1. Research libraries in a European e-science
infrastructure
Wouter Schallier
Executive Director LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries)
e-mail: wouter.schallier@kb.nl

2. Contents
 About LIBER
 Strategic areas 2009-2012
 Digital Preservation
 New strategies for libraries
 Conclusions

3. “Making the case for European research libraries”
 The largest network of European research/academic
libraries: 420 institutions, from over 40 countries
 Mission: to represent and promote the interests of
European research/academic libraries, and of their users:
students and researchers

4. What we do
 Formulate a European strategy for research libraries
 Offer a forum for knowledge sharing and dissemination
 Conferences, workshops, documentation, LIBER Quarterly
 Foster partnerships
 EU projects
 Advocate and lobby with the EU
 Infosoc, Market, Research

5. Strategic areas 2009-2012
 Scholarly Communications
 Digitisation and Resource Discovery
 Heritage Collections and Preservation
 Organisation and Human Resources
 Services

6. Scholarly Communication 1
 Open Access
 SPARCEurope
 Awareness raising
 Tools for the implementation of OA:
– Digital repositories
– OA publishing
 No OA without Digital Preservation

7. Digital repositories
 Trustworthy and with a long term preservation strategy
 With substantial content
 Embedded in the research workflow
 Interoperable: part of a consistent European e-science
infrastructure
 New content: primary research data, multimedia

9. Scholarly Communication 2
 E-science
 Large amounts of research data need to be captured, made
available and preserved
 Results of publicly funded research should be available in public
domain
 Sharing data stimulates excellence in research and should be
rewarded

10. The paradox of e-science
 “My data is mine and now your data is mine”
 Reluctancy to share data
 Lack of rewards for sharing data/collaborative efforts
 Current copyright/IPR/publication models are a hindrance for e-
science
vs.
 E-(nhancing) science
 ODE

11. Digitisation and Resource Discovery
 Digitisation
 “What is not digitally available does not exist”
 Europeana Travel: travel and tourism: over a million items from
national and university libraries made available via Europeana.eu
 General lack of funding

13. Digitisation and Resource Discovery 2
 Resource discovery:
 Europeana Libraries: makes over 5 million objects available
through Europeana
 Europeana Scholar?
 Europeana does have strategies on metadata improvement,
enriching metadata, semantic search engine, digitisation, user
generated content, …
 BUT: no digital curation strategy (responsibility of the individual
instititions)

14. Heritage Collections and Preservation
 Heritage collections
 Preservation
 Analog and digital materials
 Skilled curators
 Preservation not for its own sake but as a way to valorise
knowledge (use and re-use)

15. Digital Preservation
 Awareness raising
 Shared European vision/framework and tools for its
implementation
 Blue Ribbon Task Force: sustainable DP and access
 LIFE: costs of DP
 APARSEN: NoE of DP
 APA

16. Digital Preservation 2
 Ubiquitous, trusted and easy access to research data
 Integrity of data
 Version management
 Visualisation
 Semantics
 Provenance and ownership of data
 Selection
 Use and re-use
 IPR, licensing
 Technology and sustainable infrastructure
 Data managers
 “Data repositories may become the new special collections for research
libraries” (Borgman)

17. Organisation and human resources
 Break walls between libraries, datacentres and
researchers: information and its curation matters to all of
us (we are all information and curation amateurs) :
 We need librarians with a good understanding of modern research,
with an ability to bring the library’s services into the researcher’s
environment and integrate data sharing and curation in the
researcher’s workflow.
 We need researchers with good understanding of information and
curation matters.

18. New strategies for libraries
 Into the research and education workflows/environment:
 Major shift: libraries used to come only at the end of the R&E
workflow!
 Recruitment of content
 Digital curation starts with data creation
 Requires new skills: communication, training …

19. LIBER wants APA
 A forum for discussion with other stakeholders
(researchers, publishers, data managers, funding) in digital
preservation
 Communication and awareness raising
 Shared European vision/framework
 Tools for its implementation
 E-science infrastructure: identify new roles and
responsibilities, new business models

20. APA wants LIBER
 A huge network of research libraries:
 Linked through a common strategy where e-science and DP are
crucial
 Some of them with a lot…others with less expertise in e-
science/digital preservation
 Keen to take up their roles in a European e-science infrastructure
(and many are actually already doing so)

21. LIBER events
 40th LIBER Annual Conference, 29 June-2 July 2011 –
Barcelona: “Getting Europe ready for 2020: the library’s
role in research, education and society”
http://bibliotecnica.upc.edu/LIBER2011/
 Digital Preservation workshop 2011

22. Thank you!
Wouter.schallier@kb.nl
Skype: wouter.schallier