President's Message: Data Discovery

Last week I attended the second Annual VIVO Conference in Washington, D.C. VIVO (vivoweb .org) is a Semantic Web application that enables the discovery of research and scholarship across disciplines in an institution with the potential to also link scholars and research across institutions. Despite an earthquake and a hurricane the conference itself was the real showstopper--excellent, informative programming, engaging speakers, great networking and exchange of ideas. My institution is one of the core VIVO members so it was an opportunity to showcase our work, see what others are doing as well as learn more about trends in research, e-science and data discovery and collaboration initiatives. Much of what I learned or rediscovered at VIVO will make it into my fifty-minute presentation on the subject at the LITA National Forum in St. Louis later this month. In fact the VIVO conference itself reminded me of our own National Forum in size, scope and content. It was a good mix of in-depth technical discussions coupled with broad coverage of issues and trends in scientific research. This attention to content balance is something that LITA consistently gets right at our annual forum--there is literally something for everyone from introductory concepts to technical details--and I look forward to seeing many familiar faces and meeting some new folks at this year's LITA National Forum in St. Louis "Rivers of Data: Currents of Change." I would also like to take this opportunity to personally invite each and every ITAL reader to the 2012 LITA National Forum. Building on this year's theme, the 2012 LITA National Forum will be "The New World of Data: Discover. Connect. Remix." I just signed off on theme this week and I am excited and impressed by the work completed by the National Forum Planning Committee so far. Please look for the call for papers and posters to come out in late December. I love the forum because it is much more intimate than the much larger ALA meetings I always come away with new ideas and new friends. I am not alone in this feeling. A recent forum attendee commented," (the LITA Forum) was one of the best conferences I have attended. I met a far greater concentration of peers--colleagues at other libraries doing similar work--at LITA Forum than I have met at other similar conferences." I don't think I could say it better myself. The 2012 forum theme is one of great personal interest to me and I plan to extend the theme to the LITA President's Program on June 24, 2012, in Anaheim. In fact hardly a day goes by in my professional life (and it sometimes creeps into my personal life too!) when I don't think about the issues of connecting people with data, and then how to present that data in ways that are relevant to their needs. The tides are shifting in health sciences library and likely in your library too. Ongoing changes in publishing and the changing nature of research have challenged the traditional nature of the library. It is no longer solely a repository for information, physical or virtual. As librarians move from collecting and cataloging bibliographic information new roles have emerged in data discovery, in its preservation, and in helping to make data more accessible. Important specialties include; knowledge management, data visualization, e-science and copyright. Librarians have valuable skills sets in mining and accessing data, human-computer interaction, computer interface design, and knowledge management that can be leveraged now. …