Research Data Management Services, SPEC Kit 334 (July 2013)

Fearon, David Jr.; Gunia, Betsy; Lake, Sherry; Pralle, Barbara E.; Sallans, Andrew L.

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SURVEY RESULTS

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SPEC Kit 334: Research Data Management Services (July 2013) resources

SPEC Kit 334: Research Data Management Services · 11
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
With an increased emphasis on open data, data man-
agement planning requirements, and potential “big
data” research opportunities, research institutions
are recognizing an emerging demand to provide
a wider and more refined array of data services to
meet needs at different points in the research process.
Many research libraries are answering that demand
by expanding or adopting new research data services,
most within the last three years. The timing was ap-
propriate, therefore, to survey ARL member libraries,
assessing early endeavors, and benchmarking future
growth as we anticipate demands for these services to
expand and for libraries to find new opportunities for
relevant services.
In this context, we identified two emerging areas
of services that are relatively new for member librar-
ies. These are research data management, which en-
ters the research process at the grant proposal stage
in meeting data management planning requirements,
and in various ways during the research process.
Second is support for data archiving, at a project’s end
for preservation and online dissemination to facilitate
data sharing, and in providing new data resources
for discovery. This survey will use the term “research
data management services” (RDMS) to refer collec-
tively to library activities surrounding data manage-
ment and archiving.
Our survey also addresses contextual require-
ments for planning, developing, staffing, and manag-
ing new research data management services. Finding
necessary expertise and funding for new positions
is challenging, but creative new models of service
provision are emerging. Collaboration across institu-
tional units is one route toward unearthing expertise
and knowledge to help researchers at all stages of
the research process and to provide data manage-
ment support. Our survey findings, however, point
to the “growing pains” of new service development,
with challenges such as initiating and encouraging
campus-wide coordination that addresses gaps and
overlapping services. Responses throughout the sur-
vey show that libraries are still in the early stages
of development and implementation of RDMS. In
most cases, services are evolving ahead of evidence
of which models and strategies will prove most ef-
fective or successful. Variables for that development
include the structured and unstructured institutional
environment for new research services: Are more
universities recognizing a community need formally
through data policies (See Q1)? Are administration
and researchers looking to libraries for solutions or
are libraries taking their own initiative (Q6)? At what
stage are libraries in conducting needs analysis to
guide service development, engaging in active out-
reach to communicate their provision of new services
(Q50), or assessing their early efforts (Q51)?
This SPEC survey of research data management
services at ARL libraries joins a growing literature of
surveys and case studies covering various dimensions
of this emerging domain.1 To a degree, we are still
learning what questions we should ask to assess cur-
rent practices and provide benchmarks for assessing
future developments. We address a breadth of aspects
that has not been consolidated before to encourage
further research, but perhaps more importantly, to
give libraries a timely orientation to the challenges
and benefits of offering research data management
services (henceforth referred to as RDM services).

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Page 9Survey Results click to expand contents

Page 107Representative Documents click to expand contents

Page 109RDM Web Pages click to expand contents

Page 113IRs and Data Archives click to expand contents

Page 123Data Management Plan Tools click to expand contents

Page 135Job Descriptions click to expand contents

Page 155Organization Charts click to expand contents

Page 161Research Data Policies click to expand contents

Page 173Data Retention Policies click to expand contents

Page 187Data Needs Assessment click to expand contents

Page 205RDM Staff Resources click to expand contents

Page 209Outreach Materials click to expand contents

Page 213Selected Resources click to expand contents

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