VALA2020 Proceedings

Session recordings are available through a single link on VALAView. Visit https://webcast.gigtv.com.au/Mediasite/Showcase/vala2020 

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The 20th Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA2020, was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia from 11 – 13 February 2020.

The following papers were presented at VALA2020. See also the VALA2020 Program.  Peer-reviewed and lnvited Papers will be available to access individually for each session.

The full set of conference proceedings from VALA2020 is available as a single pdf download. This registered publication contains all 40 concurrent sessions and 7 vendor papers, and is a simple, one-click resource for academics, students and the wider VALA network. (Click on the image to the right to view and download.)

Creative Commons License All works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License unless specifically stated.

VALA2020 Vendor 2 Petchell

Separate but aligned: using internal partnerships to improve customer experience

VALA2020 VENDOR SESSION 2
Wednesday 12 February 2020, 2:45 – 3:15

Sarah Petchell
  • Training and Consulting Partner
  • ProQuest

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #v3

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Vendor 2 Petchell Paper 189KB
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VALA2020 Vendor 2 Petchell Video 0.00 KB
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Abstract

In December 2015, ProQuest acquired Ex Libris. It was announced ProQuest would continue as the information-content arm, while Ex Libris would take over the management of the Workflow Solutions division. This paper will discuss how the integration has progressed by referencing recent projects between the two parts, provide details on internal realignments intended to increase efficiencies in product development designed to lead to an improved experience for both customers and end users. These projects and the ongoing roadmap are focused on continuing to improve the user experience of both ProQuest and Ex Libris products through streamlining workflows and enabling better data driven decision making.y.

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VALA2020 Vendor 2 Almeida

Gale Digital Scholar Lab: 12 months on and how are people using it?

VALA2020 VENDOR SESSION 2
Wednesday 12 February 2020, 3:20 – 3:50

Damian Almeida
  • Executive Trainer
  • Gale, a Cengage Company

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #v4

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Vendor 2 Almeida Paper 142KB
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VALA2020 Vendor 2 Almeida Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2020 Vendor 2 Almeida Slides 19MB
Abstract

Gale Digital Scholar Lab offers a straightforward entry point into Digital Humanities for new researchers and experienced scholars. The Lab provides access to large data sets that can be easily mined and exported for use in custom applications and open-source analytical tools. With the Lab, Gale has created a research platform to help bridge the gap that often exists between primary sources that are available in the library and the research needs and workflows of faculty and students. As an extension of a Library’s primary source collections, the Lab will encourage the use of archival holdings to support broader research needs.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.

VALA2020 Plenary 4 Leachman

Collections, catalogues and connections: My engagement escapade

VALA2020 PLENARY SESSION 4
Wednesday 12  February 2020, 4:20 – 5:30

Siobhan Leachman
  • Wikimedia, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Smithsonian Institution
  • Volunteer & citizen scientist

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #p4

View the video of the presentation and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Plenary 4 Leachman Slides 48.5MB
Abstract

I want to tell the story of my digital adventures. My journey from analogue to digital, from consumer to re-user, from passive absorber to empowered co-creator of knowledge. How my life has been enriched by the existence of, as well as my interaction and engagement with, digital collections of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs). I want to detail my motivations for undertaking the work I do. To emphasise that for me, digital is not so much about access but is much more about reuse.

I intend to highlight how important people are in the digital world that we inhabit. How easy it is for individuals to have an impact. Not only on connections, catalogues and collections but on the lives of people who engage with digital content. How the GLAM community has enriched my life. I will traverse through the triumphs as well as the trials and tribulations of knowledge creation and connection. To show how anyone with a passion can help improve access to knowledge, can curate content, can facilitate reuse of digital data, and can join the effort to connect everything.

Biography

Siobhan Leachman volunteers for a plethora of GLAM, digital humanities and citizen science projects. Her mission in life is to connect everything. She advocates for open access, open Creative Commons copyright licenses, and defends the public domain. Siobhan is currently obsessed with crowdsourcing, citizen science, various Wikimedia projects, citation data, New Zealand endemic moths, women scientific illustrators, name authority data, iNaturalist and Charles Heaphy artworks. These obsessions change at her whim. In 2019 she was awarded the Auckland War Memorial Museum Medal and is a Companion of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

 

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VALA2020 Plenary 5 Coleman

Who is keeping house, tending the garden, and raising the children while AI is out marauding?

VALA2020 PLENARY SESSION 5
Thursday 13 February 2020, 9:00 – 10:10

Catherine Nicole Coleman
  • Stanford University
  • Digital Research Architect

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #p5

View the video of the presentation here:

 

Abstract

The social applications of AI most prevalent today weaponize convenience and distraction to very destructive ends. Incisive investigative reporting tells a story of individuals and institutions wielding AI for data collection and analysis to narrow choices, increase profits, and subjugate the populace. But of course AI isn’t doing that, people are. We can and should employ this technology in ways that reflect the ethos of the library; that support research, preserve our cultural heritage, nourish the soul, and contribute to the growth of human knowledge.

AI reveals patterns and offers predictions based on the information fed into the system. But it is trite and simply inaccurate to fall back on the axiom: garbage in, garbage out. In libraries we know that one person’s garbage might be treasure to a researcher; something that can unlock insights and lead to new discoveries. The opportunity that AI offers is the ability to process mountains of information very quickly and to assist with repetitive tasks. Integrating AI into our expert practices can spark new ideas about how to describe things, how to contextualize them, how to maintain them and how to improve discovery. We desperately need new tools in libraries to keep up with and creatively extend our work. And our work is essential to a safe and healthy civil society.

This talk will offer some practical advice about how to get started.

Biography

Catherine Nicole Coleman is Digital Research Architect for the Stanford University Libraries and Research Director for Humanities + Design, a research lab at the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis. Nicole works at the intersection of the digital library and digital scholarship as a lead architect in the design and development of research services. She is currently leading an AI initiative within the Library to make the collections of maps, photographs, manuscripts, data sets and other assets more easily discoverable, accessible, and analyzable. Her work within Humanities + Design is encoding interpretive method in tools to create human-centered applications of machine intelligence in support of research.

 

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VALA2020 Session 12 White

Practitioner and researcher collaboration through a student Master’s paper

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 12
Thursday 13 February 2020, 10:50 – 11:20

Hollie White
  • Lecturer
  • Curtin University
Janice Chan
  • Coordinator, Research Services
  • Curtin University
Amy Cairns
  • Librarian: Engineering
  • Edith Cowan University

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #s26

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Session 12 White Paper 209KB
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VALA2020 Session 12 White Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2020 Session 12 White Slides 19MB
Abstract

Australian library practitioners perceive that research performed by library researchers is often irrelevant and unaligned to what they need. Practitioner and researcher collaboration is one solution to address this issue. This paper explores a collaboration between an academic library and a library and information studies department that focuses on practitioner-relevant research conducted by a master’s student pursuing a Degree by Coursework. Using autoethnographic and critical reflective practice techniques, three different perspectives – an academic librarian, a library school researcher, and a master by coursework student – on the research collaboration will be presented and explored.

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VALA2020 Session 12 Williams

Making researchers’ lives easier and managing risk at the University of Adelaide: developing and implementing an integrated online research data management planning tool

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 12
Thursday 13 February 2020, 11:25 – 11:55

Andrew Williams
  • Manager Research Data
  • The University of Adelaide

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #s27

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Session 12 Williams Paper 205KB
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VALA2020 Session 12 Williams Slides 3MB
Abstract

This paper details the implementation of an integrated online research data management planning tool at the University of Adelaide in order to increase Policy compliance, provide reporting functionality, and provide value to researchers, including by:

  • integration between the research data management planning tool and other systems (PeopleSoft, Research Master, and records management) to reduce the effort required to complete a data management plan and push it automatically through required workflows
  • automated provisioning of data storage
  • training and support for researchers to provide guidance on good data management practices and improve awareness of data management tools at the University.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.

VALA2020 Session 12 Splawa-Neyman

Data Management Appraisal Project: how do you track research in a school with over 1,000 researchers?

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 12
Thursday 13 February 2020, 12:00 – 12:30

Patrick Splawa-Neyman
  • Health Data Librarian
  • Monash University

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #s28

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Session 12 Splawa-Neyman Paper 217KB
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VALA2020 Session 12 Splawa-Neyman Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2020 Session 12 Splawa-Neyman Slides 7MB
Abstract

Monash University Library and Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine jointly appointed a Health Data Librarian to the Data Management Appraisal Project (December 2018 to December 2019). The project objective was to ascertain current data management practices in the School. The result was the creation of a data management tool consisting of a research catalogue, data management plan and GDPR checklist. The tool will allow the School to report on where data is stored and who is responsible for it, while assisting researchers to comply with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research

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VALA2020 Session 13 Mamtora

Towards better and freer access to research collections: new systems, policies and training programs

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 13
Thursday 13 February 2020, 10:50 – 11:20

Jayshree Mamtora
  • Formerly Research Services Coordinator
  • Formerly Charles Darwin University
Prashant Pandey
  • Director of Library Services
  • Flinders University

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #s29

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Session 13 Mamtora Paper 272.07 KB
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VALA2020 Session 13 Mamtora Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2020 Session 13 Mamtora Slides 10MB
Abstract

This paper describes the strategies Charles Darwin University Library has undertaken in working with the Research Office towards building its research outputs and making them more openly accessible. It has migrated its research collections into a single, new, integrated interface; developed new policies and consolidated existing ones; and to this end, rolled out a training and educational program.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.

VALA2020 Session 13 Kneebone

A subject vocabulary for social policy and research

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 13
Thursday 13 February 2020, 11:25 – 11:55

Les Kneebone
  • Information Architect
  • Analysis & Policy Observatory

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #s30

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Session 13 Kneebone Paper 260KB
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VALA2020 Session 13 Kneebone Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2020 Session13 Kneebone Slides 5MB
Abstract

The Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO) maintains subject vocabularies that populate and validate metadata in its grey literature repository. In consultation with agencies active within social science and research data management, APO is revising and consolidating the existing vocabulary, using standards for constructing controlled vocabularies such as Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS). In this paper, work to establish an interoperable and reusable vocabulary relevant to policy and research metadata communities is reported. Both manual approaches to refining the subject vocabulary top layer, cleaning up the tail of single use terms, and reference techniques for automating thesaurus construction using a graph technology are outlined.

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VALA2020 Session 13 Earl

From access to preservation: a journey through space and time

VALA2020 CONCURRENT SESSION 13
Thursday 13 February 2020, 12:00 – 12:30

Betsy Earl
  • Senior Specialist, Library Systems and Digital Preservation, State Library Victoria
Bridie Flynn
  • Senior Librarian, Collection Curation & Engagement, State Library Victoria
Afsana Khan
  • Specialist, Library Systems, State Library Victoria

Please tag your comments, tweets, and blog posts about this session: #vala2020 #s31

Read the paper, view the video of the presentation on the VALAView channel and view the presentation slides here:

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VALA2020 Session 13 Earl Paper 240KB
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VALA2020 Session 13 Earl Video 0.00 KB
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VALA2020 Session 13 Earl Slides 21MB
Abstract

This paper discusses the journey taken by State Library Victoria during a project to upgrade from a digital object management system to a digital object preservation system, with a particular focus on the theory and practical aspects of object and metadata migration.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.