Data Curator’s Roles and Responsibilities: An International Perspective

Abstract

Abstract The data-intensive research environment and the movement towards open science create demand for information professionals with knowledge of the research process and skills in managing and curating data. This paper is reporting the findings from a multiyear study entitled “Data curator: who is s/he?” initiated by the Library Theory and Research (LTR) Section of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). The study aimed to identify the roles and responsibilities of data curators around the world and also focused on the terminology used to describe the new professional roles. The following questions were posed: R1: How is data curation defined by practitioners / professional working in the field? R2: What terms are used to describe the roles for professionals in data curation area? R3: What are primary roles and responsibilities of data curators? R4: What are educational qualifications and competencies required of data curators? To answer the research questions, the research team performed a comprehensive literature review and vocabulary analysis and conducted an empirical study using mixed-methods design. The study consisted of three stages: 1. Literature review and vocabulary analysis 2. Content analysis of position announcements 3. Interviews with professionals working in data curation and research data management- Findings confirm the results from previous research about the lack of common terminology and a variability of the position titles. The concept of data lifecycle highlighted the important role of data curators. However this study also found that many positions in practice were held by non library professionals. The findings indicate that data curation is an evolving sociotechnical practice that involves not only technical systems and services structured around research data life cycle but also a range of social activities around community building.