U.S. Research Libraries leading the way in Support Services?

A new report E-Science and Data Support Services: A Study of ARL Member Institutions from the U.S. Association of Research Libraries provides a snapshot portrait of institutions' services to support e-research and data curation. The report is published on the ARA website.

According to the ARA website, the report "synthesizes data collected in a 2009 survey with subsequent interviews of several responding libraries. Authored by Catherine Soehner, Catherine Steeves, and Jennifer Ward, the study was sponsored by the ARL E-Science Working Group to build an understanding of how libraries can contribute to e-science activities in their institution and identify organizations and institutions that have similar interests in e-science to leverage research library interests.

The study draws on data from 57 of 123 ARL member libraries (a 46% response rate for the survey). Over 75% of survey respondents reported that their institution either provides infrastructure or support services for e-science or is planning infrastructure for such activities. This finding demonstrates research libraries’ rapid engagement in e-science in recent years. Both the survey and the authors’ interviews detail how institutions are quickly rising to meet the challenge of managing data and their diverse strategies for doing so in the face of significant challenges regarding infrastructure, funding, and staff resources."