Suchergebnisse

Digital Curation Training: The nestor Activities

In the last few years the issue of curation of research data has become a topic of enhanced interest in scientific communities. But there is no clear understanding of how to deal with curation of research data. Regarding the situation in Germany, there was no clear picture of the methods that different academic disciplines use to preserve and curate their research data. Even more there was no clear understanding and consensus which role libraries could or should play in this issue. A baseline study was conducted in cooperation with nestor and the D-Grid GmbH in Germany. The study gives more stable data to scientists, service infrastructure experts and politicians to foster strategic concepts for digital curation and preservation in and between the disciplines. The survey addressed eleven disciplines including the humanities, social sciences, psycholinguistics, pedagogics, classical studies, geoscience, climate research, biodiversity, particle physics, astronomy and medicine. Results can be seen as more or less representative for the situation in Germany. Findings show that libraries and data centers are involved but there is no clear result on the role libraries should or will play in the field. Libraries which are in close connection to scientists have an advantage in being addressed as institutions responsible for digital curation and preservation. Librarian's competences regarding research data still have to be proofed. Nevertheless individual scientists and research data centers might need librarian´s expertise regarding the application of metadata standards and the provision of services in connection with the research data curated by institutions. Qualification and training regarding curation of research data is still at its beginning and should be addressed by programs of universities.

Findings of the study published in the book are summarised and suggestions are given for further action on a professional and political level.

Established in 2005 as part of the German nestor competence network, the nestor "Qualification" working group addresses questions of training and education in digital preservation for a broad and heterogeneous target audience. We introduce the five core areas of activity of the working group, giving an overview of the lessons learned and an outlook on future developments. In particular, we focus on the cooperation in the field of initial vocational education and the development of shared curricidar modules in this area.