Current Trends and Future Directions in Data Curation Research and Education
Digital research data have introduced a new set of collection, preservation, and service demands into the tradition of digital librarianship. Consequently, the role of an information professional has evolved to include the activities of data curation. This new field more specifically addresses the needs of stewarding and preserving digital research data. In this article, the authors offer an overview of data curation research and education in the field of library and information science, focusing specifically on the current state of professional practice, trends in education and workforce development, and future directions for both basic and applied research. Drawing on the proceedings from two data curation summits held in late 2010, the authors highlight and build on the major insights and recommendations that emerged from discussions among more than 50 leading experts from government agencies, data centers, the field of library and information science, and the publishing industry. Specifically, they note the importance of developing interoperable standards for describing datasets, the need for curators to participate in data privacy and ownership policy development, the demand for a workforce to support discipline specific data practices, and the varied approaches for professional education that will be required by a data driven research agenda in both the sciences and humanities. The authors conclude with an overview of future directions for research and workforce development in data curation.