Services

Libraries play a pivotal role in enabling open practices and digital innovation and fostering an environment where information is accessible, collaborative, and transparent. Below are several services and help we provide to contribute to Open and Digital Research:

How we Help

Support for Open Practice

Libraries play a pivotal role in enabling open practice and fostering an environment where information is accessible, collaborative, and transparent. Open Practice is an activity that cuts across all Open and Digital Research, and newer areas that we offer advice and guidance on are open research workflows, open peer review, pre-registration, pre-prints, engaging the public and involving citizens in research, open code and code management, but overall focusing on reproducibly and research integrity.

Benefits 

• Community support and engagement at each stage of your research helps you to reflect on it and improve your work iteratively.
• Increased visibility of your work can lead to new academic collaborations and more citations.
• Licencing your work for reuse and remixing makes it more sustainable and allows other researchers to build on it, particularly those who can’t afford commercial journal subscriptions.
• By fostering a culture of research integrity, we enhance the impact of our research and innovation and sustainability.

Best Practices 

Consider making your work more reliable, robust, rigorous, and transparent as you plan, conduct, and evaluate your research. Components of open practice may include:  

• Pre-registration for hypotheses and methodologies  
• Informed consent to make research data as open as possible (link to Uni data protection)
• Co-production of study design  
• Engaging members of the public through citizen science  
• Open code for computational reproducibility 
• Open peer review 
• Open publishing 

Key Services 

• Consultations on how to embed open practice in project proposals at the planning stage 
• Training and workshops  
• Facilitating networks to build communities in Galway and beyond (see below) 

Read the Library Guide on Open Practice

Contact: Jen Smith, Open Research Librarian

Research Skills Training and Support (Databases, Finding Information, and Workshops)

The Research Services Librarian provides a range of training and other supports for research staff and students:

• GS530 Graduate Research and Information Skills Module for structured PhD students  
• The Researcher workshop series details the full range of training from Library staff and database providers to support research, including open research, research data management, and digital research. 
• Self-directed guides: 
  • EndNote 
  • Literature review 
  • Managing your research profile 
  • Scopus guide 
  • Starting your research at the University of Galway Library 
  • Systematic Reviews 
  • Web of Science guide 
• Customised training for research groups 
• One-to-one consultations. Please review the self-directed guides before your consultation. The Research Services Librarian can better assist you if you have some prior experience with database searching.
  • Starting your research
  • Conducting a literature review  
  • Managing your references 
  • Conducting a systematic review, scoping review, rapid review and other types of evidence-based research 
• Researcher Workshops
  • The Researcher workshop series covers finding information, research methods, data management, open publishing, and digital research.

READ MORE?

Contact: Rosie Dunne, Research Services Librarian, Phone: 091-495961

Digital Research and Innovation (Projects)

Our Digital Research and Innovation services provide advanced research project support for creating, analysing, and disseminating digital content.

Benefits

• Increased research impact.
• Enhanced efficiency, innovation, and partnering.

Examples

• Successful digital archiving and text analysis projects.
• Collaborative digital research initiatives.

Best Practices

• Ensuring data accuracy and integrity in digital projects.
• Using open-source tools and platforms for sustainability.

Key Services

• Content Support includes data extraction, processing and enrichment, including OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or HTR (Handwritten Text Recognition). 
• Project Support offers assistance with project management, partnership facilitation, community building, and funding/budget planning.
• Innovation Support enhances efficiency and impact by guiding the integration of digital tools into research workflows.

Examples and Resources

• Imirce Irish emigrant letters and memoirs
• An Gaodhal is the first Irish-language newspaper ever published.
• Tim Robinson's townland index for Connemara and the Aran Islands

Contact: Oksana Dereza, Digital Library Developer. Booking a consultation is required.

Digital Publishing Platforms

The Library maintains open and digital publishing platforms for locally created research outputs, digital projects, digital exhibitions, and open educational content.

Benefits

• Wide and free accessibility, visibility, and preservation.
• Support open research and practice, publishing, education, and diverse collections.

Repository platforms

• The Research Repository stores and provides access to the University of Galway's research outputs, such as academic publications, data, and PhD theses. The library also provides Taught Theses submission, storage, and access submitted by students.
• The Digital Collections and Digital Archives repository provides access to the University of Galway archives and special collections of written and printed historical records, early periodicals, theatre archives, maps, photography, and other primary research materials.
• The Library hosts the University’s digital exhibitions showcasing the collections, projects, and archives.
• Open Press and Open Educational Resources (OER) provides a platform for creating and publishing free teaching and learning materials.

READ MORE? Link to resources section of website

Contact: Oksana Dereza, Digital Library Developer. Booking a consultation is required.

Research Data Management (RDM, DMP)

Effective data management is crucial for successful research. We provide information, advice and training to help you responsibly manage, store, and share your research data.

Benefits

• Improved data quality and reusability.
• Increased efficiency, collaboration, and preservation.
  

Best Practices

• Adhering to FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
• Regularly updating data management plans to reflect ongoing research developments.

Key Services

• Data Management Plans assists with creating your Data Management Plans (DMPs) tailored to your research needs.
• Training and Workshops provide regular sessions on best practices in data management, including FAIR principles, documentation, metadata, and finding and sharing data.

Resources

• Argos and DMPonline are helpful tools for creating your Data Management Plan.
• Access to online and in-person training sessions.
• University of Galway Research Data Management

Read the Library Guide on Research Data Management

Contact: Trish Finnan, Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Phone: 091-495961

Data Tools and Data Services (Using Data in Research)

The Library guides students and researchers who want to incorporate new data methods, tools, and technologies into their projects. Our team helps evaluate which tool or technology will meet your objectives and points you to the relevant resources and guidelines.

Benefits

• Expert guidance and skill development.
• Resource access and enhanced research quality.

Key services

• Data Collection & Modelling
  • Data Collection guidance on web scraping and using tools like Google Forms.
  • Data Preprocessing assistance with OCR and OpenRefine for data cleaning.
  • Linked Data advice for linked data management.
• Data Analysis
  • Advice on Natural Language Processing technologies and Text and Data Mining corpus tools.
  • Data Visualisation guidance on MS Excel, Tableau, Gephi, Dash, and Shiny.
  • Programming Languages & Tools information on Python, R, and Git.
  • Assistance with Machine Learning methods and tools.
  • Advice on fair use of AI Tools for literature search, coding and writing assistance, and creating visuals.
• Workshop and webinars
  • The Library regularly organises workshops and webinars on the aforementioned topics.
  • We also provide access to past workshops & webinars [SP site in discussion with Jen, bring in Oksana]

READ MORE, link to AI tools and Digital Tool libguides

Contact: Oksana Dereza, Digital Library Developer. Booking a consultation is required.

Open Publishing (Making your Publications Open Access, Research Repository, Green, APC)

We support Open Access to maximise the visibility and impact of your research. We focus on open publishing through the green route, which involves depositing a version of your research in an open repository, making it freely accessible while complying with publisher policies.

Benefits

• Increased research visibility and citation rates.
• Compliance with funder mandates.

Best Practices

• Depositing research outputs in open repositories.
• Use Open Access publishing options and Open Practice whenever possible.

Key Services

• Repository Support assists in depositing your work in the institutional repository, University of Galway Research Repository, ensuring compliance with publisher policies and funder mandates.
• Policy Guidance provides information on publisher policies regarding self-archiving and how to navigate them effectively.
• Open Access Compliance ensures your research outputs meet the requirements of funders and institutions for open access.
• Publishing Support gives guidance on publishing in Open Access commercial journals and repositories.
• Negotiations and Deals provide information on commercial publisher agreements and Open Access funding opportunities (APCs). Contact Fiona Quinlan, Open Access and Projects, to learn more about TA/APC Publishing at the University of Galway.

Read the Library Guide on Open Publishing

Contact: Trish Finnan, Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Phone: 091-495961

Publishing Services (including DOIs and other PIDs)

Publishing services provided by the library include Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for research outputs, ISBNs for books, information about ORCIDs, the Research Repository for Green Open Access publishing, Pressbooks platform for Open Educational Resources publishing tools, publishing deals for journal articles. 

Persistent identifiers such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) are essential for ensuring the discoverability and citation of your research outputs. 

Best Practices

• Using Open Access publishing options. 
• Consistently using DOIs and ISBNs in all publications and datasets.
• Registering identifiers early in the publication process.

Key Services

• DOI and ISBN Assignment: We assist with obtaining DOIs for datasets and publications and ISBNs for books and monographs.
• Guidance and Support: Information on the benefits and correct usage of persistent identifiers.
• Research Repository for Green Open Access publishing.
• Pressbooks platform for Open Educational Resources publishing tools.
• Publishing deals for journal articles. 

Resources

• National PID strategy.
• National work for ORCIDs for people and DOIs for items.

Read the Library Guide on Identifiers

Read the Library Guide on Open Education Resources (OER)

Contact: Trish Finnan, Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Phone: 091-495961

Networks (Galway Communities)

-- A list of network on campus (TBD)