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 ExLibris event, 'Excellence in Academic Knowledge Management', Utrecht, 29 October 2013.

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
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Utrecht
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2. Today’s talk
Why research data management matters
Context from the UK
The Jisc Managing Research Data programme
Research libraries > better RDM
Some useful training resources
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3. 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
– Excellent research infrastructure
– Better oversight of research outputs
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4. 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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5. 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/science-public-enterprise/report/
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6. 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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7. UK drivers: Research Funder Policies
RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy:
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/DataPolicy.aspx
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.
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8. 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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9. 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-icp
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10. 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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11. Building Institutional Capacity:
Second MRD Programme, 2011-13
Encouraged to
reuse outputs from
first programme and
elsewhere.
Mix of pilot projects
and embedding
projects.
Holistic institutional
approach to RDM.
Second JISC MRD Programme, 2011-13: http://bit.ly/jiscmrd2011-13
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12. Components of RDM support services
RDM Policy and
Roadmap
Business Plan and
Sustainability
Research Data
Registry
Guidance, Training and Support
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13. http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/how-develop-rdm-services
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14. DCC curation lifecycle model
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/curation-lifecycle-model

15. Components of RDM support services
RDM Policy and
Roadmap
Business Plan and
Sustainability
Research Data
Registry
Guidance, Training and Support
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16. Institutional Policies and Roadmaps – DCC resources
 Institutional Research Data Management Policies:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/institutional-data-policies/uk-institu
 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. 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).
 E.g. Bristol have set KPIs for ongoing service:
– More information at
http://data.blogs.ilrt.org/files/2012/10/databris-bizcase.pdf and on
Bristol data.bris project / data service blog at
http://data.blogs.ilrt.org/jisc-project/
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18. Data Management Planning

Detailed guidance on funder requirements for DMPs from DCC:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/resource/policy/FundersDataPla

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. Institutional data repositories
Cambridge, Exeter,
Herts, QMUL
http://datashare.is.ed.ac.uk
http://ckan.org
Data.bris, Bristol; Orbital,
Lincoln; KAPTUR; iridium,
Newcastle
https://databank.ora.ox.ac.uk
Research Data@Essex;
DataPool, Southampton;
RoaDMaP, Leeds;
C4D, Glasgow;
RD@Essex ReCollect App
http://bazaar.eprints.org/280/
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20. Metadata Schema for Institutional Data Repositories
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/375386/rde_eprints_metadataprofile.pdf
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21. ReCollect App for Eprints Data Repositories
http://bazaar.eprints.org/280/
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22. How are libraries engaging in RDM?
The library is leading on most DCC institutional engagements
www.dcc.ac.uk/community/institutional-engagements
They are involved in:
 defining the institutional strategy
 developing RDM policy
 delivering training courses
 helping researchers to write DMPs
 advising on data sharing and citation
 setting up data repositories
 ...
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23. 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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24. Why should libraries support 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...
 highly relevant skill set
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25. 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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26. 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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27. 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) disciplinefocussed 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-n
 Psychology and computer science; digital music; physics and astronomy; subject and
liaison librarians.
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28. 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/
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29. 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-rd
 Summary from Laura Molloy on MRD Evidence Gatherer blog:
http://mrdevidence.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2013/04/19/413/
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30. 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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31. 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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32. 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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33. 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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34. 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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35. 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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36. 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/reskilling-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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37. Thank you!
 E-mail: laura.molloy@glasgow.ac.uk
 Twitter: @LM_HATII ; #jiscmrd ; #UKDCC
 JISC Managing Research Data Programme: http://bit.ly/jiscmrd201113
 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=RESEARCHDATAMAN
 Slide acknowledgements: Dr Simon Hodson, Joy Davidson, Sarah
Jones and colleagues at the DCC
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