Heather Soyka, Ph.D.

Heather Soyka earned her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh iSchool. Her teaching areas include archives, archival appraisal, research methods, and research data management.

Most recently her research examines the reproducibility of community engagement and other record-keeping factors relevant to the sustainability of structures for research data sharing and reuse. She applies continuum theory and methods to her archival studies research, and has been a member of the Records Continuum Research Group since 2014. She has published research in national and international journals, including: Archival Science, the International Journal of Digital Curation, the American Archivist, Research Library Issues, the Journal of eScience Librarianship and Preservation, Technology, and Culture. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Society of American Archivists.

Before joining the faculty at Kent State, she held a postdoctoral fellowship with DataONE, a project funded by the National Science Foundation that is concerned with open access and use of multi-national, multi-scale environmental and ecological science data. She was previously based at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and often collaborates with colleagues across various disciplines, including ecology, biology, and computer science.

*The School of Information faculty are superstars in the field. Therefore, it is impossible to list all of the great work they do on one page. Listed below is a small selection of recent work. Further information can be viewed in Dr. Soyka’s CV (found below) or on her Google Scholar page.

Teaching/Advising

Academic Program
Library & Information Science

Cultural Heritage Informatics  Data/Information/Technology (Research Data Management) 

Courses
LIS 60030    People in the Information Ecology
LIS 60040    Research & Assessment in Library and Information Science
LIS 60652    Foundations of Recordkeeping in Society
LIS 60657    Theory and Methods of Archival Acquisition, Selection and Appraisal

Research Specialties

Data CurationResearch Data ManagementCommunity Engagement Archival Arrangement & Description

Selected Publications

Soyka, H. (2020). Commentary on accountability and evidence: Archivists in interesting times. In J. Bastian & E. Yakel (eds.), Defining a discipline: Archival research and practice in the 21st Century, essays in honor of Richard J. Cox. Society of American Archivist. ISBN: 978-1945246272

Soyka, H. and Wilczek, E. (2020). Ten years of archival education research institutes (AERI): A snapshot. Archival Science, 20, 221-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-020-09331-2

Soyka, H. (2018). Seeking sustainability and inclusivity with transparent practices for research data management. Research Library Issues, 296, 49-52. https://doi.org/10.29242/rli.296.7.

Hou, C. Y., Soyka, H., Hutchison, V., Serna, I., Allen, C., Budden, A. (2017). Evaluating the effectiveness of data management training. International Journal of Digital Curation, 12(2), 47-60. https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v12i2.508

Soyka, H., Budden, A., Hutchison, V., Bloom, D., Duckles, J., Hodge, A., Mayernik, M., Poisot, T., Rauch, S., Steinhart, G., Wasser, L., Whitmire, A., Wright, S. (2017). Using peer review to support development of community resources for research data management. Journal of eScience Librarianship, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.2017.1114

Awards/Achievements

• Lancour, Immroth, Brewster Award for Outstanding International Scholarship, University of Pittsburgh iSchool (2015).

Professional Service

• Co-chair of the Society of American Archivists’ Research Forum (August 2017 - Present)
• Executive Board Member of the Archival Education and Research Institute (2019 - Present)
• Co-Chair of the Data/Infrastructure Working Group for the Archival Education and Research Institute (2019 - Present)
• Serves on the Editorial Board for the Society of American Archivists, American Archivist (2016 - 2020)
• Serves on the Editorial Board for Kent State University Press (2018 - Present)
• Serves on the Working Group for DataONE Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) (2017 - 2020)
• Advisory Board Member of the “Virtual Footlocker Project: Developing a User-Centered Framework for Digital Preservation of Active Duty and Veteran Personal Records,” IMLS funded Research Project at Louisiana State University (2019 - 2022)

Affiliations

• Society of American Archivists
• Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE)