Phases in acquisition

Acquisition is divided into several phases. The underlying basis of the acquisition activities on behalf of 3TU.Datacentum is the existing communication- & acquisition plan (Dutch).

Below you can find the steps that can be taken by the library/librarian to realise the match between supply and demand.
         

  • Desk  research
    Choose a subject, section, research group which satisfies the selection criteria. What keeps them busy? Where do they publish? What are the impact factors of the journals they publish in? Choose important, influential publications and investigate which part is available in a repository. This can give you a clue about the culture within a research group. It certainly isn't a golden rule, but if scientific articles are already published open access, the respective research group may be more inclined to publish the underlying datasets. Data publication than merely is an extension of open access publishing.

    An example of desk research:

    In an exploratory study Jaap de Lange has studied abstracts of scientific art    icles. Abstracts often give you information about the research methods used. They give you a pointer whether there are underlying datasets available which comply to the selection criteria of 3TU.Datacentrum.
  • Name dropping
    L    et people know your data portal exists by dropping its name and services on different occasions. Think about a presentation, a conversation, a present, a poster on an event where researchers gather, etc. Give acquisition a try both bottom-up (close to the scientific process) as well as top-down (management level). Realise yourself that the effect of your acquisition efforts isn’t always visible from the start. Keep repeating. It’s the total sum of all efforts that counts in making the match between library/librarian and researcher/research group, between supply and demand.   
    In the phase of name dropping it’s important to have qualitatively good promotion material at your disposal. Several folders about 3TU.Datacentrum are already available. You can use them to highlight the services available (version 3TU, version TUDelft, version TUEindhoven). Folders about Enriched Publications and Data Labs are in preparation.
  • Follow actual topics
    For example, you may approach the researcher(s) who have recently received a research grant, like the VENI VIDI, VICI VernieuwingsimpulsAt TU Delft Library a sample letter(Dutch) is present. You can use it as an example. It isn’t meant to be the standard way to express yourself. Acquisition should always be tailored to current needs.
    Another example: the account managers of TUDelft Library went to an international congress in the field of geo sciences (European Geosciences Union). They presented a poster about 3TU.datacentrum at the premises. After the congress they wrote a letter(Dutch) to the Delft researchers who were present at the congress
  • Personalize contact
    Sending a letter/E-mail as the first point of contact is also known as cold acquisition. At the moment you bring your services to the attention of a researcher you are unknown to him. In contrast, warm acquisition means that you offer your services to people you already know. Sometimes you have to get to know them in order to enter this phase. Call, pay them a visit and personalize contact. Introduce yourself and tell what has made you decide to pay this person a visit. Show your customer that you have in fact done desk research by adopting a researcher’s perspective. Ask questions like:

    • What is the team doing in the field of data management at the moment?
    • What do they actually want? What should they be doing?
    • Considering the answers to these questions, what services can we offer?

    You can also choose to act more proactively by showing them services they didn’t know they needed yet. For example you might ask: Do you want to increase the visibility, citation score and impact of your research? (See the 3TU.folder)

  •  Professionalize
    3TU.datacentrum is a young data portal. The phase in the growth of a data portal will determine the accent of your acquisition activities. The preparatory work can slowly be included in de daily workflow of the librarian. A very simple tip might be to create an email signature especially for mail from 3TU.Datacentrum.  Gradually knowledge and material about efficient and effective acquisition are gathered. Via the learning environment you can take one more look at the sample letters and promotional folders already available.

When the acquisition phase has led to a concrete question from the researcher/research group, you can take on your role as a consultant. This phase ideally leads to conducting a data interview and the upload of a dataset to 3TU.Datacentrum.      

Twitter
Loading..