Libraries, process, and data

The metaphor of knowledge as a product is found throughout contemporary discourse. It can be argued that sometimes product, and at other times process, will be a good, useful, or even the only way something can be viewed. But when one looks at process, one ignores product; and vice versa. This is a fundamental human problem, not an oversight, and as a metaphor echoes Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle that suggests we can never know position and momentum simultaneously, but are limited to knowing one or the other. I illustrate briefly how a focus on product dominates discourse on core library issues including scholarly communication and library assessment. I then explore further the implications of this focus for the emerging practice and theory of data curation, despite widespread acknowledgement of both data production and data curation as processes. I conclude by urging greater attention to the possibility and challenge of reshaping practice in data curation around attention to process.