The role of repositories in supporting RDM: lessons from the DCC engagements

Angus Whyte, Sarah Jones

Digital Curation Centrea.whyte@ed.ac.ukRepository Fringe

2 August 2013, University of Edinburgh

Aims

1. Outline UK programmes to help Higher Education Institutions develop RDM services

2. Background on the Digital Curation CentreDCC role in developing services

3. Outline emerging RDM servicesOur view of what they areRecent surveys on library plans & priorities

4. Examples from different universitiesRepository manager & subject librarian roles

Share examples and lessons

Who do repo managers need to

interact with in their institution?

Digital Curation Centre

• Est. 2004, Jisc funded partnership across 3 universities - Bath, Edinburgh and Glasgow

• Digital curation challenges across institutions and disciplines

• HEFCE funding from 2011 for targeted support to help institutions build capacity and capability in managing research data

Institutional engagement programme

21 Degree awarding

Russell Group

7 e.g. Edinburgh

Pre-1992 13 e.g. Surrey

Post-1992 4 e.g. Oxford Brookes

Research intensive

England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland

JISC Managing Research Data

• 25 x Infrastructure projects 2009-13

• DCC input - tool provision and support for events

• Help extract, amplify and transfer programme outputs across sector

• E.g. How-to guides, case studies

Envision Initiate Discover Design Implement Evaluate

RDM Development Process

But its non-linear really! …cycles of negotiation and compromise towards ‘continuous improvement’

Envision Initiate Discover Design Implement Evaluate

RDM Development Process

Advocacy, policy developmentDCC

Envision Initiate Discover Design Implement Evaluate

RDM Development Process

Readiness, requirements and risk assessmentCARDIO – Collaborative Assessment of Research Data Infrastructure and ObjectivesDAF – Data Asset Framework

DCC

Emerging Services – DCC/MRD

Emerging Services – Library Surveys

221 institutions US and Canada (of which 99 universities)

Academic Libraries and Research Data Services: Current practices and plans for the future

Carol Tenopir, Ben Birch, Suzie Allard University of Tennessee

Assoc. College & Research Libraries, June 2012

Emerging Services - Surveys

81 UK higher education institutions

Research data management and libraries: Current activities and future priorities

Andrew Cox and Stephen Pinfield Information School, University of Sheffield

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science June 28, 2013

Emerging Services - Surveys

82 UK higher education institutions

Bibliometrics and Research data Management services: Emerging trends in Library Support for Research

Sheila Corrall, Mary Anne Kennan, Waseem Afzal

Library Trends, Volume 61, Number 3, Winter 2013, pp. 636-674

RDM Services planned

High expectations of prioritising/ planning delivery over next 2-3 years.

Mixture of advice & liaison and technical services

So what do we find Repository Managers doing in service development?

•Figures from 1 Cox & Pinfield (N=81)2 Corrall et al (N-82)

Top 12 Service priorities

1. Rank by Top future Priority

2. Current (Planned)%

Policy development 1 17 (60)

Advisory service 2 10 (40)

PGR Training 3 = 14 (43)

Early career awareness 3=

Awareness reusable resources – data archives

5= 41 (20)

Data repository 5= 37 (37)

Data citation advice 7 41 (20)

Copyright, IPR 8

Web portal, guidance 9

Metadata, data catalogue 10

DMP advice 11= 9 (49)

External data sources – research & retrieve

11=

Tales from Two Cities

• Contrasting institutions– Post-1992, 4260 students, 100’s research active staff– Russell Group, 31,323, 1000’s research active staff

• Some things in common– Repository managers actively engaged in developing

– Policy response to funder requirements– Online guidance– Support for data mgmt planning– Surveys/ interviews to scope research data, practices

and requirements – Skills development for Subject Librarians

Oxford Brookes UniversityDriver: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council policy expectations

Steering group PVC led, action by repository and research office mgrs

Awareness training to faculty, with DAF survey follow-up, Subject Librarian training

Research data as special collections Help desk service being established.

University of EdinburghDriver: Institutional reputation

Steering group CIO led, action by Data Library & Information Services colleagues

One of the first UK data repositories

Data Library pivotal in RDM developments

Pioneer of much-reused RDM policy and training materials.

To sum up…

• In our experience, repository managers active in kickstarting ‘softer’ capabilities

• Still few universities have dedicated RDM staff• Academic liaison roles required - also indicated by surveys

– IT, Libraries, Research Office/ Business Development– E.g. ACRL Report “Reassigning existing library staff common tactic”

• Computing services: active data storage, • Research support: licensing .. DMP support • Records managers: policy

Issues?

• Commercial data – really for the OA repository to manage?

• Who deals with abandoned data in ‘active’ storage?

• How to deal with data from retiring staff, unfunded groups?

• When staff leave what should go with them?

• How do we trust external repositories?

• What new workflows and roles for data publication?

Thank you

Questions, comments?Your experiences?

Other national surveys?