Taking Stock of CAR in your Library Researchers

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Taking Stock of CAR in your LibraryResearchers
CAR Specialists

• Margot Williams
• The Washington Post
• SLA June 2004

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Core Missions

• Researcher/Librarian
• Providing answers
• Providing access to information
• Organizing maintaining collection
• Training

• CAR Specialist
• Data analysis on-demand
• Cost/benefit analysis of data projects
• Find patterns in data that lead to stories
• Guide and help write data projects
• Training

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Skills Tools

• Researcher/Librarian
• Search logic strategy
• Online resources
• Offline offsite resources
• Text archiving and retrieval
• Text processing
• Spreadsheets

• CAR Specialist
• Spreadsheets
• Relational databases
• Statistical analysis
• Programming languages
• GIS
• Social network analysis

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Computer-assisted Reporting Research

• Researcher
• Daily stories
• Graphics
• Weekenders
• Long-term projects
• Intranet resources

• CAR Specialist
• Weekenders
• Long-term projects
• In-house database resources for newsroom access
• Dailies

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The Process

• Researcher/Librarian
• MANAGING UNSTRUCTURED DATA
• Info retrieval
• Info capture
• Info organization categorization

• CAR Specialist
• MANAGING STRUCTURED DATA
• Data capture
• Data mining
• Data analysis

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Information-handling Tasks

• Researcher/Librarian
• Selecting
• Negotiating
• Acquiring
• Processing
• Organizing/Cataloging
• Maintaining
• Archiving

• CAR Specialist
• Negotiating
• FOIA/Legal
• Cleaning
• Processing
• Data Dictionary
• Maintaining
• Data Warehousing

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On the Web

• Spheres of Influence Bush Campaign Pioneers
• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/pion
  eers/pioneers_spheres.html
• Guantanamo a Holding Cell in the War on Terror
• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A587
  02-2004May1.html

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Partnership between researchers and CAR
specialists

• Complement--Work separately on different parts of
  complicated big projects.
• Supplement--Work together on the same parts of
  complicated big projects.
• Synergy--Cross-fertilization of CAR and research
  skills.

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The Pitfalls Researchers vs. CAR specialists

• Unclear lines of authority responsibility
• Overlapping tasks
• Poor communication
• Credit issues