Apr. 22, 2010 – Dr. Jane Greenberg, professor and director of the Metadata Research Center, of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been awarded the 2010 Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research by the Library Research Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA).
Greenberg wrote the winning paper titled, “Theoretical considerations of lifecycle modeling: An analysis of the Dryad repository demonstrating automatic metadata propagation, inheritance and value system adoption." The article explores lifecycle modeling for understanding metadata and reports the results of two extensive studies.
"I am truly honored," said Greenberg. "I believe empirical data are essential to developing robust theories, and I have worked to move forward theoretical ideas in this work, building on research analyses."
Greenberg's collaboration with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) and the development of the Dryad repository, a repository for research data in evolutionary biology, have served as a rich data source for producing this work and forwarding these ideas.
Todd Vision, associate director of Informatics, NESCent, and principal investigator for the Dryad project, said, "Jane and her group get their hands dirty understanding how scientists actually think about metadata, and then put that information into theoretical context. This has led to many practically important developments for Dryad, so it has been a very satisfying collaboration for us."
The Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research was established by the ALA Library Research Round Table “to provide recognition and monetary support for research employing exemplary research design and methods.”
Greenberg will receive the award at a LRRT program during the ALA Convention in Washington D.C. this summer.
Greenberg joins previous SILS winners - Paul Solomon, Gary Marchionini, and Ph.D. students Cheryl Davis and Terrell Russell who received the award in 2007 for their paper titled, "Information and Library Science MPACT: A Preliminary Analysis."
