1. DATA AT THE
REFERENCE DESK
Exploring Reference Resources
Elliott Shuppy (shuppy@wisc.edu), 2014

2. Central Question:
What do we as librarians need to know
about locating research data if we get
asked at the reference desk?

3. Objectives:
Today we will...
1) differentiate between registry and repository
2) select a registry and to locate research data
repositories
3) search for and locate a data set within a
repository

4. Research Analyses vs. Data
(Top) Jaatinen K, Jaari S, O'Hara RB, Öst M, Merilä J. (2009). Relatedness and spatial proximity
as determinants of host-parasite interactions in the brood parasitic Barrow's goldeneye
(Bucephala islandica). Molecular Ecology 18: 2713-2721. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04223.x
(Right) Jaatinen K, Jaari S, O'Hara R, Öst M, Merilä J. (2009). Data from: Relatedness and
spatial proximity as determinants of host-parasite interactions in the brood parasitic Barrow's
goldeneye (Bucephala islandica). Dryad Digital Repository. doi:10.5061/dryad.1600

5. Registries
• Help identify and locate
research repositories
• Multidisciplinary
• Increase access and
visibility
• Both users and bibliographers create and curate records

6. Activity 1
Individually in your assigned registry,
locate possible repositories given this
reference question:
“I’m trying to find research data in
evolutionary biology.”
A) Databib (databib.org)
B) Re3data (re3data.org)

7. Coming in 2015
• Databib and Re3data plan to merge their two projects
Single sustainable registry
Incorporate best features of each
Reduce duplication
re3data.org Team. (2014, March 25). DataCite, re3data.org, and Databib Announce Collaboration. Retrieved from http://www.re3data.org/2014/03/datacite-
re3data-org-databib-collaboration/

8. Repositories
• Allows permanent storage and access to research data
• Heterogeneous landscape:
Subject specific
Metadata standards differ
Curators vary

9. Activity 2
All, using Dryad (datadryad.org) locate
the correct research data based on the
revised reference question:
“Specifically, I’m trying to find
recent data on cyprinid fishes. I’m
pretty sure it was in the Journal of
Evolutionary Biology.”

10. What is here now
• Accesses data from most influential repositories in one
place
• Difficult to centralize data due to varying metadata
schemas

11. Wrap-up
• Not a perfect process, we will have to dig
• There are many individual resources
• No centralization even with “centralized tools”
• Continue conversation around data reference

12. Questions?
Contact information:
Elliott Shuppy
Email: shuppy@wisc.edu
Mobile: 724.624.2419
UW Center for Limnology
Library Email: limlib@mailplus.wisc.edu
Library Phone: 608.262.4439