Investigation and analysis of research data services in university libraries

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to find the current situation of research data services by academic libraries and summarize some strategies for university libraries to reference. Recent years have seen an increasing number of university libraries extended their traditional roles and provided research data services. Design/methodology/approach – This paper selected 87 libraries of the top 100 universities listed in the World’s Best Universities released by the USA News in October 2012 as samples and conducted a Web site investigation to check if there were any research data services provided. In addition, it made an interview with the Wuhan University Library’s Research Data Service Workgroup to understand the procedure, difficulties and experiences of their research data service. Based on the survey and interview, it analyzed the current status and difficulties of research data services in university libraries and proposed some strategies for others to reference. Findings – Of the 87 university libraries investigated, 50 libraries have offered research data services. Most of the services can be divided into six aspects: research data introduction, data management guideline, data curation and storage service, data management training, data management reference and resource recommendation. Among these services, research data introduction is the most frequently provided (47.13 per cent), followed by data curation and storage services (43.68 per cent), data management guideline (42.53 per cent), data management reference (41.38 per cent), resource recommendation (41.38 per cent) and data management training (24.14 per cent). The difficulties met by research data service of Chinese academic libraries are also concluded. Originality/value – Through Web site investigation and interview with the Wuhan University Library’s Research Data Service, this paper presented an overall picture of research data services in university libraries and identified the difficulties and experiences of research data services of the Wuhan University Library. Based on some successful examples, it put forward some strategies for university libraries to reference. This study is very useful for academic libraries to promote their research data services.

Research Data Services in European Academic Research Libraries

“…They may require assistance with activities such as creating metadata, locating datasets, and finding appropriate places to store their data (Aydinoglu, Suomela, & Malone, 2014;Enke et al, 2012;Kratz & Strasser, 2015;Schmidt, Gemeinholzer, & Treloar, 2016;Specht et al, 2015;Tenopir et al, 2011Tenopir et al, , 2015a. Earlier surveys of researchers suggest roles for research libraries in providing support for research data management, an extension of the library's traditional role in providing research and reference services (Si et al, 2015;Tenopir et al, 2012Tenopir et al, , 2015bVlaeminck, 2013).…”

“…Libraries vary in how well they are able to support RDS and what range of services they offer (Corrall, Kennan, & Afzal, 2013;Cox & Pinfield, 2014;Si et al, 2015). Rittel and Weber (1973) describe a complex societal problem that is difficult to solve due to a number of factors.…”

Research Data Management Among Life Sciences Faculty: Implications for Library Service

“…A similar 2013 study across Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom revealed that the majority of the RDM service types they examined were currently available or planned at over half of the libraries included in the study (Corrall, Kennan, & Afzal, 2013). Of 87 top worldwide research universities evaluated by Si, Xing, Zhuang, Hua, and Zhou (2015), 50 offered research data services. The Virginia Commonwealth University has created a new position of Director of Research Data Management (Henderson & Knott, 2015), and Oregon State University now offers a credit-bearing graduate course in Research Data Management (Whitmire, 2015).…”

Transparency: The Emerging Third Dimension of Open Science and Open Data

“…Recent international studies of research data services have identified a range of issues associated with these developments (Corrall, Kennan, & Afzal, 2013;Si, Xing, Zhuang, Hua, & Zhou, 2015). LIS have a key role in engaging and contributing to different stages in the research lifecycle and there are also critical implications for LIS education.…”