In 2014, support for data ranked as one of the top trends in academic libraries: “Increased emphasis on open data, data-plan management, and ‘big data’ research are creating the impetus for academic institutions from colleges to research universities to develop and deploy new initiatives, service units, and resources to meet scholarly needs at various stages of the research process” (ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee). At Rice, the Research Data Management Team (RDMT) is developing strategies and services to assist researchers in managing their data. This informal working group includes members from Fondren, the Office of Information Technology and the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology, consulting with other stakeholders as needed. RDMT seeks to understand local needs and emerging best practices around research data and to facilitate collaborations to meet these needs, including through infrastructure development, training and consultation.
Recently the RDMT prepared a report that describes data management needs at Rice, such as easy-to-use, well-supported data storage, training in best practices for data management (particularly for graduate students), and support in writing data management plans (especially given funders’ increasing emphasis on them). A small working group is now being assembled that will develop a more specific proposal for providing data management infrastructure and services at Rice, building on current activities.
The RDMT offers consultation services for researchers developing data management plans, which most federal funding agencies require or will soon require. As they create their data management plans, Rice researchers can use the web-based templates provided by DMPTool; they can log in using their netids and passwords.
To assist researchers in writing effective plans and in better managing their data, the RDMT is offering several workshops during the fall semester, including:
Fondren staff are welcome to sign up for the first two workshops; the last one is reserved for graduate students.
Last year the RDMT worked on a small pilot project to bring a dataset into the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive, in the process developing a metadata profile and tackling questions about scope and workflow. We hope to expand our pilot project to share small, finalized datasets through the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive. If you know of good faculty partners for such a project, please contact Lisa Spiro.
As the RDMT develops its services and resources, we welcome help spreading the word about our work, as well as input on how best to support researchers in managing their research data.
