Building research data management services: a data librarian’s view

Robin Rice

Online InformationLondon: Nov 21, 2012

Overview

• Defining research data management

• Developing a Research Data Management Policy at your institution

• Researcher vs institutional responsibilities

• Supporting and training researchers

• Other candidates for library-based RDM services

Defining RDM

• An umbrella term to describe all aspects of planning, organising, documenting, storing sharing, and preserving data.

• It also takes into account issues such as data protection and confidentiality.

• It provides a framework that supports researchers and their data throughout the course of their research and beyond.

University of Edinburgh Research Data Mgmt Policy

• Passed by Senate in May, 2011

• Library-led: developed by committee led by Library & Collections Director

• Involved academic champions

• Written by ex-DCC consultant

• Deemed ‘aspirational’

• Complimentary to

funders’ policies

Edinburgh policy content: worldle

Roles & Responsibilities

• Who will support your researchers’ planning?

• Who has responsibility during the research project? Who has archival responsibility?

• Who has rights in the data?

• Are students considered?

Tips for policy development

Know the drivers for your own institution. Practice the art of persuasion. How big is your kirk? Seek alliances. Who is your high-level champion? Agree a style – mandate or enabling? Postcard from the future: what will it

achieve?

Supporting and training researchers

• Online guidance for academic staff

• Embedding RDM training into postgraduate programmes (MANTRA)

• Tailored support for Data Mgmt Plans (customising DMP Online tool)

• Training librarians & IT staff

• Awareness-raising across

schools and departments

RDM guidance for academics

MANTRA online training course

DCC’s DMP Online tool

Training liaison librarians

• DIY training facilitated by data librarians: Topics:

• Data management planning

• Documenting & organising data

• Data storage & security

• Ethics & copyright

• Data sharing

Other candidates for library-based RDM services

• Data discovery – portals, catalogues

• Open data repositories

• Archiving and preservation services

• Metadata & standards (curation)

Data discovery (and use)

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Archiving and preservation services for research data

• Should the institution be doing this?– EPSRC says so“Research organisations will ensure that EPSRC-funded research

data is securely preserved for a minimum of 10-years from the date that any researcher ‘privileged access’ period expires or, if others have accessed the data, from last date on which access to the data was requested by a third party.”

• How to do digital preservation: “Know what you’ve got and keep the bits safe.”

• – Tim Gollins, TNA

Metadata & standards (curation)

• Librarians are more interested in (at least some kinds of) metadata than researchers.

• Librarians are in a position to bring to light emerging standards for data types to researchers and benefits of use.

• Librarians have a natural ‘cross-disciplinary’ viewpoint.

Challenges for Librarians in RDM

• Finding time to pursue new activities

• Developing new kinds of partnerships

• Establishing credibility in a new area of expertise

• Learning new skills; ‘getting techie’

• Getting hands dirty with unpublished material

• Adapting rapidly to opportunities

Links

• University of Edinburgh policy– http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/research-data-policy

• Research data guidance– http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/data-management

• MANTRA online training– http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/

• UoE Data Library – http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/data-library

• Edinburgh DataShare– http://datashare.is.ed.ac.uk/