Rolando Garcia-Milian

Hannah F. Norton, Beth Auten, Valrie I. Davis, Nita Ferree, Kristi L. Holmes, Margeaux Johnson, Nancy Schaefer, Michele R. Tennant, Mike Conlon, VIVO

Collaboration

Role of Librarians in the Development of Computer-Mediated Social

Networks:

This project funded by the National Institutes of Health, U24 RR029822, “VIVO: Enabling National Networking of Scientists.”

Challenges and Lessons Learned from VIVO

Implementation and Outreach

What is VIVO?

VIVO is an open-source semantic web application that enables the discovery of research and scholarship across disciplines in an institution.

VIVO contains detailed profiles of researchers that display items such as publications, teaching, and grants. These profiles are linked to each other and to additional departmental information.

VIVO supports faceted searching for quick retrieval of data. This is a powerful search functionality for locating people and information

within or across institutions.

• Some history:– VIVO originated at Cornell University in 2003 as an open

source product.– Through a $12.2 million grant from the National Institutes

of Health, 7 partner institutions, led by the University of Florida, are expanding VIVO for national use.

• The Goal: Improve all of science by providing the means for sharing and using current, accurate, and precise information regarding scientists’ interests, activities and accomplishments.

What is VIVO?

How does VIVO work?

Datstored as RDF triples using standard ontology

Faculty and unit administrators can then add additional information to their profile.

External data sources:• Publication warehouses e.g. PubMed, Web

of Science, Scopus• Grant databases: e.g. NSF/ NIH• National Organizations: AAAS, AMA

Internal data sources:• Human Resources• Sponsored Research• Institutional Repositories• Registrar System• Faculty Activity Systems• Events and Seminars

VIVO data is available for reuse by web pages, applications, and other consumers both within and outside the institution.

Role of librarians

Developing core and local ontologies

Locating and selecting subject

vocabularies

Developing user-centered interface

designEngaging potential

users

Providing local support and training

on the system

Performing usability studies and focus

groups

Engaging with local and external data

providers

Providing project management and

leadership

Aim and methods

Analyze the challenges and barriers librarians have

encountered during VIVO implementation and outreach

9 librarians interviewedOpen questions: challenges, skills gained, lessons learned

Investigate the impact of VIVO on librarian’s professional development and skill sets

Identified areas of discussion

Communication

Team work and team dynamics

Interaction with technology

Workload balance

Changing nature of the

project

Engaging the community

Project management

Interaction with technology

New Skills:• Learning about semantic web / technical aspects of the project• Familiarity with terminology (e.g. Linked Open Data, SPARQL)• Learning to interpret the progress of the project and translate for

end users

Lessons Learned:• Ensuring each team member’s understanding increases individual

input and problem solving, strengthens the end product

Challenges:• VIVO requires some aptitude for technology• Interaction between librarians and information technology

specialists

Changing nature of the project

Challenges:• Working with a product that is in development• Roles and responsibilities have shifted

New Skills:• Team leaders have learned to hire individuals with the right skill sets

for each position

Lessons Learned:• Be flexible and agile, get use to making changes to the original plan

because it is required by the technology• Feel comfortable working with beta versions of the product

Workload balance

Challenges:• Balancing the work on the VIVO project with regular job duties (e.g.

teaching and reference services)• Large amount of travel for some team members

Observations:• Compensate by letting colleagues outside the project team know what

is going on• Interest in VIVO has offered librarians opportunities to present at local,

regional, and national meetings – advancing their careers

Lessons Learned:• Delegate work giving away something finite instead of portions of an

ongoing project. • Learning new skills and technologies prepares librarians for new library

directions (e.g. support for e-science / translational science initiatives)

Engaging with the wider community

Challenges:• Navigating campus political environment for those in leadership positions• Contacting and engaging faculty

Opportunities:• Pretext for presenting on other library initiatives/services: Open Access,

Institutional Repositories, ILL services • Gained more visibility within departments: more contacts and

consultations from faculty• Developing connections at the national level with team members and

partner institutions (e.g. Annual VIVO Conferences)

Engaging with the wider community

Lessons Learned:• Librarians have a better understanding of the different needs, concerns,

and driving forces that affect campus administrators, departments data stewards, and faculty

New Skills:• Learned more about institution’s various cultures (e.g. working with

administrators)• Increased librarians’ level of comfort in talking to people across the

scholarly spectrum

Engaging with the wider community

Project management

Challenges:• Little previous experience on a project of this magnitude• Very difficult to know what to expect and how to prepare

New Skills:• Better ability to prioritize• More efficient decision making process• More task-driven orientation, centered around an action plan

Lessons Learned:• The team would benefit from a team member with training and/or

experience in project management• A project of this size should be fully integrated within the library

system or a particular library department

Communication

Challenges:• Communicating across diverse groups within the team and user

populations• Includes engaging in writing and oral communication through

presentations and papers.

New Skills:• Identify the appropriate information for specific and diverse audiences• Enhanced skills in summarizing and organizing both oral and poster

presentations

Lessons Learned:• Talk openly as a team• Use every possible communication channel (from phone calls to

teleconferencing)• Empathy is important when navigating multidisciplinary conversations

Teamwork and team dynamicsChallenges:• Massive, multi-team, and multi-institution project

Teamwork and team dynamics

New Skills:• Team became more efficient, developing trust and unifying against

common challenges

Lessons Learned:• Those in leadership positions learned that not over-reacting to

setbacks helps the team move forward• Help team members see the positive without disregarding what they

have to say

Teamwork and team dynamicsSkills required in collaborative scientific research teams (Stagel & Salas, 2008)

The VIVO team has learned many of these skills in the process so it is better prepare for new multidisciplinary team projects in the future

High tolerance for change Communication

by leadership of expectations

Leadership

Communication

Understanding team members’ specific roles

VIVO is supported by NIH Award U24 RR029822

Second Annual VIVO ConferenceAugust 24-26, 2011Gaylord National, Washington D.C.Register at vivoweb.org/conference

THANK YOU!