Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The everyday work practices of Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) information managers are complex and contribute in multiple ways to scientific research. Our work aims to go beyond the formal image of data management and make visible some of the aspects involved in the day-to-day work that support the LTER program vision. Our focus is on work practices and the information management defined by multiple relations and tensions and structured to adapt to change processes. Major issues in the work of information managers are described in this report through their own voices. The everyday work practices of an information manager encompass technical and social issues related to data management and information processing. The work requires juggling a multitude of tasks and timeframes as well as sustaining multiple roles and memberships. Such complexity and fluidity may be conceptualized as an information management trajectory. This trajectory accommodates change and yet is often invisible due to lack of articulation. Three intertwined aspects of information management, namely support for science, data, and technology, are discussed. The tensions in data environments and information management work created by balancing these divergent elements are described.