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SDSC - UCSD LibrariesSDSC Assessment of Information Needs and

Opportunities for Partnerships

1. Background 2. Goals of the Assessment3. Interview Methods4. Interview Findings

4.1 Needs Assessment: Initial Survey4.2 Needs Assessment: Briefing4.3 Needs Assessment: Structured Interviews4.4 Needs Assessment: Unstructured Interviews4.5 Research Collaboration: Unstructured Interviews

5. Analysis of Findings6. Recommendations7. Attachments

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SDSC - UCSD LibrariesSDSC Assessment of Information Needs and

Opportunities for Partnerships

1. Background

GENERAL: The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is a unique and nationally

reknowned center for scientific computation and supercomputing. Founded in 1985, in

the last dozen years it has changed significantly both in size and mission, going from

fewer than fifty employees in the late 1980’s to an organization of over two hundred and

fifty employees in 2000. It has recently become an organized research unit (ORU) of the

University of California, San Diego. While some of its staff are affiliated with and teach

in other campus departments, the majority of its staff are non-teaching researchers,

administrators, and computer scientists who support the extraordinary computational

resources of the Center.

MISSION: Formerly one of a handful of national supercomputer centers, in 1997 the

SDSC became one of two national centers or “leading edge sites” in the NPACI (National

Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure), currently consisting of 40 U.S.

and 6 international affiliates. The other leading edge site is the National Center for

Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Alliance, in Illinois. In addition to these two

national sites, SDSC’s peer organizations include major supercomputing operations at

federal laboratories such as Los Alamos National Laboratory; agencies such as NCAR

(National Center for Atmospheric Research); and regional supercomputing facilities such

as the University of Pennsylvania’s.

As an NPACI leader, SDSC works to establish, through hardware acquisitions and

software development and integration projects, a national scalable, high-performance

computational infrastructure to support academic research. In support of this mission, the

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SDSC houses an array of powerful supercomputing resources appropriate for use in

computational science, and is responsible for allocating time on these machines to

researchers around the country1. The SDSC also directly supports a number of research

programs aimed at advancing the state of infrastructure for computational science.

Computational science areas with the most active research programs at SDSC are

computational biology and computational chemistry; important infrastructure research

projects include work on curating data, and computational science workbenches and

portals.

In view of SDSC and NPACI missions, support to remote users occupies a central place

at SDSC. This support includes outreach and training on the use of SDSC resources in

the form of workshops, tutorials, and a variety of other conferences and events. Impact

on and benefit to the research community are the primary measures of SDSC staff

effectiveness. The SDSC differs in this respect from more traditional department-based

research. SDSC staff have relatively few curriculum-driven teaching responsibilities and

relatively little graduate student assistance. Their research efforts are designed to create

robust infrastructures of immediate actual utility within the community, rather than tools

whose primary goal is “proof of concept.”

STAFF: Personnel at the SDSC are comfortable with sophisticated technology and

highly diverse in terms of their technical and scientific expertise. The number of SDSC

personnel continues to grow rapidly to meet the demand for program support; in the last

two years the number of SDSC personnel has exceeded the capacity of the primary SDSC

building. A handful of SDSC staff are now located in offices elsewhere on the UCSD

campus, and a small number have offices located off campus. As a consequence of this

rapid growth, space at the SDSC is at a premium; many individuals at SDSC now share

offices with one or two other colleagues.

SDSC FUTURE: The SDSC will continue to add personnel and will require new

building space just to adequately house their existing staff. Over the next several years, 1 SDSC hardware ranks 16th, 116th, and 262nd on a popular list of the world's 500 most powerful computers in July 2000 (http://www.top500.org).

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SDSC administrators anticipate fostering a close relationship with the new CAL- IT2

Center (California Information Technology and Telecommunications <?> Center), which

could include developing shared information or library facilities, services, or resources.

IMPACT OF THE DIGITAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT: As in all areas of

science and engineering, the information environment for scientific computing and

supercomputing has evolved rapidly in the last ten years. The Internet has made informal

digital scholarly and professional communication the norm; email, listservs, and personal

web pages now provide a suite of informally administered tools2 on which scholars rely

heavily, supplementing rather than supplanting face to face communications. In addition

to this transformation of personal communications, an enormous proliferation and

transformation of formal and semi-formal digital publishing has taken place3. Formal

communications are increasingly handled in digital formats, with electronic submission

and review of journals and accelerated turn around times for publication4. Familiar tools

of scholarly communication in their digital formats are well-understood and embraced

with enthusiasm. Yet researchers face growing difficulties in navigating this expanding

universe of content. These burdens have been partly alleviated by increasingly accurate

popular free search tools (the current hands-down favorite appears to be Google at

http://www.google.com); but formidable problems remain in navigating and finding

2 E-mail, the original Internet "killer app," is ubiquitous and supported by numerous commercial as well as open source applications. Listservs, newsgroups, and electronic mailing lists support loosely affiliated communities sharing common problems and interests. They range from open to closed lists and are supported by a wide range of simple commercial or open source applications. For academics, personal web pages have become almost a requirement of doing business. They are the electronic equivalent of a business card or directory listing, but for many they also represent an unwanted maintenance problem.3 At UCSD more than half the journals subscribed to by UCSD Libraries are now available in digital editions. Electronic books are now beginning to penetrate academic as well as popular markets. Electronic preprints have largely supplanted their print predecessors; technical reports, conference papers, government reports, proposals and funding documents are widely expected to appear in electronic versions, and many are available only electronically.4 Numerous scientific professional societies, in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and other fields now accept submissions electronically and handle peer review electronically. The National Science Foundation and other federal agencies are rapidly moving to electronic proposal and review processes.

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information effectively. Scientists and professionals do not have (or do not think they

have) the time to learn how to make effective use of new information interfaces and tools,

and many rely on “tried and true” but sometimes limited or outdated techniques to

conduct research5.

SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT: At SDSC, the digital environment and the application of

computational techniques to scientific problems have encouraged an interdisciplinary

style of research and work that draws together fields such as mathematics, computer

science, chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering. The diverse scientific

backgrounds of the SDSC staff makes SDSC a kind of “university within a university”

where a researcher with a need to know something about a new discipline can in all

likelihood turn to a colleague elsewhere in the building for expert guidance.

PREVIOUS LIBRARY SERVICES AT SDSC: Until about two years ago, SDSC

supported a small special library. At one point the library occupied a large, centrally-

located office space in the main SDSC building. Staff assigned to the library included a

mix of part-time paraprofessionals and professionals. When it existed, one of the most

valued contributions of the SDSC library was its support for maintaining a database of

scientific research accomplished by people who had been given access to SDSC

resources (that is, time and space on SDSC machines). This database was occasionally

published as a bibliography, most recently in 19916, and it was last updated as a database

in fall of 1996. A small collection of publications, including manuals, newsletters,

videos, and books, was managed via a second database acting as a library catalog. After

an SDSC librarian resigned in 1998 to accept a full-time position with UCSD Libraries,

the library space was converted to badly needed office space, and its collection was put in

storage. At about this time the small hard copy collection and its catalog, and active

maintenance of the research bibliography, were all suspended.

5 It might be claimed for example that the browser wars have subsided in part because users are not willing to spend time working with unfamiliar tools such as Opera, a multi-screen browser that adds great flexibility to the small-screen web user’s experience.6 Computational Science at the San Diego Supercomputer Center: A Bibliography, July 1991. Edited by Mary Layman, SDSC Librarian.

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2. Goals of the assessment

In July 1999, the SDSC asked UCSD Libraries to provide an analysis describing what

information services SDSC might enjoy if they were to reestablish a half-time librarian

position. UCSD Libraries responded with a proposal to provide a two-part assessment.

The first part of the assessment would address the current state of SDSC information

needs, in view of recent changes in scholarly and technical communications, and the

growth of digital e-journal availability. The second part of the assessment would address

the potential for digital library research partnerships between SDSC and the UCSD

Libraries.

The primary goal of the assessment was to provide a strong foundation on which future

SDSC library and information services might be built: one informed by the variety of

staffing and service models that might be appropriate, and flexible enough to adapt and

respond to continued change brought on by rapid evolutions in digital scholarly

communication and digital libraries. The secondary goal was to establish a basis for

ongoing communications, mutual support, and co-development of digital libraries

research between the SDSC and the UCSD Libraries, in order to take advantage of

synergies between the two institutions. Most important, it was felt that this secondary

goal would provide increasing support for the primary goal by adding the many

dimensions of digital library development to the effort. Through this process, a mutual

understanding and knowledge of complementary capabilities, interests, and goals of the

two parties will be gained.

3. Methods

In March 2000, SDSC and UCSD Libraries agreed that UCSD Libraries would provide

the assessment described, and in April the project was outlined and scheduled. The plan

for the assessment consisted of the following elements:

3.1 An e-mail survey of all staff which invited their answers to a number of questions as

well as their participation in informational interviews. (Completed April 2000)

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3.2 A staff briefing, intended to provide a general update to interested staff on relevant

developments at the UCSD Libraries. (Completed April 2000)

3.3 A structured interview conducted with volunteers and a number of key informants

who were identified through the interview process (the "snowball" technique).

(Completed June 2000)

3.4 An unstructured interview combined with reactions to a model digital library

scenario, conducted with a second set of volunteers and key informants. (Completed

June 2000)

3.5 In parallel, several unstructured interviews with SDSC digital library researchers to

help elicit and explain options for digital library collaborations between UCSD

Libraries and SDSC. (Completed June 2000)

3.6 A draft report on information needs at SDSC incorporating a draft report on potential

partnerships between UCSD Libraries and SDSC, to be shared with key informants

at SDSC and UCSD Libraries. <Completed August 2000, revised September 2000, to

be shared with SDSC staff on acceptance, fall 2000>

3.7 A final summary report on information needs at SDSC, incorporating SDSC and

UCSD Libraries feedback and additional information needed in order to implement

the report's recommendations. <Draft completed September 2000 >

4. Needs Assessment

4.1 INITIAL SURVEY: A survey based on questions developed at MIT for a study of

faculty information needs was developed and sent by email to all staff at SDSC (see

appendix 1). The intent of the survey was not to gather definitive data but to help

inform the construction of the interviews to follow, as well as to solicit an initial

group of volunteers for interviews. Eight surveys were returned, and while the results

were therefore far from definitive, the results conformed well to the (later) interview

results. Among the results were indications that the most frequently used sources of

information (used at least weekly) at SDSC were:

Results of Internet searches (8)

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Known / bookmarked web sites (8) Personal contacts (7) General interest newspapers and magazines (7) Electronic journals (6) Internal SDSC databases or publications (6)

Less commonly used sources of information were:

Printed journals subscribed to personally or by SDSC (4) Books bought personally or by SDSC (4) Desk copies of manuals or handbooks (4)

Least frequently used information sources were:

Printed journals at UCSD Libraries (2) Books from UCSD Libraries (2) Preprints and technical reports (2) Conferences and proceedings (2) Workshops, courses (2) Numeric data (2) Standards (2)

The very least frequently used information source was an information specialist or

librarian, with only one respondent selecting this as a "frequent" source of

information.

The survey respondents had a number of different ideas about what information tools

they would like to have that did not exist; five indicated interest in tools to help

manage or access information about SDSC: a bibliography of SDSC published

research; a bibliography of research that benefited from SDSC resources; internal

databases at SDSC; a database of SDSC public relations information; or better access

to SDSC internal documentation. When asked to describe their ideal on-site

information facility or library, three indicated "none" - that is, they preferred

accessing information through the web rather than in an on-site facility; a fourth

commented that they wanted access to a librarian, but not to an on-site library.

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4.2 BRIEFING: On April 6, former SDSC librarian Laura Smart conducted a one-hour

briefing at the SDSC general auditorium to which all SDSC staff were invited. It was

attended by 22 staff from several different areas of the organization7. In her

presentation she emphasized access to electronic journals, an area which had

progressed rapidly in the previous two years; and also new research tools such as

cross-database search programs (Database Advisor or DBA, developed at UCSD

Libraries, and SearchLight, the California Digital Library's implementation and

adaptation of DBA). Another element of her presentation was showing how to use

the Science and Engineering Library's web site to access these and other tools and

services, including a database of selected web sites and web-based research sources.

As an unplanned but welcome follow up to this briefing, UCSD Libraries staff

involved in the assessment (Anna Gold and Laura Smart) were invited by Jay

Bouisseau, Associate Director for Scientific Computing, to provide a similar briefing

to his group at a regularly scheduled staff meeting on April 26. Anna Gold provided

a summary of the points covered by Laura Smart, and also prepared a number of

handouts and a web page with links to electronic journals and other library services

of particular interest to SDSC (appendix 2). Follow-up questions raised questions

about what options were available for borrowing and accessing materials; a number

of participants voiced the opinion that a good one-stop web site customized to

provide access to most frequently needed services and resources would be the most

useful service UCSD Libraries could provide.

4.3 NEEDS ASSESSMENT: STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS: Next, a structured set of

questions was developed (appendix 3), and appointments were arranged with five

volunteers and key informants representing a variety of functional areas at SDSC

(scientific research, outreach, scientific computing), whose tenure at SDSC ranged

from a few months to fifteen years. Two had external affiliations which involved

them in teaching responsibilities.

7 Staff who attended were from Scientific Computing, External Relations, Support Services, computational science, DICE, the Visualization Lab, and other operational and program offices.

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The first set of interview questions concerned the participants' areas of expertise:

recent changes in their field; the impact of interdisciplinarity on their field; what was

unique about their work at SDSC; their own methods for keeping current in their

field; and what the important means of peer communications were in their field.

RECENT CHANGES: A number of interviewees pointed to the impact both of

computational power and of the web as a distribution medium. On the one hand the

"web has changed everything" about the way scientific and technical

communications are transacted. A different trend has been that huge quantities of

data are now available, along with capabilities for large storage and fast processing;

yet making this data retrievable and usable remains an enormous challenge. The

growing significance of computational methods across numerous disciplines was also

noted as an important trend.

INTERDISCIPLINARITY: Among the many disciplines represented at SDSC are

numerical and applied mathematics; computer science; chemistry; biology;

environmental science; education; networking technologies; some physics; and

increasingly the social sciences and humanities. SDSC differs from the other

"leading edge" NPACI site in emphasizing the biological sciences and chemistry

where NCSA emphasizes physics.

WHAT IS UNIQUE AT SDSC: As a national resource, and because it was

administered earlier in its history by private industry (General Atomics), in the recent

past SDSC led a relatively separate existence from other UCSD campus departments

and programs. This is no longer the case: as of 1997 SDSC became an organized

research unit (ORU) of the University; at the same time, SDSC is making an effort to

become more integrated with campus research and academic life. Still, SDSC differs

from traditional research departments in important respects. SDSC has a strong

national service and outreach mission that informs the work of its scientists as well

as its computer professionals and administrative staff; the absence at SDSC of a

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degree-granting instruction program is emblematic of this difference. Another

exemplary distinction is that great deal of proposal writing is done at SDSC, often

with the assistance of experienced professional writers expert in the proposal

process; in many departments and programs, proposals are handled directly by

scientists and faculty. As a result, occasionally SDSC lends its proposal expertise to

other campus units.

KEEPING CURRENT: Regardless of their field, the first set of interviewees agreed

that keeping current in their field was difficult at best, though it could be tackled

through a combination of techniques in which personal contacts (ad hoc and at

conferences, seminars, and workshops) figured prominently. Conferences and

seminars will "never be replaced," said one, noting that face-to-face contact is

irreplaceable, and that new ideas are often evolved in these settings. Listservs,

preprints, and technical reports were considered relatively unimportant by most;

peer-reviewed journal articles fell somewhere in between face-to-face contact and

informal scholarly communications, being used principally in the context of the need

to prepare proposals or publications of their own. A principal investigator might need

to follow a few journals closely (particularly if they sat on their editorial boards);

otherwise a person might choose a few titles to follow regularly: they might

subscribe themselves, or regularly browse the publisher's web site, or sign up for a

publisher’s alert service, or sign up for a journal routing service (formerly provided

by the SDSC library). Even with these methods, "it's almost impossible" to truly keep

current in the literature of any field. One described the challenge as a continual "trial

by fire." Most conduct their own research without assistance from graduate students

or other people to whom they can delegate this work. The proliferation of electronic

journals has been a great help; most staff know they can easily locate an e-journal's

web site by using a search engine, and feel they can read more, and more easily, this

way. Other techniques cited for keeping current were subscribing to the HPC Wire

email service (a kind of electronic clipping service on high performance computing

news); regularly visiting technical or academic bookstores; or identifying an expert,

finding their leading papers, and checking out the references they cite. Still it was

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clear from the interviewees that personal contacts continue to be important to

keeping current.

LEARNING NEW FIELDS: Outside one's familiar territory, learning about a new

area or new field is something that SDSC staff must do frequently. To do so they

often turn to their colleagues within the SDSC, recognizing that a wide range of

expertise is close at hand (and not just among the scientists, but also among SDSC's

writers). In this they feel they enjoy an advantage over some of their colleagues in

more traditionally defined disciplinary research units and departments. They also use

the web to seek out information about new fields, and ask questions of contacts via

email. Yet as one informant said, the interdisciplinary nature of their work makes it

"ineffective" to use traditional databases8, and the effort required to learn about new

fields can be "overwhelming."

A second set of questions concerned how the respondents go about using and seeking

information: whether they use published or unpublished materials; article databases;

browsing; they were also asked to describe how they would go about accomplishing

a number of common information-seeking tasks.

RESOURCES USED: In addition to core professional journals, informal

publications from peer organizations or funding groups (e-prints, RFP's, reports,

technical papers) were the most frequently mentioned research materials used in

everyday work. The use of article databases was far from universal; while some

were familiar with disciplinary databases with web interfaces, several "never" used

article databases, while others were using tools that were "tried and true" (e.g. telnet

access to "Melvyl" databases that had been available for many years9). Several

8Many bibliographic databases are still broadly defined by disciplinary topic: INSPEC is used for physics, Medline for clinical biology, BIOSIS for scientific biology; SciFinder for chemistry, etc. 9 Many were still unfamiliar with the California Digital Library (CDL) as such. The Melvyl databases that can be accessed through CDL are those that are locally hosted by the CDL. Many additional bibliographic research databases are available through publisher- or third-party web interfaces.

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respondents had developed simple mechanisms for capturing search results (usually

into text or flat files) for future reference or manipulation.

ACCOMPLISHING INFORMATION TASKS: The respondents revealed an almost

unanimous dependence on a combination of personal searching on the web, and

personal contacts within the SDSC, to accomplish common information-seeking

tasks. True to this preference for working personal networks to get desired

information, several noted that they would appreciate having a personal contact

(“knowing who to call”) at the UCSD Libraries when faced with a “last resort” type

of question about accessing Library-mediated resources or services. Other

impediments to the success of usual information-seeking techniques included

frustrations with “baroque” web interfaces or unfamiliar web sites, and the difficulty

in obtaining relevant results from some web searches. Most did not think these were

problems that could be solved by UCSD Libraries.

A third set of questions was designed to elicit information about current use of

UCSD Libraries physical and electronic “portals” – book and journal stacks, and web

sites.

USE OF UCSD LIBRARIES AND WEB SITES: Most respondents were very

occasional users of UCSD Libraries : they rarely charged out books, rarely visited

any of the Libraries, and rarely used any of the Libraries’ web sites. Several had

obviously not visited the S&E Library since it's move to "Central" (the Geisel

Library building) over five years before. A common response for these interviewees

when faced with tasks such as locating the table of contents for a recent journal or

finding articles published by a colleague, was to go to a generic web search engine

and do a keyword search in hopes of finding the publisher's or colleague's web site.

ACCESS TO SDSC INFORMATION: When faced with the task of locating

information about SDSC projects, their responses varied according to their tenure at

SDSC: some knew the names of individuals likely to have institutional memories of

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these projects; more recently arrived staff simply said this would be “very, very

difficult.” When asked what library services they had found most valuable in the

past, responses included “librarians” (that is, a person to contact who could help

them) and the SDSC bibliography of research, which had been produced by the

SDSC librarians. SDSC has recently made some progress in its own information

management through implementation of a search capability on its web site

(Ultraseek); while an internal document management system (Docushare) allows

staff to share working documents.

A fourth set of questions elicited information about personal information

management systems used by the respondents; and the feasibility or value of sharing

such systems with their colleagues.

PERSONAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Most of these systems in use are

elegantly simple, and closely tailored to the needs and working styles of the

individuals: some use small filing systems or diaries; others rely on their

workstations’ file directory systems; others on a tightly edited file of web

bookmarks. While several feel that there would be some benefit to sharing their

bookmarks files with their colleagues, others question whether it would be possible

to identify resources of broad interest and application given the diversity of

information needs across the Center.

In a final set of questions the respondents were asked to assign a priority (high,

medium, or low) to a number of generic library and information services: alert

services; convenient access to library materials; research help; one-stop web access;

and better access to SDSC institutional information. The services ranked “high” by

more than one interviewee were the following:

o Desktop electronic delivery of Library-owned or ILL articles (4 High, 1

Medium)

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o Help managing or accessing SDSC-produced publications and information (3

High, 2 Medium or qualified priority by expressing concern about

maintenance)

o Alert, notification service for new web sites or library services in your area (3

High, 2 Medium)

o Alert/ notification service for new research in your discipline (3 High, 1

Medium, 1 Low)

o Pick up and delivery at SDSC of Library-owned physical materials (2 High, 2

Medium, 1 Low)

Other services that were ranked "high" by at least one interviewee were:

o Personal advice or hotline to get help using Library databases or services (1

High; 4 Medium)

o Special or custom web site for SDSC for important and useful information (1

High; 4 Medium or qualified priority by saying SDSC should already be

doing)

o Help sharing library / research recommendations with colleagues (1 High, 4

Medium or qualified priority by expressing concern this would be redundant

with existing tools)

o Alert / notification service for issues of general science publications like

Science (1 High, 3 Medium, 1 Low)

The respondents were also asked to suggest any other library or information services that

they felt would be worth developing, that had not been listed by the interviewer. Among

their suggestions were:

o Developing a capability of sharing symposia in a cross-campus archive open to

and inclusive of all UCSD departments.

o Adding an electronic reference link to the Libraries’ home page, with an

immediate “we received your email” response to improve customer satisfaction.

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4.4 NEEDS ASSESSMENT, UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS: A set of seven

unstructured interviews was then conducted with another group of SDSC personnel,

again representing a mix of administrative, outreach, scientific, and computing roles,

tenure, and location in the organization. These interviews included two staff members

whose offices were in SDSC’s off-site locations (Sequoya Hall and Chemistry Research

Building, each about 10-15 minutes walk from the SDSC main building).

The respondents were asked first to describe what they felt were ideal library or

information services in each of three categories: information system; personal expertise

and assistance; physical space and collection.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A system that was repeatedly mentioned as having high

value to SDSC was a system to track research done with SDSC computational resources.

The absence of a tracking tool was felt to be a significant gap and a “big problem;” when

asked to respond to inquiries about the impact of SDSC efforts on computational

science, there are no systematic tools available on which to base an answer. While this

is an important mission-related and administrative need, most also felt that the

compilation of such a bibliography or database had the potential of being an important

research tool, particularly if a system developed at SDSC could be extended to

incorporate citations to research done at the other NPACI sites, and / or made available

to the larger computational science community.

Having such a resource would help researchers avoid duplication and identify potential

synergies in their research, particularly in view of the highly interdisciplinary nature of

their work. One respondent felt that this effort was substantially different from the

development of library services; another felt it was a quintessential SDSC library

function. Manufacturers of hardware used at SDSC also have an interest and a stake in

resurrecting and publishing this database, and may be willing to contribute funds toward

this task. Because the NSF expects SDSC to maintain this data, they would be unlikely

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to allocate additional funds just for this task; however they might be interested in

supporting a more ambitious project encompassing citations from multiple national and

international centers of research, in anticipation of its bringing clear research benefits to

a larger community. The special value of such a tool is that most scientific publications

tend to appear in the bibliographies and databases of their disciplines, making this

research material cumbersome to locate, and reducing the opportunities to share insights,

methods, and tools across traditional disciplinary lines. As computational science

curricula and programs are developed, they are beginning to identify their own

disciplinary structure and common threads, and it was felt that a tool such as the one

proposed could be of enormous value in that effort.

The original SDSC bibliography covered not only refereed journals, but also invited

talks and meeting abstracts. Although the bibliography (and associated database) is no

longer maintained, the data on which the bibliography was based is still being collected

at SDSC by Rachel Chrisman, who as manager of operations is in charge of maintaining

SDSC’s user database10. This is significant, since many authors do not explicitly

acknowledge SDSC in the text of their publications, so that it is difficult to identify this

research except through researchers’ requests for new time allocations.

One interviewee argued that the task of tracking SDSC publications is a separate task

from that of tracking SDSC-funded or –supported research; SDSC publications can be

searched and browsed on the SDSC web site. On the other hand, the most recent

published bibliography incorporated a list of SDSC staff publications and presentations

as an appendix following its listing of scientific publications by SDSC-supported

researchers.

10 Time allocations are requested via written proposals that are supposed to contain references to research accomplished under prior SDSC time-allocations. Some proposals represent "block grants" of time that are more difficult to associate with individual pieces of research. Proposals are reviewed by the NPACI resource allocation committee; they are received and reviewed in paper, and copies of both proposals and reviews are archived by a commercial archiving firm, under contract to SDSC.

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A related suggestion concerning potential information systems that would benefit SDSC

was to develop a single access point for locating books, RFP’s, projects, laboratories,

research groups, and other information sources and "objects" in the areas of

supercomputing, networking, and various areas of computational science. The purpose

of such a system would be to link researchers together in ways that, due to the expansion

of SDSC activities, are becoming harder via informal and word-of-mouth practices.

PERSONAL EXPERTISE AND ASSISTANCE: Most interviewees acknowledged that

the current information environment invites a "self-service" approach to finding

information. One interviewee said that a personal service that might be helpful would be

to have relevant information "pushed" via journal routing. One said that regular training

on library systems and information strategies might be useful "for administrative staff"

such as administrative assistants. These would be more effective than merely sending

reminder e-mails to all staff about new or existing services. Presumably, generic

information tasks might be delegated to such staff if it was known that they were versed

in library procedures and resources. Another interviewee echoed this perception, that

while it is desirable for a scientist to conduct their own specialized searches, it would be

preferable to have someone on whom one could call for general reference, such as

biographical information needed for a meeting. Knowing the name and phone number of

someone they could call at the UCSD Libraries when they needed informed assistance

would be valuable in itself (a gap that might be simply filled by distributing a Libraries

business card to all SDSC staff!).

Still another interviewee pointed out that SDSC has never had a full-time professional

librarian on staff, but rather relied on half-time professionals assisted by trained student

assistants. Further, SDSC has never had a digital librarian (that is, one involved with

digital library developments) on staff, despite SDSC's important role in a variety of NSF-

funded and other digital library research and development projects. Without knowing

what such a person might be able to contribute to the organization, current staff may have

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difficulty judging whether the skills of a dedicated full-time professional are needed.

Both computer centers like SDSC and libraries like UCSD's are experiencing difficulty

filling positions: SDSC has several dozen openings for programmers that they can't fill;

while UCSD Libraries are experiencing high turnover and difficulty recruiting due to pay

scales that are depressed relative to the booming high tech economy in San Diego. As a

result, both organizations are keenly aware of the value added to organizations by staff, a

value that cannot be replaced by money, bricks and mortar, or machines. One

interviewee stated that it would be most valuable if a person could be identified to help

bridge the digital library efforts of the two organizations (SDSC and UCSD Libraries).

PHYSICAL SPACE: The interviewees were asked to think about what, if anything,

would be beneficial about setting up a physical space identified with library and

information services. Those who expressed the view that this would not be likely to

benefit SDSC were also asked to imagine what they would see as the best use of such a

space if it were to be established. The responses ranged widely: several stated

unequivocally that such a space - whether used as a conventional library space or as a

more informal reading room - was not important or useful. These interviewees felt there

was more value in such a space a few years ago, but that with virtually all of the research

material they need now available either as low-cost desk copies or as web-based

resources easily accessible from their offices, they saw this as a service that is no longer

needed. If such a space existed, one argued it should be created as a part of SDSC

organizational culture, and not be a space in any sense "owned" by UCSD Libraries.

Another warned against the danger of setting up any space whose identity and purpose is

not clearly embraced and understood. In the absence of this understanding, a library

space would run the risk of being reabsorbed into generic office space (particularly under

present conditions where space is at a premium).

Given the scenario that such a space existed, the general sense was that it would be most

welcome if it housed fairly generic reference tools and small reference print collections

directly related to SDSC: a collection of SDSC print publications; some general news

resources; dictionaries, maps; perhaps an organized preprint service, or display of

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preprints that might pique attention. The strongest case for establishing a physical library

might be as a physical marker for the intent to achieve the goals of all libraries: whether

digitally or otherwise. An interviewee pointed out that the development of digital

libraries serves to underscore the still powerful role of social interactions within a shared

knowledge environment. These enrich research and build community, and a physical

library identified with the work of collecting, sharing, and using knowledge objects has

an important place in any active research organization11.

DIGITAL LIBRARY SCENARIOS: In the next part of the unstructured interviews, the

respondents were read a list describing a number of digital library modules and

capabilities, and asked to say whether these sounded as though they would be useful

within the SDSC environment. Each of these modules was part of an actual integrated

web-based digital library system developed and implemented at the CERN Library12.

After answering, the interviewees were shown the live web interface for the CERN

Library site, so that they could better visualize how similar services developed for SDSC

might work.

The modules described were as follows:

A. “WebLib II”. A web interface to search and browse multimedia collection of working documents (e-prints), books, periodicals, photos, videos (including webcasts via RealVideo), press cuttings, all related to the work at CERN. (see Figure 2)

B. “Conversion Server”. A file conversion service to convert different file formats on demand.

11 This need has been met at UCSD in a variety of ways by different research units and academic departments. For example, the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CASS) has provided a small library of core journals and books for its staff in an attractive, central setting adjacent to laboratories and to a lounge area (the Marlar Library, http://casswww.ucsd.edu/marlar/). The Physics Department has a small reading room accessed by key, used to store selected core journals on site. The Center for Magnetic Recording Research serves both local and remote corporate clientele through its small collections and active reference service in its library, with the support of two half-time permanent library staff.12 The CERN Library system interface can be viewed at: http://weblib.cern.ch/ ; the CERN Document System interface can be seen at: http://cds.cern.ch/ ; a set of talks about the modules of both systems can be found at: http://documents.cern.ch/conf/cern/ .

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C. “Scanning Service”: Interface where users can arrange for paper documents to be scanned and converted. Recharge service.

D. “Electronic Document Submission”. A web interface to capture metadata and transfer documents from author to document server. Capable of handling many document types, version control, distribution to limited lists; approval routing, etc. Document types include locally produced preprints, open documents, notes, theses, photos, videos, exhibition objects; administrative documents; “external” preprints, photos, books, articles in proceedings, etc. Includes adding “scientific notes” to articles or preprints. (see Figure 1)

E. “Setlink” link manager: tool to manage storing of web addresses and extraction or concatenation of document “parts”, and do on the fly format conversions.

F. Agenda Maker/Conference manager: tool to manage web agendas of meetings and conferences. Include document conversion, handling transparencies, minutes, etc.

G. Distributed search (targeted “spider”) across heterogeneous <computational science> web servers.

H. “My Library” interface supporting “My Search” profile storing; “Your Shelf” of items from CERN library; loan account management;

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FIGURE 1: CERN DOCUMENT “SUBMIT” INTERFACE

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FIGURE 2: CERN WEBLIB INTERFACE

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This interviewees’ response to this part of the unstructured interviews was consistently

enthusiastic about two modules in particular: the WebLib interface (module A) and the

Electronic Document Submission interface (module D). One commented that services

like these seemed to represent “a new level” of library service. Other comments were

that these would be “helpful and interesting;” “a handy thing;” “most useful; exactly what

we had hoped to create”; “very high priority;” “SDSC has this need;” “this would be very

valuable.” Some expressed high enthusiasm, but some implementation concerns, among

them ensuring that incentives existed to deposit materials centrally and / or systems

existed that could automatically gather materials from distributed sources. Several

mentioned the coincidence of these services with previous efforts or existing systems

without the full flexibility and functionality evident in the CERN systems. For example,

there has long been interest at SDSC in creating a searchable interface to media clips,

images, and visualization files; there are analogous systems in place to manage the

deposit of data for archiving, associated with the DICE data curation projects. SDSC’s

Docushare document sharing system provides some of the functionality of the

“Electronic Document Submission” module, but only for the internal organization

(intranet) and not as the infrastructure to support an archive or library (whether internal or

external). Another observed that a document system like this might work better in a

research environment like CERN’s where, despite a wide range of disciplinary interests,

there was also a clear convergence on the core research area of high- energy physics.

Regarding the other modules, opinions varied much more. The Setlink manager was not

well understood (either by the interviewer or interviewees!), contributing to the

somewhat neutral response. Most felt that the Conversion Server might be quite helpful

to other campus departments, could be useful at SDSC, but was not vital given the

convergence of file formats and the prevalence of technical knowledge sufficient to

manage conversions as needed. A similar response was received for the Scanning

Service: the sense was that this would be “pretty useful” but probably only on occasion,

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reflecting in part the tendency of SDSC staff to deal primarily with documents already in

digital formats.

The response to the Agenda Maker / Conference Planner was more skeptical, in part

because it was felt commercial off the shelf software exists to help with such tasks

(SDSC already uses an electronic calendaring tool called Meeting Maker); and in part

because it was hard to envision how this module would interface with (or be used to

populate) an archive or library. If such a module existed and it made conferencing easier

at SDSC, “it might be useful.”

Module G offered a spider or web search capability, but focused on a pre-selected set of

known web servers whose content was thought to be of particular utility and interest at

SDSC. Although interesting, several interviewees doubted that it would be used with

confidence by staff, given the difficulty of identifying a common set of web sites and

topics equally valuable to all of SDSC’s diverse scientific, administrative, and

computational interests. One suggested that the capability would be more useful if each

group at SDSC had the capability of configuring it for their own interests.

Finally, the customizable “My Library” interface elicited the least enthusiasm from the

interviewees, some of whom described it as a “frill,” or “trivial,” though at least two

others thought it might be useful. Again, in the absence of an existing SDSC digital

library, it may be harder to envision how a user might want to customize the interface for

their personal use.

4.5 RESEARCH COLLABORATION: UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

METHOD: Interviewees in both the structured and unstructured interviews were asked

to suggest whether there were research projects at SDSC with the potential for assisting

them with their information needs. Following up on their suggestions, separate

interviews were conducted with four researchers at SDSC who were engaged in the

research efforts that had been mentioned, including work of the Data-Intensive

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Computing Environments (DICE) research group; and a number of scientific

“workbench” environments building large or small integrated research portals where

data, tools, and analysis could be worked with interactively by researchers and students.

DICE: This group associated with NPACI is lead by Reagan Moore of SDSC. Their

work has taken a lead nationally in efforts to provide a common framework of analysis

across disparate data structures. Their work has also been distinguished by its

programmatic integration: using XML and advanced computer architecture, Moore's

group has developed tools to curate and provide access, navigation, display, and

archiving for extremely large collections of data.

WORKBENCHES: Other SDSC research efforts with some relevance were the

development of discipline- or task-specific portals and electronic “workbenches”

providing both information and a platform for interactivity. Two separate "workbench"

projects now in place at SDSC include the Biology Workbench, brought from NCSA to

SDSC by Shankar Subramaniam; and the Sociology Workbench, developed by Ilya

Zaslavsky (now at SDSC), while he was at San Diego State University.

The Biology Workbench developers are in discussions with the DICE group regarding

the potential for generalizing the tool using XML, and also creating a Chemistry

Workbench. The Protein Data Bank (PDB), Michael Gribskov's work on linking

biological data with Medline literature, a Biodiversity portal, and a possible new initiative

to develop an earthquake engineering portal, are some examples. One important impact

of these and similar efforts is a kind of deep restructuring of research literature, which it

seems may have fundamental effects on how literature is used in various contexts

(disciplinary, research, instruction at different levels). This in turn has important impacts

on the structures entrenched in many decades of library practices (e.g. the differentiation

between monographs and articles, the reliance on book indexes, tables of contents,

abstracts, and header information to add structure to the literature, catalog records to

provide indicators of relevance and appropriate audience, the need to locate reviews or

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personally browse materials in place in order to establish the potential relevance of

literature to specific problems or tasks, etc.).

The Sociology Workbench was developed at San Diego State University (SDSU) under

the direction of Ilya Zaslavsky, a specialist in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The tool was written mostly in C and Java by undergraduates at SDSU, and is “a very

simple tool” that allows people to analyze any survey data online. Although the flagship

data used in the tool is the General Social Survey data, actually data can reside in any

location accessible by FTP: the tool can grab just the data for the variables in which the

researcher is interested. Under consideration now is a generalization of the tool would

require setting up procedures for upkeep, developing a different architecture to support

uniform query and extraction; it would probably depend on XML encoding of the data (a

standard being developed by the Data Documentation Initiative or DDI).

The workbench architecture not only reflects, but also supports an even deeper

transformation of research, as noted by Biology Workbench developer Shankar

Subramaniam. In the workbench architecture, data that are inherently complex and

heterogeneous can be brought together without imposing familiar categories. "The new

approach is much more Baconian: to let the data and its patterns begin to dictate the way

in which Nature will be carved at the joints. New categories will be the result of an

inductive process. I would like to see 'induction' of this sort running like a daemon in the

background on all the biological databases. Then we can take the sequences, maps, gels,

and the myriad representations of our knowledge and produce a common universe of

discourse."13

SIO WORKBENCH? Another suggestion was that a UCSD digital library development

should leverage the campus strength as a world leader in oceanography and biology.

Since both SDSC and UCSD Libraries have an interest in developing a digital library

program relating to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this in turn suggests that a

workbench-like project in this area might be a promising area of collaboration. 13 Online, 1999, http://www.npaci.edu/online/v3.22/shankar.html, " Complexity, Richness and Challenge: Shankar Subramaniam Joins UCSD/SDSC".

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In discussions with four SDSC researchers deeply involved in different digital library

projects, it was very clear that from their perspective, they are in the process of inventing

a digital library program that encompasses the full range of library functions, from

identification and collection, to adding navigational and contextual value, to integration

and federation of resources across space and time; to persistence and archiving. To miss

the opportunity to benefit from the remarkable commonality of interest between these

two institutions would be most unfortunate.

5. Analysis of Findings:

GENERAL: The interview findings underscored that current information habits of SDSC

staff are to rely heavily on two sources of information: first, personal interactions with

colleagues at SDSC and in the field; and second, any and all sources accessible through

the web. The majority experience a high demand on their information skills, brought

about in part by the rapid changes in technology and also by the pace of scientific change

and the trend toward multidisciplinary research. They experience the information

environment as overwhelming for the limited time they have available to spend in

research and information-seeking, factors which lead them to focus their information

searching very tightly on those subject they can filter and evaluate quickly using their

own expertise or the expertise of their peers.

PREFERRED INFORMATION SERVICES: Their information preferences

corresponded closely to their information practices, emphasizing the desire for two things

above all: first, known individuals with information expertise, to whom they could

turn as they do to other colleagues on those occasions when they need expert advice and

don’t have the time to learn a new set of skills that they are unlikely to use frequently;

and second, an integrated and clearly focused digital library system where they could

easily gain access (and contribute) to a living body of documentation and source

materials relevant to the core work and impact of their organization. The latter is

considered essential to the mission of the SDSC and was the most strongly supported

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recommendation among the interviewees. The primary concern expressed was that if the

implementation was to acquire and retain both authority and usefulness, even beyond the

immediate community of the Center, it would also need to be administratively robust:

that is, it would need strong policy support from SDSC managers.

A third need that was strongly expressed was for alert services that would serve two

important functions: first, such services would help them keep current with literature and

developments (including new information tools) in their areas of interest; and second,

alert services would provide some facsimile of the serendipitous experience of browsing

in a physical library. One successful alert service used by some interviewees is

HPCwire, an e-mail delivered electronic clipping service focused on high performance

computing14. The weekly headlines cover feature stories about staff changes, new

funding, and scientific breakthroughs, as well as conference announcements, commercial

developments, and job ads. However, other interviewees expressed doubt that any single

alert service could adequately serve the wide ranging interests and needs of the SDSC

scientists, programmers, and administrators.

Some interviewees felt strongly that a fourth need was for a physical space dedicated

specifically to supporting the knowledge environment at SDSC would be important to

mark the commitment of the organization to this goal, and would acquire an ongoing

value for the organization, based on the experience of other University departments and

research centers. The importance of this space was not, primarily, to house physical

collections or machines, but rather was envisioned as a space that would support the

human interactions needed to build SDSC's knowledge environment. In the age of the

digital library, this “human” or social space has remained an important element even

while the need for physical collections has diminished significantly. In many research

and educational organizations, the library can and does serve as a natural focus for

important informal community interactions, even while digital library collections have

begun to dominate traditional printed materials as a primary research source. Still, many 14 HPC Wire, "The Text-on-Demand E-zine for High Performance Computing. Subscription information available from sub@hpcwire.tgc.com; trial subscription available from trial@hpcwire.tgc.com.

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interviewees warned that the need for physical space was offset both by the insatiable

demand for adequate office space and by changes in how they and others like them now

seek information: they feel they would be very unlikely to take advantage of such a space

and warn that a space would need unambiguous definition and unwavering management

support in order to function successfully.

Fifth, there were several more limited services that many interviewees felt would be

helpful additions to the existing suite of library and information services enjoyed now.

Among these were electronic desktop delivery of print journal articles or book chapters

held by UCSD Libraries (a service called Avanti, that is currently provided to the School

of Natural Sciences and Scripps Institution of Oceanography); specifically, color

capability was mentioned as a worthwhile addition to this service because of the

importance of color particular to biologists and chemists. Another service mentioned was

some kind of regular program of training or demos at SDSC for interested SDSC staff,

to help them keep up to speed on new databases and services. Another service mentioned

was the creation of a one-stop SDSC library “portal.” There was some disagreement

about this idea, with some regarding this function as being better served either by the

existing S&E Library web page, or by the SDSC web site, or both. It is also possible that

an SDSC online library / bibliography system might serve this need.

Finally, the several interviewees - particularly those involved in research projects -

agreed that there is a clear and present need to establish ongoing research-oriented

interactions between the SDSC and UCSD Libraries, in order to further the agendas of

both organizations. Many suggestions were made; one was that UCSD Libraries

personnel could work with SDSC to provide physical space at UCSD Libraries where

SDSC research portals might be used by researchers in a research library setting.

Appropriate equipment and software would be required, but also human assistance in

advising researchers about the appropriate and effective use of these new integrated

research environments.

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Another suggestion was that a UCSD Libraries programmer could be identified to

collaborate with SDSC Biology Workbench developers on generalizing research

workbenches. This might ensure that SDSC developments could reflect the needs and

capabilities of the Libraries’ clientele15.

7. Recommendations:

In current research about the impact of digital libraries on traditional libraries, the phrase

"hybrid" libraries often occurs, signifying the belief that students, researchers, and

libraries will continue to demand, and interact with, an information environment in which

conventional print media and "digital" media coexist. The findings of this study indicate

that the notion of what is hybrid about a digital library of the future might need to be

revised. There is a strong sense - one might also call it an expectation - among these

interviewees that nearly all the information sources they use and need will migrate to the

web. They have respect for a small subset of printed documentation, but tend to see such

items as personal (desk copies, favorite books, personal subscriptions to magazines), and

only in very restricted cases, as candidates for sharing through a library (the interviewees

mentioned atlases, dictionaries, and generic reference tools whose conventional formats

still made them more usable than their digital counterparts). Rather, the two basic

components of hybrid libraries of the future in these interviewees' minds were the digital

and the human. The views of these interviewees thus unconsciously echo a statement

made many years ago by Edward Feigenbaum, a paraphrase of which goes: "The library

of the future will be a place where computers and humans collaborate." These views also

resonate strongly with those of John Seely Brown of Xerox PARC, as expressed in his

15 Another area where SDSC staff voiced and interest in collaboration with UCSD Libraries was in the area of interface design and usability; a specific project where UCSD Libraries has been invited to collaborate is the interface design for the AMICO art museum images project. UCSD Libraries had identified an art information specialist to work on this project, but the collaboration is not active at this time. The ad hoc and isolated nature of this collaboration has no doubt contributed to its lack of success to date, and underscores the need for a more programmatic approach to such collaborations. A more successful collaboration has been the Chinese-Language Digital Library, in which SDSC has implemented its large data storage and retrieval architecture to manage and provide access to a collection of potentially terabyte size. See Online, http://www.npaci.edu/online/PRDLA.html for more information.

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1995 essay with Paul Duguid, “The Social Life of Documents.”16 In this essay, Brown

draws attention to the instrumental role documents have always played, as objects that

help people negotiate relations between each other and in their communities.

The challenge of this study therefore is to recommend actions and projects that, when

implemented, will contribute to the development of an extensible model for a hybrid

digital-human library, one in which participation in an individual research community is

supported by and represented by extensible digital systems. It is important to underscore

that the underlying recommendation of this report is that the development of digital

library services, and the digital library research collaboration, be understood as one effort

with several parts.

Specific parts of this effort would initially include the following commitments:

1. SDSC DIGITAL LIBRARY / BIBLIOGRAPHY: Establish a joint UCSD

Libraries – SDSC team to develop a proposal and implementation plan for

creating a CERN-like system for depositing and curating a collection of citations,

documents, and media objects representing both the work of SDSC staff, and the

work of researchers resulting from their use of SDSC resources, with the

expectation of extending the bibliography to encompass work of researchers at

other supercomputing and computational science centers. The CERN Library staff

have already been contacted concerning the possibility of reusing their software,

and in reply have expressed willingness to collaborate on a project to adapt their

system design to the SDSC environment.

2. SDSC LIAISON: Identify a UCSD Libraries staff member to serve as an on-

going liaison to the SDSC for personal information consultations, regular

demonstrations, and to take the lead in developing the SDSC Digital Library /

Bibliography. This effort would be undertaken as a short-term (approximately

16 John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, “The Social Life of Documents,” 1995. http://www.parc.xerox.com/ops/members/brown/papers/sociallife.html. Also published in Release 1.1, October 11, 1995, and First Monday, May 1996.

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one-year) project, with a matching commitment of staffing and time by the SDSC.

These individuals could share a designated office space at SDSC, with the

expectation that they would also work to define and plan for an eventual physical

space dedicated to supporting the SDSC information environment.

3. CONVERSION AND MIGRATION SERVICES: Another recommendation is

that services and systems be developed to help with the migration of significant

research content to the web.

3.1 PRINT TO DIGITAL: The expectation that important information will be

available on the web is one that can be fulfilled in many ways, and with the

exception of the irreplaceable element of human interaction, this is an expectation

that is better served by fulfilling it than by fighting it! Fulfilling this expectation

does not necessarily require comprehensive retrospective digitization, although

many publishers and some consortia are taking that approach. The UCSD service

that offers printed documentss in digital format on demand (Avanti) is an existing,

appropriate service to bridge the digital-print divide. It is recommended that

Avanti document delivery services be extended to all SDSC affiliates, to begin

Fall Quarter 2000, on a one-year trial basis. The cost of this service based on

existing business models at the Science & Engineering Library would be modest,

probably less than $2000 per year.

3.2 VIDEO IN THE DIGITAL LIBRARY: This recommendation follows from

the widespread sense that personal interactions in workshops, conferences, and

seminars, represent invaluable resources for researchers. It is recommended that

video files (analog, webcast) be collected and converted to streaming digital

formats in order to provide an asynchronous opportunity for SDSC researchers to

participate as listeners or observers. The potential impact of extending this model

across the campus would make this especially interesting, in view of the many

seminars and talks and symposia taking place at UCSD, and SDSC's interest in

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developing substantive research contacts with other ORU's and departments on

the campus17.

3.3 ONLINE MEDIATION OF PERSONAL INTERACTIONS: A different kind

of "bridge" service is one that links people digitally. A recommendation is to

provide access to the SDSC library liaison via a live web interface, with or

without video, during real-time virtual office hours. (More elaborate, and

intrusive, web-based reference systems were not viewed favorably by the several

interviewees to whom this type of interface was described.) This service might

provide impromptu personal interaction for staff who otherwise would tend not to

pick up the phone or leave their workspace in their office. A virtual library space

(chat room) might even be developed, allowing for library-like social interactions

between SDSC staff. Tables of contents for journals, and lists of newly received

preprints might be available for browsing in this space, and others browsing the

same materials could be co-present and engage in conversations.

4. RESEARCH DISCUSSIONS: It is recommended that the UCSD Libraries and

SDSC agree to initiate an ongoing program of information exchange between

applications developers, researchers, and administrators about digital library

developments. Examples of events in such a program are to:

UCSD Libraries include SDSC digital library researchers as panelists, co-

hosts, or guests, at presentations and visits by speakers invited by UCSD

Libraries Digital Libraries Innovation Team (DLIT).

UCSD Libraries invite SDSC digital library researchers to make

presentations to UCSD Libraries administration, DLIT, or seminars to

campus faculty are also invited.

17 The opportunity to stream video presentations of seminars and lectures has been implemented with success at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI); NCSA has been at the forefront of interactive distance education using video and webcasts. The CERN Library interface also offers organized access to research seminars and lectures delivered with streaming media.

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UCSD Libraries invite comment and evaluation by SDSC researchers on

the UCSD Libraries digital library program.

Administrators and digital library researchers at SDSC and UCSD

Libraries meet quarterly to inventory and assess potential areas of

collaboration, including jointly seeking outside funding for identified

projects of mutual interest.

5. RESEARCH EXCHANGE: It is recommended that SDSC and UCSD Libraries

identify opportunities for short-term staff exchanges, for the purpose of collaborating

on identified digital library projects. The initial area of collaboration recommended is

the development of the CERN-like digital library and archive. Another promising

potential area for collaboration is in workbench development, perhaps in support of

the oceanography research community at SIO (see above).

6. COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AT UCSD LIBRARIES: A final

recommendation is that UCSD Libraries and SDSC work to establish a functional

presence for SDSC in a mainstream library setting where faculty and students could

be exposed to the research tools being made available by SDSC researchers: a

scientific “Informatics Lab”. This functional presence might be combined with a

recent proposal that the bioinformatics graduate program be found temporary space in

the S&E Library.

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8. Appendixes

(1) email survey

(2) web site developed for Boisseau group meeting

(3) structured survey questions

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Information Practices and Needs at SDSC: Please return this survey by April 15:

o electronically: survey@scilib.ucsd.eduo by campus mail: Anna Gold, attn. SDSC survey, S&E

Library, mailcode 0175Eo in person: bring your filled-out surveys to the briefing on

April 6

1.  What kinds of information do you use at least weekly? (check all that apply)

__ personal contacts (email, in person, by phone)__ general interest newspapers or magazines (NYT, Science, Nature)__ printed journals that I subscribe to or that SDSC subscribes to__ printed journals at UCSD library__ electronic journals__ manuals / handbooks / directories in my office__ internal SDSC databases or publications / reports__ conferences and proceedings__ workshops, courses__ books from the UCSD library__ books that I buy or SDSC buys__ listservs or newsgroups__ results from Internet searches__ known / bookmarked web sites__ information specialists / intermediaries / librarians__ preprints, technical reports__ numeric data__ standards

2.  What information tool(s) do you wish for that you don't currently have? (e.g., database, book, application...)

3.  What information service(s) do you wish for that you don't currently have? (e.g., information delivery option, analysis service, alert service....)

4.  What would be your ideal in-house database (and interface)?

5. Describe your your ideal on-site information facility / library.

6. What references (including manuals, books, journals) would you like on site at SDSC that are not currently there?

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7. Would you be willing to participate in a 30-minute informational interview about your information use and needs? YES ___ NO ____ If yes, please give your name and we'll contact you to set up a convenient time: _____________________________

Thank you for your participation.

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Original page at: http://library.ucsd.edu/~anna/sdsc.html

Science and Engineering Library Libraries Portal preview (functional) Libraries Portal preview (graphical) Computer science journals via Portal search serials in Roger Some serial titles: Computer (IEEE) Computing in Science & Engineering Fortran Forum (ACM): not online Journal of Supercomputing Journal of Computational Physics Journal of Computational Chemistry Physics Today: partial contents online NCSA's Access Newsletter EnVision Article databases: multi-database search: SearchLight Compendex (engineering) INSPEC (physics, computer science) SciFinder (chemistry) Biosis, Medline, PubMed (biology) Web of Science and Current Contents (all areas of science; citation searching) Academic Universe and Investext (business) Technical reports & preprints: NCSTRL; LANL Dissertations (includes UC full text from 1996) & theses Reference: directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks Gale's Directory of Associations Books in Print Community of Science (expertise, grants) Books: from UCSD but also from SDSU and other local SD libraries via Circuit Request books to be delivered to IRPS (or other UCSD) Library Activate your library card (UCSD ID) and manage your own library account (renew items etc.)

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SDSC INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: version May 17 2000

(for all)My first questions are about you and your role at SDSC and UCSD:

1. Where are you in the SDSC organization chart? main functional groups:

*executive*operational*outreach and education*science and research*science and teaching*computer/networking support (experiment, teaching)

2. How long have you been affiliated with SDSC?

3. Do you have another "home" department at UCSD (in which you teach, where you conduct research, where you serve on committees, etc.)?

(For SDSC scientists):

My next questions are about your special area of expertise:

1. What do you consider your field or fields of expertise?

2. How has your field (fields) changed in the last five years? What are some of its current trends?

3. What disciplines are involved in your field?

4. How would you describe the differences between your discipline and how it is practiced here, and at:

other UCSD unitssimilar research centers (and what are they? NCSA....)

5. What is the importance in your field of:seminarsjournal articlespreprints and tech. reportslistservspersonal contacts

6. What/when do you publish? where are you most likely to publish? how and with whom do you share your work and at what points in the research cycle?

7. Who are the leaders in your field (and where are they)?

8. Do you have graduate students / research assistants with whom you work?

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9. What is your perspective on your discipline: its structure, subfields?

10. How do you go about learning a new area in your field? a branch of your field? another field?

11. How do you keep current in your field? in the literature?

12. How does the interdisciplinary nature of your field of research affect how you find information?

13. How often do you find yourself needing to come up to speed in a new area?

(for all)My next questions have to do with how you find and use information generally:

1. What types of published and unpublished materials do you use most often?

2. Do you use article databases?*no: why not?*yes: which ones? when? do you get frustrated or are you satisfied with your skills in using them?

3. Do you capture the results of your searches electronically?no: why not? would this be helpful to you?yes: how? is this helpful to you?

4. Do you ever browse? what do you browse? where? how frequently? Is this helpful? why?

5. Do you ever delegate information gathering? If so, for what types of information? to whom? is this successful?

6. Do you subscribe to listservs? which are important and valuable to you?

7. Who or what would you go to if you needed:

a phone number or email for a researcher at another institution an article recently published in the Journal of Computational Physics some background or recent research relating to a presentation you'd

attended dates and names associated with work that had been done here at SDSC help troubleshooting a program you're writing literature search to help justify a grant proposal you're writing

8. What are your major annoyances or irritants in finding or using information? could any of these be addressed by a library/cybrary or librarian/cybrarian?

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(for all)My next questions have to do with how and when you use libraries or library services now:

1. Do you have any library books charged out now?

2. Do you ever go physically to any of the UCSD libraries? which ones? how often?

3. Is there any UCSD library web page that you use regularly? which one(s)?

4. Is there any other (non UCSD) library or library web page that you use regularly?

5. In your career, has there been a library or library service you particularly liked to use or that you particularly appreciated? why?

6. Would you mind telling or showing me how you would:

renew your books (if you have any checked out) scan the table of contents for the current issue of Science magazine? find articles published recently in a journal important in your field? find articles written by a new colleague? find a book review for a recent book? borrow a book from SDSU?

(for all)My next set of questions has to do with your own or SDSC information resources and expertise:

1. Do you keep any files or lists for your own reference? (e.g. files of article reprints, collections of books, databases of references, etc.)

2. If you could share access to them, would any of these be useful to others at SDSC?

3. Are you aware of any research projects or applications developed at SDSC that could be applied to help improve the SDSC information environment or services? (prompt: Biological Workbench; FACSNET; DICE/MIX)

4. Do you maintain a bookmarks file on your web browser, or another list of useful information links? Would you be willing to send the most important to me?

5. Are there core books or classic journal articles in your field? Would you be willing to provide a list of these?

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(for all)My last set of questions have to do with library services at/for SDSC:

1. Could you place a priority (high, medium low) on each of the following:

ALERT SERVICES/KEEPING CURRENT:

A. Alert, notification service for new research in your disciplineB. Alert, notification service for issues of general science pubs like ScienceC. Alert, notification service for new web sites or library services in your area

CONVENIENT ACCESS:D. Pick-up and delivery at SDSC of Library-owned physical materialsE. Desktop electronic delivery of Library-owned or ILL physical articles

(Avanti)

RESEARCH HELP:F. Personal advice / hotline to get help using Library databases or services

(e.g. webline mediated reference or “House calls” to help you get started)G. Personal advice to provide full-service research assistance (conduct web

or database searching for you)H. Recommendations or help managing your own information once you

locate it.

ONE-STOP / FILTERED WEB ACCESS:I. Special / custom web site for SDSC for important and useful information

BETTER “DATA-MINING” of SDSC INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY, EXISTING RESOURCES:J. Mechanism for sharing library / research recommendations with colleagues

(mini book reviews etc.)K. Help managing or accessing SDSC-produced publications and information

OTHER SERVICE OR PROJECT NOT MENTIONED:

IMPORTANT: WHO ELSE SHOULD I BE INTERVIEWING?