2.1 Legal, Ethical, and Policy Issues of 'Big Data 2.0' Collaborative Ventures and Roles for Information Professionals in Research Libraries
Creators: name: Corrall, Sheila
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: big data, ethics, policies, legal, research, libraries

description: The emerging Age of Big Data 2.0 promises myriad imagined and yet-to-be-imagined opportunities for the advancement of human knowledge. Around the globe, Big Data collaborative ventures are launching ‘moonshot’ projects; among them: Oxford University’s soon-to-be-opened Big Data Institute, which will analyze, synthesize, and hypothesize medical treatments and cures from human genomic data collected from 500,000 volunteers by the UK Biobank project; and The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, a transactional medicine and commercial capitalization partnership. Managing and leveraging these vast terabyte troves of information will test the capabilities and ingenuity of those working with and responsible for the knowledge management systems providing access to this intellectual capital. Legal, ethical, and policy issues implicated by such Big Data enterprises will present equivalent, if not greater, challenges on issues like data protection and use. But it is not just Big Data that we need to worry about. Big Data initiatives are grabbing headlines, but similar legal and ethical issues are arising with data from the smaller-scale projects that research libraries are increasingly interacting with on a daily basis. Throughout history, information professionals have applied theory and practice in gathering, organizing, providing access, and preserving data, in diverse forms for diverse functions. They have been integral in shaping, as well as safeguarding, offering guidance on, and, when deemed necessary, speaking up about laws, ethics, and policies undergirding and crosscutting individuals, societies, organizations, and nations. Many research libraries have already stepped up their efforts in scholarly communication, digital publishing, and data management, creating specialist roles requiring knowledge, skills, and abilities extending significant beyond traditional professional competency frameworks. However, the future promises a world of growing complexity and challenge where a majority of questions presented falls into the truly difficult category, and rising numbers of questions relate to the legal and ethical issues surrounding scholarly communication and research data. Copyright and intellectual property more generally has already been recognized as an area where expertise is needed across all library functions and services. However ethical issues have generally received less consideration, but are arguably set to become the wicked problem for higher education institutions in the immediate future, particularly in relation to data, and there is an urgent need for libraries to build capacity in this area. Our research uses a case study strategy to provide real-world context to the legal and ethical issues facing libraries in the Big Data world and explore these critical questions: What are the chief legal, ethical, and policy issues triggered by Big Data (and Little Data) initiatives? What Best Practices can be identified to address these kinds of legal, ethical and policy issues? What are the roles that information professionals and research libraries can and will assume in contributing to considerations of the legal, ethical, and policy issues raised by such projects? What are the competency implications in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities libraries need to acquire or develop for the Big Data world? <strong>Sheila Corrall</strong> was appointed Professor and Chair of the Library &amp; Information Sciences Program at the University of Pittsburgh in 2012, following eight years at the University of Sheffield iSchool. She previously worked at the British Library and as director of library and information services at three UK universities. She teaches courses on Academic Libraries, Research Methods, and Academic Culture &amp; Practice. Her research interests include the application of strategic management concepts and tools to library and information work; the changing landscape of open scholarship; collection development in the digital world; and the evolving roles and competencies of library and information specialists. She is a member of the advisory board of Credo Reference and serves on the editorial boards of seven international journals. <strong>James D. (Kip) Currier</strong> was appointed Assistant Professor in the Library &amp; Information Science Program at the University of Pittsburgh in 2009, following two years as a visiting lecturer/professor. He previously worked as an attorney and as a librarian, services administrator, and manager in three US public libraries. He teaches courses on Information Ethics, Intellectual Property &amp; ‘Open’Movements, and Managing &amp; Leading Information Services. His research interests include human information behavior (information needs, seeking, organizing, and use); copyright and fair use; scholarly communication; social networking; and diversity issues. He maintains the Kip Currier Copyright and Open Movements Blog, Diversity and Inclusion Blog, Ethics Blog, and Management and Leadership Blog.