A number of reports at the national level have described the need for new mechanisms for access to and preservation of large data sets in support of e-science, e-humanities, and e-social sciences. Some reports call for the involvement of librarians, especially in assisting with the development of metadata, implementation of interoperability, and assurance of long-term preservation of data. Is it realistic to expect that librarians in universities today can assume roles to support e-research? Are information technologists or information scientists better trained for this work? Or, is a new model for information professionals needed?

This talk will describe the various types of support that information professionals could provide for e-research, outline models for implementation of this type of support, and discuss the skill sets needed by information professionals in this environment.