User Research
Libraries are impacted by the ways in which individuals engage with technology; how they seek, access, contribute, and use information; and how and why they demonstrate these behaviors and do what they do. We're collaborating with librarians to shape their services around a set of expectations that have been influenced by consumer technologies and modern research and learning environments. By providing the library community with behavioral evidence about individuals’ perceptions, habits, and requirements, we can ensure that the design of future library services is all about the user. Our efforts are amplified by strategic partnerships and focus in these two areas:
Publications
Using collective curation to pay data forward in the life cycle
11 June 2021
Ixchel M. Faniel
Drawing from a study of archaeological excavation teams, four collective curation opportunities are proposed to identify and resolve differences in data and documentation practices that arise in team-based research. To create more integrated, well-documented data, the opportunities attend to integrating people rather than technology. The actions people take as data move through the life cycle become the focal point of change.
Identifying Opportunities for Collective Curation during Archaeological Excavations
6 August 2020
Ixchel Faniel, Anne Austin, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Eric Kansa, Jennifer Jacobs, Phoebe France
Archaeological excavations are comprised of interdisciplinary teams that create, manage, and share data as they unearth and analyse material culture. These team-based settings are ripe for collective curation during these data lifecycle stages. However, findings from four excavation sites show that the data interdisciplinary teams create are not well integrated. Knowing this, we recommended opportunities for collective curation to improve use and reuse of the data within and outside of the team.
Context from the Data Reuser’s Point of View
26 September 2019
Ixchel M. Faniel, Rebecca D. Frank, Elizabeth Yakel
Context is critical for data reuse, and digital curation should include both context and content preservation. Both data producers and curators benefit from expanding context categories to better determine what information is vital to capture and manage during data collection to support data reuse.
Exposing Standardization and Consistency Issues in Repository Metadata Requirements for Data Deposition
1 September 2019
Jihyun Kim, Elizabeth Yakel, Ixchel M. Faniel
In this article in College & Research Libraries Journal, the authors examine common and unique metadata requirements and their levels of description, determined by the data deposit forms of 20 repositories in three disciplines—archaeology, quantitative social science, and zoology.
Virtuous and Vicious Circles in the Data Life-cycle
2 June 2019
Elizabeth Yakel, Ixchel M. Faniel, Zachary J. Maiorana
A data life cycle model illustrates how factors in one data life cycle phase impacts other phases, forming virtuous (positive) and vicious (negative) circles. This method comprehensively studies how data producers, sharers, curators, and reusers can better collaborate across data life cycle phases.
Editorial: Archaeology and Information Research
1 June 2019
Isto Huvila, Marija Dalbello, Costis Dallas, Ixchel M. Faniel, Michael Olsson
This editorial provides an overview of an issue of Information Research that studies the interdisciplinary nexus of archaeology and information research. This includes shared methods of data sharing, management, and curation; archaeological sites as information structures; media archaeology; and archaeological concepts in archival ethnography.
Beyond the Archive: Bridging Data Creation and Reuse in Archaeology
3 May 2018
Ixchel Faniel, Anne Austin, Eric Kansa, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Phoebe France, Jennifer Jacobs, Ran Boytner, and Elizabeth Yakel
The Secret Life of Data (SLO-data) project traces the lifecycle of data in archaeology to make recommendations to improve data management and better align data creation and reuse. It proposes a “slow data” approach to emphasize curation, contextualization, and communication to streamline data collection for reuse.
Librarians' Perspectives on the Factors Influencing Research Data Management Programs
9 January 2018
Ixchel Faniel, Lynn Silipigni Connaway
This study contextualizes librarians’ roles in campus research data management (RDM) programs at US academic libraries through their RDM experiences supporting research needs. Interviews with academic librarians surfaced five factors of influence that facilitate or constrain academic library RDM activity.
The Challenges of Digging Data: A Study of Context in Archaeological Data Reuse
1 February 2013
Ixchel Faniel, Eric Kansa, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Julianna Barrera-Gomez, Elizabeth Yakel
Trust in Digital Repositories
1 January 2013