E-Science
MARY ANN MAVRINAC - Chief Librarian, University of Toronto MississaugaThe rapidly evolving nature of science, where computational technology is integrated into the very fabric of experimentation, is transforming the nature of scientific research.1 Some liken this to a ‘revolution.’2 Others say it is more of an ‘evolution.’3 Computational science is said to provide the tools, concepts and theorems to facilitate the use of vast amounts of data to discover new knowledge – the type of knowledge many believe is capable of tackling the immense global issues facing humankind.4 Called e-Science, e-Research, team science, networked science or cyberinfrastructure, this type of research is typically data intensive, collaborative, geographically dispersed and computationally intense, using large-scale computing resources, infrastructure and the Internet.5 6
"Whether one considers e-Science as transformational or evolutionary, it is clear that massive distributed computing does provide for an approach to exploration that promotes a global view of collaboration," says Professor Ulli Krull, Vice-Principal Research at U of T Mississauga. "And this approach to science is not uncommon. The advances in computational technology are evolutionary; the distribution of data and information is empowering; the consequences of global collaboration are transformational in both the advancement of science and how scientists interact."
The data-centric nature of e-Science will likely have an impact on the life-cycle of scholarly research. Before, concept through to publication occurred in discrete, relatively linear stages.7 The iterative, integrated and ubiquitous approaches to collaborative scientific research and the capability of vast amounts of data to be used – and reused – in scientific experimentations, simulations and algorithms will have an impact on everyone in the scholarly information chain: researchers, librarians, publishers, computer technologists, educators, etc. In fact, the authors of "Towards 2020 Science" advocate that e-Science has "the potential…to completely reshape scientific communications":
The grand challenge for scientific communication is not merely to adjust the economics of publishing to reflect new realities (though that is certainly happening), but rather to redefine the very concept of a scientific publication. Only in that way will scientific publishing remain relevant and fulfil its duty to help accelerate the pace of scientific discovery now that we are unconstrained by many of the restrictions imposed by print.8
Reshaping scientific communication will affect academic libraries whose traditional role is to select, organize, store, make accessibile and preserve scholarly resources. Clifford Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information, believes the role of libraries will shift from the acquisition of published scholarship to the management of scholarship in collaboration with researchers who produce these data.9 Academic libraries will build on their foundation and advocacy as stewards of scholarly information, open access and institutional repositories. However, the data-intensive nature of e-Science – where curation and preservation are important, where the magnitude of data is unparalleled10 and where librarians will need domain expertise to work alongside researchers in support of large-scale scientific projects – is a challenge that academic libraries are discussing, preparing for, and in some cases, experiencing.
For instance, librarians at Purdue University are applying knowledge and experience from the domain of library and information science in support of sponsored research projects in the areas of data discovery, management and organization.11 Outcomes include a distributed institutional repository that supports the discovery and access of digital objects, including Purdue e-Scholar,12 a portal service that provides access to several repositories and services.
As the example from Purdue University Libraries illustrates, academic libraries and librarians have a role in the burgeoning field of e-Science. The Association of Research Libraries "Agenda for Developing E-Science in Research Libraries" 13 lists several roles for libraries and librarians in e-Science:
- support the need for digital content and associated services
- create discovery and management systems for digital data
- develop systems and standards for digital content
- develop software that provides the collaborative tools, resources and services for scholarly engagement across disciplinary and geographical borders
- steward and preserve content
- contribute expertise with regard to the open exchange of scholarly information and the role that institutional repositories play in support of this
- develop and support integration and interoperability tools for information distribution and discovery
- develop and support business and technical strategies for long-term archiving
- understand archival and life-cycle aspects of scientific information, including the importance of ensuring access and usability over the long term.14
The transformational potential of e-Science for the discipline of science provides a compelling argument that academic research libraries also will transform as they strive to serve the academic mission in the sciences. The U of T Mississauga Library is well placed to explore this potential with two science liaison librarians, Mindy Thuna and Joanna Szurmak, who, in addition to their expertise in library and information science, have graduate level domain expertise in science and engineering. We look forward to the opportunity to play an integrated role in e-Science research at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
1. Stephen Emmott, ed., Towards 2020 Science. (Cambridge, Eng.: Microsoft Research Cambridge, 2006).
2. Stephen Emmott, ed., Towards 2020 Science. (Cambridge, Eng.: Microsoft Research Cambridge, 2006).
3. Christine L. Borgman, "Supporting the "scholarship" in e-scholarship." EDUCAUSE Review (Nov/Dec 2008): 33.
4. Jorge Soberon, Stephen Emmott, Neil Ferguson and Tetsuya Sato, "Earth's life-support systems," in Towards 2020 Science, ed. Stephen Emmott (Cambridge, Eng.: Microsoft Research Cambridge, 2006), 48.
5. Association of Research Libraries. Joint Task Force on Library Support for E-Science. (November 2007) Agenda for developing e-science in research libraries.
6. Diana Rhoten, "The dawn of networked science." The Chronicle Review, (September 7, 2007). http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i02/02b01201.htm.
7. Stuart MacDonald and Luis Martinez Uribe, "Libraries in the converging worlds of open data, e-research and Web 2.0." Online (Mar/Apr 2008): 36.
8. Timo Hannay, "Transforming scientific communication," in Towards 2020 Science, ed. Stephen Emmott (Cambridge, Eng.: Microsoft Research Cambridge, 2006), 18.
9. Linda O'Brien, "E-research: An imperative for strengthening institutional partnerships." EDUCAUSE Review (Nov/Dec 2005): 64-76.
10. The issues surrounding data: its stewardship, curation, re-use, and ownership, will be discussed in a forthcoming issue of "Transforming Libraries" as these are complex, challenging and deserving a focused discussion.
11. D. Scott Brandt, "Librarians as partners in e-research: Purdue University Libraries promote collaboration." C&RL News (June 2007), 365-367, 396.
12. Purdue e-Scholar, e-scholar.lib.purdue.edu.
13. Association of Research Libraries. Joint Task Force on Library Support for E-Science. (Nov 2007) Agenda for developing e-science in research libraries, p. 13.
14. The author gratefully acknowledges the work of the Association of Research Libraries, Joint Task Force on Library Support for E-Science Chaired by Wendy Lougee, University of Minnesota Libraries in developing this list of roles.
