Realizing the research library - data center alliance

Recognizing the conceptual alliance between today's research libraries and scientific data centers, and moving toward creating partnerships, collaboration and even hybrids of these two types of enterprises, are topics that have informed conversations at Columbia University and among participants at recent electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) meetings. On one hand, research libraries are striving to achieve the same excellence at managing digital material as they are known for with their print and other media collections. On the other hand, scientific data centers may benefit from research librarians' experience and perspective on long-term preservation and archiving tasks.

Columbia University (founded in 1754), for example, has 25 libraries and hundreds of librarians who maintain extensive archives. In the 1990s Columbia became home to the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) which operates the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), one of several Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) supporting NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) program. Thus Columbia is fertile ground for collaboration: Libraries staff aim to meet regularly with CIESIN personnel to share experiences with creating metadata and designing digital repositories for university research data. At the same time, CIESIN is developing its own repository for long-term geospatial data archives.

The alliance between research libraries and data centers has also been discussed among contributors to the eGY--the 50 year anniversary incarnation of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year (IGY). The original IGY was a voluntary international scientific initiative for a comprehensive global study of geophysical phenomena. The eGY focuses on newer "e-Science" approaches to achieve the same goal. The related International Polar Year project provides the context for interaction between the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and University of Colorado, Boulder libraries. Columbia and Colorado are exploring ideas for informatics research initiatives related to this project.