Libraries and research data. Torun University's Open Access Data Project - The online repository of raw astronomical data

Abstract

The presentation concerns an importance of digitization and publicity process of both historical and present research data basing on an example of old, archived research.

12 thousand historical glass plates with astronomical images of the northern sky are gradually degrading. Analog data are losing quality even under the best conditions of storage. On the other hand, digital data stored in a local safe can not be easily reused for further research on a large scale. We want researchers to have a chance to look into them and to compare present and archived observations.

Is there a place here for a library? Should librarians take part in such projects? I am convinced they should. The library must be a meeting point, an information center. The library must know if such raw research data exist, where they are stored, what are availability conditions, and where the new ones can be stored. Librarians of the 21st century suggest the researchers possibilities and benefits of widely accessible form of their own research data and show them how to process it.