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GSLIS Data Curation Specialization Expanded to Include Humanities

October 2, 2008

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois has received $892,028 for the project "Extending Data Curation to the Humanities: Curriculum Development & Recruiting," funded by a 2008 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Associate Dean for Research Allen Renear is the principal investigator; Associate Professor Carole Palmer and Dean John Unsworth will serve as co-PIs.

The project is part of the growing base of activity on the curation of research data in the School's Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS).

Capitalizing on the success of the Data Curation Education Program (DCEP), currently a scientific data curation specialization within GSLIS's ALA-accredited master's of science, the new project is extending the DCEP data curation specialization to include the digital humanities. The new project will focus on fundamental principles and best practices for managing the entire lifecycle of humanities data: creation, management, exploitation, enhancement, and preservation, developing a model curriculum to share with the field.

A network of internship sites at libraries, museums, digital archives, and digital humanities centers will give enrolled students the opportunity to develop hands-on, cutting edge data curation skills at collaborating sites, including OCLC, the Perseus Project (Tufts), the Women Writers Project (Brown University), The Center for Computing in the Humanities (King’s College London), and the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (University of Virginia).

Cultural information is growing at an enormous rate, presenting daunting challenges for librarians, curators, and scholars. "Making our cultural heritage accessible, preserving it for future generations, ensuring sufficient context for accurate understanding—these things are not easy and cannot be taken for granted. The challenges now facing librarians, curators, and other information professionals require state-of-the-art preparation. Fortunately, the knowledge and skills required are directly based on the fundamentals of library and information science." said Renear.

The project includes professional development activities and will be conducting an one week institute on data curation in the summer of 2009.

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