A Study of Faculty Data Curation Behaviors and Attitudes at a Teaching-Centered University

TitleA Study of Faculty Data Curation Behaviors and Attitudes at a Teaching-Centered University
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsScaramozzino, J., Ramírez M., & McGaughey K.
JournalCollege & Research Libraries
Volume73
Issue4
Pagination349 - 365
Date Published2012/07/01/
Keywordssg_data_responsibility, sg_data_survey, sg_data_value
Abstract

Academic libraries need reliable information on researcher data needs, data curation practices, and attitudes to identify and craft appropriate services that support outreach and teaching. This paper describes information gathered from a survey distributed to the College of Science and Mathematics faculty at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), a master’s-granting, teaching-centered institution. There was a more than 60 percent response rate to the survey. The survey results provided insight into the science researchers’ data curation awareness, behaviors, and attitudes, as well as what needs they exhibited for services and education regarding maintenance and management of data. It is important that professional librarians understand what researchers both inside and outside their own institutions know so that they can collaborate with their university colleagues to examine data curation needs.

URLhttp://crl.acrl.org/cgi/content/abstract/73/4/349

Gap Area Study Type:

Purpose: 
Investigated science researchers’ data curation awareness, behaviors, and attitudes, as well as what needs they exhibited for services and education regarding maintenance and management of data
Method: 
Distributed survey via email to 331 College of Science and Mathematics faculty at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), a master’s-granting, teaching-centered institution. Filtered results to include only science faculty from the Biology, Chemistry, Kinesiology, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics departments who engaged in data collection in the course of their research (131 tenure-track faculty; 82 responded (62.6%)
Notes: 
Reuse: Asked how often [a researcher's own] data is re-used for other projects (p. 355, 359)