essential to many societies’ financial models. The global pandemic has accelerated existing pressures on academic conferences, forcing societies to adopt virtual and hybrid formats. It has become clear that these new modalities have tangible benefits to members and the potential to reach new constituencies, but financial…
Research Report
December 6, 2021
What Is a Research Core?
A Primer on a Critical Component of the Research Enterprise
As clusters of state-of-the-art instruments and research enablement services, research cores are not only the cornerstone of research activities at university campuses but also critical assets that provide competitive differentiation for their host institutions. However, these research cores are highly expensive for academic institutions to manage. Despite the growing recognition and impact of these research cores, there are few studies that describe the business models for sustaining and funding research cores or their increasing significance to the larger academic community.
Blog Post
December 1, 2021
Supporting Big Data Research
New Report Offers Recommendations for Stakeholders
As “big data” has moved from the margins to the center of a growing number of academic disciplines, how well are universities, funders, and publishers supporting researchers? To better understand how big data research is pursued in academic contexts, Ithaka S+R partnered with librarians at more than 20 colleges and universities, interviewing over 200 faculty members, to explore how researchers work with big data and identify the challenges they face. “Big Data Infrastructure at the Crossroads:…
Research Report
December 1, 2021
Big Data Infrastructure at the Crossroads
Support Needs and Challenges for Universities
Ithaka S+R’s Research Support Services program explores current trends and support needs in academic research. Our most recent project in this program, “Supporting Big Data Research,” focused specifically on the rapidly emerging use of big data in research across disciplines and fields. As part of our study, we partnered with librarians from more than 20 colleges and universities, who then conducted over 200 interviews with faculty. These interviews provided insights into the research methodologies and support needs of researchers working…
Blog Post
October 18, 2021
The Future of Scholarly Meetings
Announcing a New Cohort Project Funded by the Sloan Foundation
The COVID-19 pandemic forced scholarly societies to reimagine one of their signal offerings: academic conferences. In response, societies experimented with virtual and hybrid meeting formats on a scale that was difficult to imagine before March 2020. Societies have emerged from these experiments with an equal measure of worry and cautious optimism about the potential of these new forums to replace or supplement the traditional annual meeting. With generous funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ithaka…
Research Report
October 18, 2021
COVID-19 and the Future of the Annual Meeting
In February 2020, the Biogen conference in Boston, Massachusetts, became one of the first superspreader events in the United States—one now linked to perhaps 300,000 cases of COVID-19. By mid-March, in-person conferences, a staple of scholarly communication and community, came to an abrupt halt. For the many professional societies for whom a conference is a core offering, the necessity of charting a new path for their annual meeting was among the most difficult organizational challenges created by the pandemic. As…
Past Event
October 7, 2021
New Directions in Scholarly Publishing
Roger Schonfeld presents during Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) virtual panel
On October 7, Roger Schonfeld will join other panelists to discuss new funding opportunities for researchers and librarians. The panel will discuss how “how authors— especially early career authors—are required to navigate this new funding landscape, how librarians must consider new mandates and requirements from funding agencies while supporting the interests and needs of researchers within their respective institutions, and how funding as we know it is dynamically changing the landscape of academic research.” For more information, please visit this…
Past Event
September 8, 2021
Danielle Cooper at FORGE 2021
On September 8 at 14:00 Central European Time (CET), Danielle Cooper will discuss her research on research data in the humanities. For more information, please visit this website. …
Past Event
October 19, 2021
Technology, Trust, Together: Common Challenges and Opportunities for Today’s Digital Scholarly Communication Ecosystem
Roger Schonfeld at the STM Autumn Conference 2021
On Tuesday, October 19, Roger Schonfeld is taking part in a panel discussion at the STM Autumn Conference 2021. For more information and to register for this virtual conference, please visit the STM website. About the panel: Digital technology is pervasive in how research is conducted, how research teams collaborate, and how research output is disseminated. This has brought many improvements and new opportunities, for example enabling more efficient ways of (remote) working and giving researchers the ability to…
Blog Post
August 5, 2021
Deadline Extended: Call for Proposals on Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science
Ithaka S+R is currently accepting applications from researchers interested in participating in Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science, an NSF-funded workshop developed in partnership with the Data Curation Network. Participants will receive funding to attend a two-day incubation workshop in 2022, as well as expert guidance from information professionals about how to create sustainable infrastructures to support voluntary data sharing across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Applications are due October 1, 2021. Please see the following CFP for full…