Representing Researchers in the Library Linked Data Environment: A Case Study of ORCID Users at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Introduction: This study explored Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) usage at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) for research support and library catalog metadata. Methods: The data were captured in 2021 of 862 faculty members in Elements database, 284 e-dissertation authors, and 42 e-thesis authors in Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (TRACE, 2024). The data were analyzed for ORCID adoption by faculty ranks, degree types, academic disciplines, and their usage of ORCID metadata. Results: UTK faculty adopted ORCID more than UTK authors of e-theses and e-dissertations (ETDs). Faculty ranks and disciplines contributed to ORCID usage with higher numbers among assistant and associate professors and Engineering and Natural Sciences. Work, employment, and education are the top three meta-data shared in their ORCIDs, among other identifiers, websites, and country metadata. Discussion: ORCID’s integration with Elements (the faculty evaluation system) and the lack of requirements for ETD authors to add ORCIDs to their ETDs may impact the number of UTK ORCID users. Faculty ranks, degree types, and academic disciplines should be factored into understanding ORCID usage. Work, employment, and education metadata would support the identification and disambiguation of authors’ names. Funding metadata is in low use, possibly due to the grant database’s integration with Elements. Other identifiers and web profiles, especially those with social networking features, support the disambiguation and identification of these scholars. Conclusion: ORCID is a hub for a scholar’s profiles. ORCID metadata elements support both identification and disambiguation in library metadata and open science infrastructure. To gain a deeper understanding of UTK ORCID users, future studies should involve direct input from UTK scholarly communities via qualitative research methods.