Download - Rolando Garcia- Milian
Rolando Garcia-Milian
Hannah F. Norton, Beth Auten, Valrie I. Davis, Nita Ferree, Kristi L. Holmes, Margeaux Johnson, Nancy Schaefer, Michele R. Tennant, Mike Conlon, VIVO
Collaboration
Role of Librarians in the Development of Computer-Mediated Social
Networks:
This project funded by the National Institutes of Health, U24 RR029822, “VIVO: Enabling National Networking of Scientists.”
Challenges and Lessons Learned from VIVO
Implementation and Outreach
What is VIVO?
VIVO is an open-source semantic web application that enables the discovery of research and scholarship across disciplines in an institution.
VIVO contains detailed profiles of researchers that display items such as publications, teaching, and grants. These profiles are linked to each other and to additional departmental information.
VIVO supports faceted searching for quick retrieval of data. This is a powerful search functionality for locating people and information
within or across institutions.
• Some history:– VIVO originated at Cornell University in 2003 as an open
source product.– Through a $12.2 million grant from the National Institutes
of Health, 7 partner institutions, led by the University of Florida, are expanding VIVO for national use.
• The Goal: Improve all of science by providing the means for sharing and using current, accurate, and precise information regarding scientists’ interests, activities and accomplishments.
What is VIVO?
How does VIVO work?
Datstored as RDF triples using standard ontology
Faculty and unit administrators can then add additional information to their profile.
External data sources:• Publication warehouses e.g. PubMed, Web
of Science, Scopus• Grant databases: e.g. NSF/ NIH• National Organizations: AAAS, AMA
Internal data sources:• Human Resources• Sponsored Research• Institutional Repositories• Registrar System• Faculty Activity Systems• Events and Seminars
VIVO data is available for reuse by web pages, applications, and other consumers both within and outside the institution.
Role of librarians
Developing core and local ontologies
Locating and selecting subject
vocabularies
Developing user-centered interface
designEngaging potential
users
Providing local support and training
on the system
Performing usability studies and focus
groups
Engaging with local and external data
providers
Providing project management and
leadership
Aim and methods
Analyze the challenges and barriers librarians have
encountered during VIVO implementation and outreach
9 librarians interviewedOpen questions: challenges, skills gained, lessons learned
Investigate the impact of VIVO on librarian’s professional development and skill sets
Identified areas of discussion
Communication
Team work and team dynamics
Interaction with technology
Workload balance
Changing nature of the
project
Engaging the community
Project management
Interaction with technology
New Skills:• Learning about semantic web / technical aspects of the project• Familiarity with terminology (e.g. Linked Open Data, SPARQL)• Learning to interpret the progress of the project and translate for
end users
Lessons Learned:• Ensuring each team member’s understanding increases individual
input and problem solving, strengthens the end product
Challenges:• VIVO requires some aptitude for technology• Interaction between librarians and information technology
specialists
Changing nature of the project
Challenges:• Working with a product that is in development• Roles and responsibilities have shifted
New Skills:• Team leaders have learned to hire individuals with the right skill sets
for each position
Lessons Learned:• Be flexible and agile, get use to making changes to the original plan
because it is required by the technology• Feel comfortable working with beta versions of the product
Workload balance
Challenges:• Balancing the work on the VIVO project with regular job duties (e.g.
teaching and reference services)• Large amount of travel for some team members
Observations:• Compensate by letting colleagues outside the project team know what
is going on• Interest in VIVO has offered librarians opportunities to present at local,
regional, and national meetings – advancing their careers
Lessons Learned:• Delegate work giving away something finite instead of portions of an
ongoing project. • Learning new skills and technologies prepares librarians for new library
directions (e.g. support for e-science / translational science initiatives)
Engaging with the wider community
Challenges:• Navigating campus political environment for those in leadership positions• Contacting and engaging faculty
Opportunities:• Pretext for presenting on other library initiatives/services: Open Access,
Institutional Repositories, ILL services • Gained more visibility within departments: more contacts and
consultations from faculty• Developing connections at the national level with team members and
partner institutions (e.g. Annual VIVO Conferences)
Engaging with the wider community
Lessons Learned:• Librarians have a better understanding of the different needs, concerns,
and driving forces that affect campus administrators, departments data stewards, and faculty
New Skills:• Learned more about institution’s various cultures (e.g. working with
administrators)• Increased librarians’ level of comfort in talking to people across the
scholarly spectrum
Project management
Challenges:• Little previous experience on a project of this magnitude• Very difficult to know what to expect and how to prepare
New Skills:• Better ability to prioritize• More efficient decision making process• More task-driven orientation, centered around an action plan
Lessons Learned:• The team would benefit from a team member with training and/or
experience in project management• A project of this size should be fully integrated within the library
system or a particular library department
Communication
Challenges:• Communicating across diverse groups within the team and user
populations• Includes engaging in writing and oral communication through
presentations and papers.
New Skills:• Identify the appropriate information for specific and diverse audiences• Enhanced skills in summarizing and organizing both oral and poster
presentations
Lessons Learned:• Talk openly as a team• Use every possible communication channel (from phone calls to
teleconferencing)• Empathy is important when navigating multidisciplinary conversations
Teamwork and team dynamics
New Skills:• Team became more efficient, developing trust and unifying against
common challenges
Lessons Learned:• Those in leadership positions learned that not over-reacting to
setbacks helps the team move forward• Help team members see the positive without disregarding what they
have to say
Teamwork and team dynamicsSkills required in collaborative scientific research teams (Stagel & Salas, 2008)
The VIVO team has learned many of these skills in the process so it is better prepare for new multidisciplinary team projects in the future
High tolerance for change Communication
by leadership of expectations
Leadership
Communication
Understanding team members’ specific roles