Announcing the 2012 ARL/DLF/DuraSpace E-Science Institute

June 5, 2012 - PRLog -- New partners, expanded communities mean more learning opportunities for librarians, repository managers, researchers, and technologists

Ithaca, NY DuraSpace is pleased to announce the 2012 Association of Research Libraries/Digital Library Federation (ARL/DLF)/DuraSpace E-Science Institute (ESI) scheduled for the 2012-2013 academic year. This Institute will be offered to academic and research library audiences seeking opportunities to boost institutional support of e-research and the management and preservation of our scientific and scholarly record. The new Institute will include ongoing communication with the ARL/CLIR Connect E-Science/E-Research Community–an interactive website for ESI participants to maintain contact with one another, the ESI faculty, and experts and professionals in the fields of information and library science to build a community of emerging practice. DuraSpace has an excellent track record of offering online professional webinars, and DLF provides both professional expertise and numerous ways for the community to connect and continue the conversation.

"The DLF is excited to continue our involvement with this important effort and looks forward to working with Duraspace," said DLF Director Rachel Frick.

The 2012 E-Science Institute will build on the strengths of the inaugural 2011 E-Science Institute developed by MacKenzie Smith, DeEtta Jones and a group of expert faculty [http://www.arl.org/rtl/eresearch/escien/escieninstitute/e...] in collaboration with ARL and DLF.

"The ARL/DLF E-Science Institute was a unique opportunity to help a large number of research libraries develop strategies for engaging with e-science and digital research on their campuses and collaboratively. The new Institute under development by DuraSpace will take what we learned from that experience to create a valuable learning experience and an ongoing community collaboration for this critical library program. I hope every library will avail itself of this opportunity." said MacKenzie Smith, University Librarian, University of California, Davis.

More about the E-Science Institute
The E-Science Institute was designed in 2011 to help research libraries develop a strategic agenda for e-research support, with a particular focus on the sciences. The Institute consists of a series of interactive modules that take small teams of individuals through a dynamic learning process to strengthen and advance their strategy for supporting computational scientific research. The Institute begins with a series of modules for teams to complete at their institutions, and culminates with an in-person workshop. Local institution assignments help staff establish a high level understanding of research support background needs and issues.

Development of course materials for the 2011 Institute was funded by the sponsors and supporting institutions of ARL and CLIR/DLF and was only available to their members. Going forward, the E-Science Institute will be managed by the DuraSpace organization and will be open to all institutions.

“The first E-Science Institute was a tremendous success,” said ARL Executive Director Charles B. Lowry. “ARL will work closely with DuraSpace to shape the new Institute and support ARL membership as library e-research services mature individually and collectively."

ARL members and CLIR sponsors were surveyed about the anticipated 2012 Institute design. Respondents indicated a preference for a format that would include a series of online courses as well as an optional in-person capstone event. An additional focus on humanities as well as the sciences plus in-depth presentations in areas that participants indicated were of high interest will be offered this year.

Look for announcements about specific dates as they become available. Sign up here if you would like to be notified when date and registration information is available: http://duraspace.org/e-science-institute.

About ARL (Association of Research Libraries)
ARL is a membership organization that influences the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations.

About DLF (Digital Library Federation)
The purpose of CLIR’s Digital Library Federation program is to build and support a robust, engaged community whose members share a vested interest in advancing digital libraries. To this end, DLF serves as a resource and catalyst for collaboration among digital library developers, project managers, and all who are invested in digital library issues.

About the DuraSpace organization
DuraSpace is an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 when the Fedora Commons organization and the DSpace Foundation, two of the largest providers of open source repository software, joined to pursue a common mission to preserve our shared scholarly, scientific and cultural record. The DuraSpace community includes more than 1,500 worldwide institutions that use DSpace or Fedora open source repository software to provide durable access to documents, imagery and media.

DuraSpace has established infrastructure, workflow and administrative support to ensure that long-distance presentations are conducted in a crisp and professional manner.  Effective management of online scheduling, publicity, rehearsals, marketing, distribution, registration and post-production contribute to learning satisfaction. Online sessions are hosted using the EDUCAUSE Adobe Connect platform and are recorded for asynchronous viewing. Presenters receive full survey reports conducted at the conclusion of each presentation.