by Elliott Shuppy
Research data management has quickly grown into a necessity for librarians on the UW-Madison campus. We understand that this topic can be complex and intimidating, so we wanted to provide resources on some of the most important topics that librarians may be curious about. Compiled below are links for liaisons to explore, reference, and further equip themselves for reference inquiries and conversations around data.
What is data?
This might be a scary question to some, but one with very important implications. See how Minnesota and Oregon have responded.
- University of Minnesota: http://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement/whatdata
- University of Oregon: http://library.uoregon.edu/datamanagement/datadefined.html
Why manage data?
MIT and Minnesota lay out plainly the benefits of data management for researchers.
- MIT: http://libraries.mit.edu/data-management/plan/why/
- Minnesota: http://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement
What is a data management plan?
These links provide fairly comprehensive lists of required components and descriptions of data management plans.
- University of Minnesota: http://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement/DMP
- MIT: http://libraries.mit.edu/data-management/plan/
Questions to ask
Helpful sets of questions for librarians to consider when conducting data-related interviews with patrons can be found in the below links.
- RDS: http://wwwtest.researchdata.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/data_plan_guide.pdf
- Purdue University: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=lib_research
- MIT: http://libraries.mit.edu/data-management/plan/write/
Terms & definitions
Both Minnesota and Data One offer extensive glossaries of useful terminology for anyone dealing with data matters.
- University of Minnesota: http://www.lib.umn.edu/datamanagement/whatdata#What4
- Data One: http://www.dataone.org/sites/all/documents/DataONE_BP_Primer_020212.pdf
Federal requirements for data
In early 2013, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a mandate requiring public access for federally funded research data. The Department of Energy was the first of many departments to release its requirements for researchers, which take effect October 1, 2014.
- An overview of the OSTP mandate: http://wapo.st/1v8kKnj
- DOE’s Public Access Plan: http://www.energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan