Research
My research focuses on the planet and its life through the study of geographic information organization, access, and use. This includes the Research Data Management (RDM) of geospatial data across disciplines, data disovery, information-seeking behavior of scientists, data management plans, as well as job analyses of the data professions facilitating research data services. Also, I have conducted spatial analyses for public library locations, market areas, and information agency services and resources. Here are links to my profiles in Scopus and Google Scholar.
I’m a scientist that studies scientists. This perspective positions me to serve as a bridge between research communities and the information professionals who make reuse and reproducibility possible. Over my career, I have produced sustained scholarship on RDM and data discovery and reuse, secured external funding to support this work, and translated findings into practical training for researchers and information professionals. To inform RDM curriculum, I conduct job analyses of data managers to make relevant and timely program learning outcomes. The field of Information Science provides a multidisciplinary lens to systematically study geospatial data, its special properties, and how it is discovered and evaluated for re-use.
Data occupations, education, and training studies addresses the curricular needs to meet employment demands for knowledge workers in the areas of RDM. As PI for the NSF Research Data Management Education Summit, and two IMLS projects Collaborative Analysis Liaison Librarians (CALL) and Geographic Information Librarianship (GIL) survey validations and interviews of current professionals inform core competencies, course development, and resulted in four electives offered at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville School of Information Sciences the Reseach Data Manbagement Certificate (RDMC) and the Geographic Information pathway.
Select Publications
- A Critical Look at Information Science and Librarianship in a New Age: Constellation of Insanity
- From ice cores to dinosaurs: Physical collections managers’ research data curation perceptions and behaviors
- Digital disorientation: Navigating virtual and physical spaces in library and information science research during lockdowns and beyond
- Validating current core competencies: A survey of map and geographic information librarianship practices to inform the knowledge base for curricula
- Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) liaison librarians: Perspectives on functions and frequencies for serving academic researchers
- Data Management Plan Implementation, Assessments, and Evaluations: Implications and Recommendations
- Fitness for use of data: scientists' heuristics of discovery and reuse behaviour framed by the FAIR Data Principles
- Job Analyses of Earth Science Data Managers: A Survey Validation of Competencies to Inform Curricula in Research Data Management Education
- Data Services Librarians’ Responsibilities and Perspectives on Research Data Management
- Job analyses of Earth science data managers: A survey validation of competencies to inform curricula in research data management education
- Job analyses of Earth science data librarians and data managers
- Research Integrity Officers’ Responsibilities and Perspectives on Data Management Plan Compliance and Evaluation
- Documenting social justice in library and information science research: a literature review
- A new decade of uses for geographic information systems (GIS) in library research
- Data Curation Profiling to Assess Data Management Training Needs and Practices to Inform a Toolkit
- Scientists' data discovery and reuse behavior: (Meta)data fitness for use and the FAIR Data Principles [ASIS&T Best Long Paper]
- Measuring FAIR Principles to Inform Fitness for Use [IDCC Best Paper]
- Geographic Information: Organization, Access, and Use
- Earth Science Data Managment: Mapping Actual Tasks to Conceptual Actions in the Curation Lifecycle Model
- Information Science Professionals as Community Action Researchers to Further the Role of Rural Public Libraries in Small Business Economic Development: A Case Study of Tennessee [Best Overall Paper]