How to teach digital library data to swim into research

Virtual research environments (VREs) aim to enhance research practice and have been identified as drivers for changes in libraries. This paper argues that VREs in combination with Semantic Web technologies offer a range of possibilities to align research with library practices. This main claim of the article is exemplified by a metadata integration process of bibliographic data from libraries to a VRE which is based on Semantic MediaWiki. The integration process rests on three pillars: MediaWiki as a web-based repository, Semantic MediaWiki annotation mechanisms, and semi-automatic workflow management for the integration of digital resources. Thereby, needs of scholarly research practices and capacities for interactions are taken into account. The integration process is part of the design of Semantic MediaWiki for Collaborative Corpora Analysis (SMW-CorA) which uses a concrete research project in the history of education as a reference point for an infrastructural distribution. Semantic MediaWiki thus provides a light-weight environment offering a framework for re-using heterogeneous resources and a flexible collaborative way of conducting research.