1. Defining the Libraries' Role in
Research: A Needs
Assessment Case Study
Michael Crumpton
Kathryn Crowe
UNC Greensboro
LAUNC-CH Conference 2014

2. Why survey?
• Assess faculty needs re: storing and sharing
data
• Determine priorities and resources
• Respond to federal and university policies for
data sharing

3. What is research?
• Information recorded in any form, and
includes any materials needed to validate
research findings, such as laboratory
notebooks, biological specimens, video,
photographs, and environmental samples

4. Collaborators
• University Libraries
• Information Technology Services
• Office of Research and Economic
Development

5. How about Your Campus?
• Has there been needs assessment for data
storage and sharing on your campus?
• Who did the assessment?
____________________________________

6. Priorities for Support Query
• Information about best practices developing a data management plan
(both short term & long term)
• Assistance with cost estimates for data storage and retrieval
• Assistance meeting data sharing or storage requirements (e.g. funding
agencies, IRB)
• Assistance storing data with third-party archives (e.g. ICPSR; ODUM at
UNC Chapel Hill; BIRN at NIH)
• Routine data storage & backup services
• Tools for sharing research data
• Digitizing data from older formats
• Assistance applying metadata to research data (descriptive information for
accessibility, e.g. title, date, creator, keywords)
• Assistance preparing data sets for public access (e.g. de-identifying data)
• Data disposal/destruction
• Other (please specify)

7. Methodology
• Developed survey fall 2012
• Tested late 2012 and early 2013
• Distributed to all faculty, research and post-
doctoral staff (1,193)
• 160 completed (13% response rate)

8. Who responded
• 73% tenure track faculty
• 38% had external funding

9. Research Data Formats
Text
Spreadshe
et
PDF
Statistical
software
notes/sket
ches/figure
s
Digital
images
Raw text
data
Consent
forms
Digital
audio
Web
Number 147 113 91 89 82 75 70 62 61 54
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Top 10 Research Data Formats
Number

10. Document and Text Formats
Portable document
format
Spreadsheet Text
Hand-written
notes/ sketches/
figures
Non-digital text Web
Number 91 113 147 82 30 54
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Document and Text Formats
Number

11. Visual Formats
Non-digital audio
recordings
Digital audio Digital video CAD Digital images Artistic products
Number 7 61 46 4 75 22
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Audio/Video/Images Formats
Number

12. Science Specific
GIS
Gene sequences or samples or
specimens
Number 15 9
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Science Formats
Number

13. Storing data
• 68% use CD/DVD,USB, external hard drive
• 58% use computer hard drive
• 27% network file space
• 28% cloud
• Only 16% automatically generate backup files

14. Sharing data
• 75% did not anticipate sharing data!
• Use cloud services (e.g. Dropbox, Google
Docs)
• CDs, file transfer

15. Barriers to sharing
• Size of datasets
• Confidentiality and copyright
• Easily accessible access to central storage on
campus
• Lack of knowledge about sharing- what can be
shared and how to do it
• Compatibility across systems

16. Participation
• Who assists faculty and researchers on your
campus with Data Management Plans?
– Library
– Research office
– Both
– Other (we’ll ask you to explain!)
________________________________

17. Data Management Plans
• 40% (of 97 respondents that currently have
plans)
Required by IRB
Required by the
funding agency
Required by unit
or Research
Center
Good practice Other
Number 47 39 8 64 10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Reason for Data Management Plan
Number

18. Priorities for support (summary)
• Storage and backup
• Meeting data storage and sharing
requirements
• Data Management Plans

19. Conclusions
• Storage and automatic backup greatest need
• Assistance w/ sharing data 2nd greatest need
• Most faculty back up data but are not
following best practices
• Many faculty not aware of data sharing
requirements or assume final publication
suffices

20. Follow up
• Wrote report and shared on campus
• ITS launched a hosting service and Box Cloud
storage
• Libraries provide social science data through the
Odum Institute
• OSP provides DMP assistance
• ORED survey
• Libraries and OSP collaborating on DMPTool
• Research Coordinator position

21. ACRL Midwinter Forum
• Possible roles for librarians
– Consultation on DMP
– Curation
– Long term preservation of data
– Clearinghouse (knowledge banks)
– Extending Sc Comm tools to include data mgmt
– Data literary
– Advocacy

22. Changes to Liaison Responsibilities
• Coordination and referral for library services
– Data management support
– DMP
– Grant writing support
– Training and instruction on resources
– Technology support for web design, database
development, digitization services, application
hosting
– Data curation activities

23. UNCG Libraries Research Support
• Liaison services
• Data services
• NC Docks/Odum
• Scholarly Communication program
• Open Journal Systems
• Open Access fee
• Copyright web site

24. What about YOU?
• What Data Management Services does your
library offer?
– Help with DMP’s
– Help with Grant Writing
– Data Storage options
– Data Curation support
– Supporting policies on use, archiving, access and
copyright