Research data management in the UK: interventions by the Jisc Managing Research Data programme and the Digital Curation Centre. Specifies the importance of academic librarians for RDM. Includes links to openly available training resources. Presentation by L Molloy to ABDU congress, 19 Sep 2013 in Le Havre.
UK Research Data Management: overview to ADBU congress, 19 Sep 2013 by Laura Molloy
1. Supporting Research Data Management in UK
Universities: the Jisc Managing Research Data
Programme and university libraries
Laura Molloy
Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII),
University of Glasgow, Digital Curation Centre and Jisc Managing Research
Data programme
Thursday 19 September 2013
ADBU, Le Havre
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2. Why is managing research data important?
Jisc considers it a priority to support universities in improving RDM
Drivers: research funder policies, legislative frameworks, open data
agenda …
Good data management is good for research
– More efficient research processes, avoidance of data loss, scrutiny can
encourage better practice, research benefits of data reuse
Alignment with university missions
– Universities want to provide excellent research infrastructure.
– Universities want to have better oversight of research outputs.
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3. Research Data Challenges
Challenges: the ‘data deluge’… huge quantities of digital data
– But it’s not just about addressing storage issues.
Opportunities: data reuse, meta-studies, interdisciplinary grand
challenges.
– Increasing awareness of research data as an asset.
– Digital research data has reuse value - important to obtain full return on
public investment.
Results in policy drivers from funders.
– Need improved knowledge of how best to realise these policies.
Increasing emphasis on the role of universities and research
institutions to provide infrastructure and support for RDM.
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4. Royal Society, UK
Science as an Open Enterprise Report, 2012
‘the conduct and communication of
science needs to adapt to this new era
of information technology’.
‘As a first step towards this
intelligent openness, data that
underpin a journal article should be
made concurrently available in an
accessible database. We are now on
the brink of an achievable aim: for all
science literature to be online, for all of
the data to be online and for the two to
be interoperable.’
Royal Society June 2012, Science as
an Open Enterprise,
http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/sc
ience-public-enterprise/report/
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5. Science as an Open Enterprise Report:
six key changes
1. a shift away from a research culture where data is viewed as a private
preserve;
2. expanding the criteria used to evaluate research to give credit for useful data
communication and novel ways of collaborating;
3. the development of common standards for communicating data;
4. mandating intelligent openness for data relevant to published scientific
papers;
5. strengthening the cohort of data scientists needed to manage and support
the use of digital data (which will also be crucial to the success of private
sector data analysis and the government’s Open Data strategy);
6. the development and use of new software tools to automate and simplify the
creation and exploitation of datasets.
Royal Society 2012, Science as an Open Enterprise,
http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/science-public-enterprise/report/
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6. UK drivers: Research Funder Policies
1. Public good: Publicly funded research data are produced in the public interest should
be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible
2. Planning for preservation: Institutional and project specific data management
policies and plans needed to ensure valued data remains usable
3. Discovery: Metadata should be available and discoverable; Published results should
indicate how to access supporting data
4. Confidentiality: Research organisation policies and practices to ensure legal, ethical
and commercial constraints assessed; research process should not be damaged by
inappropriate release
5. First use: Provision for a period of exclusive use, to enable research teams to publish
results
6. Recognition: Data users should acknowledge data sources and terms & conditions
of access
7. Public funding: Use of public funds for RDM infrastructure is appropriate and must
be efficient and cost-effective.
RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy:
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx
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7. EPSRC Research Data Policy Expectations
Policy and expectations:
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/about/standards/researchdata/Pages/policyframework.aspx
Research organisations to have RDM policy, advocacy and support functions. (i, iii)
Research data to be effectively managed and curated throughout the life-cycle (viii)
Research organisations to maintain public catalogue of research data holdings,
adequate metadata and permanent identifier (v)
Publications to indicate how research data can be accessed (ii)
Data to be retained for 10 years from last access (vii)
Research data management to be adequately resourced from appropriate funding
streams (ix)
Roadmap in place by 1 May 2012
Compliance by 1 May 2015
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8. Institutional data repositories
as an elevator for data collections
The Data Pyramid: taken from Royal Society Report, Science as an Open Enterprise:
http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/science-public-enterprise/report/
Jisc MRD Blog on role of institutional data repositories http://researchdata.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2012/08/06/institutional-data-
repositories-and-the-curation-hierarchy-reflections-on-the-dcc-icpsr-workshop-at-or2012-and-the-royal-societys-science-as-an-
open-enterprise-report/
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9. Development of Institutional RDM Capacity
The Royal Society Science as an Open Enterprise report recommended that
the JISC Managing Research Data Programme ‘should be expanded beyond
the pilot 17 institutions within the next five years.’
[Royal Society 2012, Science as an Open Enterprise, p.73]
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10. Building Institutional Capacity:
Second MRD Programme, 2011-13
Second JISC MRD Programme, 2011-13: http://bit.ly/jiscmrd2011-13
Institutional
RDM
Infrastructure
Services
17 Projects
RDM
Training
5 projects
RDM
Planning
10 projects
Data
Publication
3 projects
Ownership: High level
ownership of the
problem, senior manager
on steering .
Sustainability: Large
institutional contributions.
Develop business cases
to sustain work.
Encouraged to
reuse outputs from
first programme and
elsewhere.
Mix of pilot projects
and embedding
projects.
Holistic institutional
approach to RDM.
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11. Reading, Bristol,
BADC
PIMMS http://proj.badc.rl.ac.uk/pimms/blog Subject Specific Metadata
York, ADS SWORD-ARM http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog/sword-
arm/
Subject Specific
Deposit/Costing
Glasgow, St.
Andrews,
Sunderland
CERIF4Datase
ts
http://cerif4datasets.wordpress.com Consortium (CERIF)
Bath Research360 http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/research360/ Single Institution (A1)
Bristol Data.bris http://data.blogs.ilrt.org/project-blog/ Single Institution (A1)
UCA, UAL, GSA,
Goldsmiths
KAPTUR http://kaptur.wordpress.com Consortium of Institutions
(Creative Arts) (A1)
Essex RD@Essex http://researchdataessex.wordpress.com Single Institution (A1)
Hertfordshire RDTKHerts http://research-data-toolkit.herts.ac.uk Single Institution (A1)
Leeds RoaDMaP http://blog.library.leeds.ac.uk/blog/roadmap Single Institution (A1)
Lincoln Orbital http://orbital.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk Single Institution (A1)
Newcastle iridium http://research.ncl.ac.uk/iridium/ Single Institution (A1)
Nottingham ADMIRe http://admire.jiscinvolve.org/wp/ Single Institution (A1)
UWE UWE RDM
Pilot
http://blogs.uwe.ac.uk/teams/mrd/default.aspx Single Institution (A1)
Exeter Open Exeter http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/openexeterrdm/ Single Institution (A2)
Manchester MiSS http://www.miss.manchester.ac.uk Single Institution (A2)
Oxford DaMaRO http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/damaro/ Single Institution (A2)
Southampton DataPool http://blogs.ecs.soton.ac.uk/datapool/ Single Institution (A2)
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12. RDMRose
(Sheffield)
All disciplines,
LIS
Liaison librarians (PGT
and CPD delivery)
http://rdmrose.group.shef.ac.uk
RDMTPA
(Hertfordshire)
Physics and
astronomy
Postgraduate students,
early career
researchers
http://research-data-
toolkit.herts.ac.uk/tag/rdmtpa/
SoDaMaT
(QMUL)
Digital music Researchers of all
grades
http://rdm.c4dm.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/category/pr
oject/sodamat
TraD (UEL) Psychology,
computer
science
Librarians, research
support staff,
postgraduate students,
researchers of all
grades
http://www.uel.ac.uk/trad/outputs/resource
RDM training projects: phase two
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13. Data Management
Planning
Managing Active
Data
Processes for
selection and
retention
Deposit / Handover
Data Repositories/
Catalogues
Components of RDM support services
RDM Policy and Roadmap
Business Plan and
Sustainability
Guidance, Training and Support
Research Data
Registry
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15. Successful Business Cases
Successful business cases.
– Many examples, including Bristol, 2.5 year pilot project with 5 staff; Bath (2FTE);
Manchester (total of c.5FTE); Soton (total 3.5FTE); Lincoln (1.x FTE).
Bristol have set KPIs for ongoing service:
1. 30% per annum increase in the total number of datasets deposited into the data.bris
repository and issued with a DOI
2. 10% per annum increase in total number of Bristol DOIs cited within publications
3. 20% increase in the number of visitors to the online data.bris repository portal and in
secondary data users
4. An increase of 1% in University of Bristol research grant income attributable to high quality
Data Management Plans (as a result of DMP support and grant writing surgeries).
5. A reduction of 2.5% in researcher time spent on generic RDM tasks, such as controlled
data sharing, preparation of technical metadata, and data publication (as a result of training
and the provision of RDM systems and storage).
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16. Institutional Policies and Roadmaps
Institutional Research Data Management Policies:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/institutional-data-
policies/uk-institutional-data-policies
Institutional Roadmaps to meet EPSRC Expectations on Research Data:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/epsrc-institutional-
roadmaps
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17. Data Management Planning
Detailed guidance on funder requirements for DMPs from DCC:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/resource/policy/Funders
DataPlanReqs_v4%204.pdf
DCC How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/develop-data-plan
DCC DMPonline tool: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
Jez Cope, University of Bath, R360 Project http://opus.bath.ac.uk/30772/
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19. Metadata Schema for Institutional Data Repositories
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/375386/rde_eprints_metadataprofile.pdf 19
20. ReCollect App for Eprints Data Repositories
http://bazaar.eprints.org/280/
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21. Library skills needed for RDM
Literature searching
Literature evaluation (including appraisal and retention decision-making)
Expert knowledge of subject resources and databases
‘Background knowledge’ (i.e. discipline-specific knowledge)
Technical knowledge (bibliometrics etc)
Knowledge of information literacy and digital literacy
Understanding of the width of the information landscape and the research
lifecycle
Negotiation skills
Complaints and expectation management
Coordination of practice across institution
Advocacy, promotion [of good practice] etc
RIN RILADS project (2013)
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22. Librarians well positioned for RDM
• existing data and open access leadership roles
• often run publication repositories
• have good relationships with researchers
• proven liaison and negotiation skills
• knowledge of information management, metadata, information
retrieval, etc.
The library is leading on most DCC institutional engagements:
www.dcc.ac.uk/community/institutional-engagements
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23. Potential library roles in RDM
Leading on local (institutional) data policy
Bringing data into undergraduate research-based learning
Teaching data literacy to postgraduate students
Developing researcher data awareness
Providing advice, e.g. on writing DMPs or advice on RDM within a project
Explaining the impact of sharing data, and how to cite data
Signposting who in the Uni to consult in relation to a particular question
Auditing to identify data sets for archiving or RDM needs
Developing and managing access to data collections
Documenting what datasets an institution has
Developing local data curation capacity
Promoting data reuse by making known what is available
RDMRose Lite
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24. So existing skills = highly relevant
Many existing librarian skills are highly relevant to RDM
Corrall et all (2013): majority of librarians surveyed in favour of RDM
training as part of professional education, including CPD
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25. JISCMRD Training Projects, phase 1 and 2
Need for discipline-specific research data management / curation training, integrated
with PG studies
Five projects in the first programme to design and pilot (reusable) discipline-
focussed training units for postgraduate courses:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/mrd/rdmtrain.aspx
Heath studies; creative arts; archaeology and social anthropology; psychological
sciences; social sciences and geographical sciences:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/train-trainer/disciplinary-rdm-training/disciplinary-rdm-
training
Four projects in the second programme:
http://researchdata.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2012/08/23/research-data-management-
training-five-new-jiscmrd-projects/
Psychology and computer science; digital music; physics and astronomy; subject and
liaison librarians.
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26. MANTRA Training Materials, University of Edinburgh
Online course built using OS Xerte toolkit. Sections include:
– DMPs
– Organising Data
– File Formats and Transformation
– Documentation and Metadata
– Storage and Security
– Data Protection
– Preservation, sharing and licensing
Also software practicals for users of SPSS, R, ArcGIS, Nvivo
Research Data MANTRA: http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/26
27. Sharing and remixing training materials!
MANTRA RDM Training materials:
http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/
UEL supportDM training course:
http://www.uel.ac.uk/trad/activities/
DCC / Northampton, RDM for Librarians:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/rdm-librarians
Nottingham Short Course on RDM:
http://admire.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2013/04/22/adapting-using-and-re-
using-rdm-training-materials/
Summary from Laura Molloy on MRD Evidence Gatherer blog:
http://mrdevidence.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2013/04/19/413/
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28. Training for librarians
RDM for librarians, DCC
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/rdm-librarians
RDMRose, University of Sheffield
http://rdmrose.group.shef.ac.uk
Data Intelligence for librarians, 3TU, Netherlands
http://dataintelligence.3tu.nl/en/about-the-course
DIY Training Kit for Librarians, University of Edinburgh
http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/libtraining.html
SupportDM modules, University of East London
http://www.uel.ac.uk/trad/outputs/resources
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29. DCC training course: RDM for Librarians
3 hour course by the DCC covering:
– Research data and RDM
– Data management planning
– Data sharing
– Skills
– RDM at [INSERT YOUR UNI]
Slides and accompanying handbook
Used UKDA guide as pre-event reading
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/rdm-librarians
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30. Jisc MRD training: RDMRose
Taught and CPD learning materials in RDM tailored for information
professionals, by the Uni of Sheffield
8 sessions, each = 0.5 day of study
Strong emphasis on practical hands-on activities
Also offer a short (2hr) course called RDMRose Lite
http://rdmrose.group.shef.ac.uk
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31. Data Intelligence for Librarians
A course produced by 3TU, a consortium of technical universities in
the Netherlands
Combination of online and face-to-face education
Four meetings to learn and share knowledge
Theory (on website) and assignments are conducted between
sessions
http://dataintelligence.3tu.nl/en/home
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32. DIY Training Kit for Librarians
By EDINA and Data Library at University of Edinburgh
Self-directed course, intended to be used by a group of librarians to
build confidence in supporting researchers
MANTRA modules as pre-reading, short presentation, reflective
questions and exercises to guide discussion
Five face-to-face sessions
– Data Management Planning
– Organising and documenting data
– Data security and storage
– Ethics and copyright
– Data sharing
http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/libtraining.html
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33. SupportDM
SupportDM comprises five sessions
– About research data management
– Providing guidance and support for researchers
– Data Management Planning
– Selecting which data to keep
– Cataloguing and sharing data
Each topic is introduced in a face-to-face session and explored via
exercises and discussion
Learning is reinforced via an online tutorial and practical exercises
http://www.uel.ac.uk/trad/outputs/resource
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34. Published reports / articles: academic librarians in RDM
Swan, Brown (2008): The skills, role and career structure of data scientists and
curators
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2008/dataskillscareersfinalreport.aspx
CILIP (2008): Data librarianship – a gap in the market
http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/updatemagazine/archive/archive2008/june/In
terview%20with%20Macdonald%20and%20Martinez-Uribe.htm
Lyon (2009): Open science at web scale
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2009/opensciencerpt.aspx
Pryor, Donnelly (2009): Skilling Up to Do Data: Whose Role, Whose
Responsibility, Whose Career? doi:10.2218/ijdc.v4i2.105
Molloy, Snow (2011): DaMSSI final report (inc. training recommendations)
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/73256/1/73256.pdf
Auckland (2012): Reskilling for Research. http://www.rluk.ac.uk/content/re-
skilling-research
Corrall et al (2013): Emerging trends in library support for research. Library
Trends, May 2013. doi:10.1353/lib.2013.0005
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35. Merci / thank you!
E-mail: laura.molloy@glasgow.ac.uk
Twitter: @LM_HATII ; #jiscmrd ; #UKDCC
JISC Managing Research Data Programme:
http://bit.ly/jiscmrd2011-13
JISC MRD Programme Blog: http://researchdata.jiscinvolve.org/wp/
Digital Curation Centre: http://www.dcc.ac.uk
RESEARCH-DATAMAN Discussion List:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=RESEARCH-
DATAMAN
Slide acknowledgements: Dr Simon Hodson, Joy Davidson, Sarah
Jones and colleagues at the DCC
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