The Changing Research Data Landscape and the Experiences of Ethics Review Board Chairs: Implications for Library Practice and Partnerships

Academic libraries have to a large extent taken the lead in facilitating new approaches to research data management, but changes to the research data landscape have had an impact on numerous areas of academic work, including ethics review. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis of interviews with chairs of Canadian research ethics boards, this study explores how ethics review boards have experienced changes to data policy and related technologies in order to describe the ethical implications of new approaches to data management and to explore ways in which the library, ethics review boards, and other campus partners might harmonize efforts to support emerging data practices. While ethics review boards in Canada are keenly aware of open data policies, data publishing in practice is still nascent. There is uncertainty about the adoption of changing technologies for research and their impacts on privacy protection. Where responsibility lies for addressing these uncertainties is often unclear. Academic libraries and research ethics boards are well-suited to engage in mutual knowledge transfer and to integrate data management planning and ethics review processes. Institutional-level oversight that includes all campus departments impacted by changes to the research data landscape may facilitate improved communication and reduce role ambiguity.     

Historical case study: A research strategy for diachronic analysis

History and case study are two diachronic research strategies commonly used to study political discourse as it relates to public libraries. Though suitable for some studies, these strategies are inexhaustive. A new, blended research strategy is therefore needed to accomplish what history and case study alone cannot. This hybrid strategy, historical case study, must analyze cases from the distant past to the present, using eclectic data sources, in order to produce both idiographic and nomothetic knowledge. To develop historical case study, the universal components of diachronic analysis are first identified. A general research design for historical case study is then introduced. Finally, historical case study is tested in an actual research project. Findings from this project reveal that historical case study is a successful diachronic research strategy. Historical case study is a new and valuable research design suitable for addressing questions related to change, continuity, development, and evolution.     

Digital Inclusion in Library Context: A Perspective from Users with Print Disability

Digital inclusion is a strategy pursued to foster social inclusion of those who have been sidelined from the mainstream of information society due to lack of access to digital technologies and the skills to use them. Libraries have been working to close the gap by providing access to computers, the Internet, digital content, and digital literacy programs. However, research reveals a new type of divide where digitally competent people could be digitally excluded. This shows the need for a better conceptualization of access and literacy. This paper commits to exploring the concept of access to digital content from the perspective of people with print disability. It involved in-depth interviews with ten participants with print disability where the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health was used as a framework for data analysis. The overall analysis shows that digital inclusion would be more meaningful if it involved providing content in alternative formats and empowering users to make informed choices. Issues such as flexibility and adaptability in content presentation and design of content discovery tools are among those discussed.     

Rollback,scissor-like closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean and formation of an orocline:magmatic migration based on a large archive of age dataOA

Tracing the closure of oceans with irregular margins and the formation of an orocline are crucial for understanding plate reconstruction and continental assembly.The eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt,where the Mongol-Okhotsk orocline is situated,is one of the world’s largest magmatic provinces.Using a large data set of U-Pb zircon ages,we updated the timing of many published igneous rocks,which allowed us to recognize tightly ’folded’ linear Carboniferous-Jurassic magmatic belts that wrap arou...