Imker to Lead Illinois Efforts in Multi-Institution Data Curation Network Funded by Sloan Foundation

Imker_LinkedIn_2014Heidi Imker, Director of the Research Data Service and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Library, will lead local participation in a new Data Curation Network funded by the Sloan Foundation. The grant will enable six institutions, including Illinois, to pilot a “network of expertise” model for data curation services.

Led by Lisa R. Johnston at the University of Minnesota, the six institutions will each contribute unique strengths in data management and curation to the grant, “Planning the Data Curation Network.” The connected expertise made possible by the grant will allow each institution to serve a greater range of data curation needs across disciplines and data types. “Libraries have been at the forefront of national and international efforts to promote data sharing,” Imker notes. “As more transparent research cultures develop, Libraries are moving beyond data sharing enthusiasm towards practical development and application of our skills in curation and preservation. We’re thrilled that Illinois will be working with a fantastic group of collaborators to develop a pilot program to federate our respective expertise and strengths.” The pilot project will allow the institutions to develop distributed and scalable workflows, grounded in the use of assessment metrics, and establish a model for implementing and sustaining the network over the long term.

The full list of grant leaders and their institutions includes:

  • Lisa R. Johnston, Principal Investigator (PI), Research Data Management/Curation Lead in the University Libraries and director of the Data Repository for the University of Minnesota;
  • Jake Carlson, Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI), Research Data Services Manager at the University of Michigan Library;
  • Patricia Hswe, Co-PI, Digital Content Strategist at Penn State University Libraries and the head of the ScholarSphere data repository;
  • Cynthia Hudson-Vitale, Co-PI, Data & GIS Services Librarian at Washington University in St. Louis Libraries;
  • Heidi Imker, Co-PI, Director of the Research Data Service at the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign;
  • Wendy Kozlowski, Co-PI, Data Curation Specialist at Cornell University and the library’s Research Data Management Services Group Coordinator; and,
  • Co-PI Claire Stewart, Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning at the University of Minnesota.

The Afred P. Sloan Foundation is a nonprofit granting organization focusing on research in science, technology, and economics. The Data Curation Network is funded under Sloan’s Digital Information Technology Program.

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