Integrating Melbourne figshare into a cohesive research outputs ecosystem
Ailie Smith1
1The University Of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
Abstract
Despite being in use for a number of years, the University of Melbourne’s figshare instance has – until recently – had an unclear connection to and role in the broader University research outputs ecosystem. This resulted in a lack of clarity regarding what to use figshare for, potential overlap in the functions of various research systems, and the need to duplicate work to disseminate information across multiple systems. This presentation will look at work undertaken to define the service offering and place that figshare holds in the research output ecosystem at the University of Melbourne. It will also cover the development of integrations and workflows between systems to improve the flow of metadata to where is needs to be, and to reduce the need for manual or duplicate metadata creation. In addition, it will discuss improvements made to metadata to meet the needs of specific workflows and research projects, as well as broader strategic initiatives at the University. These developments and improvements have resulted in a more cohesive user experience and greater ability to promote, share, reuse and disseminate valuable research data and non-traditional research outputs (NTROs).
Biography
Ailie Smith is Manager of the Digital Stewardship (Research) team at the University of Melbourne. Over a 20+ year career as an information professional Ailie has developed considerable experience and a dedication for working with and developing systems for the curation and management of information and metadata, with a focus on interoperability, discoverability, and long-term sustainability. Her current work includes leading a highly skilled team working with researchers on digital curation challenges and digital stewardship, and supporting a program of digital preservation for the University.