Engaging stakeholders: the key to successful research data management library services

Research data form an integral part of a researchers’ scholarly outputs. Research data can be a valuable resource, which can often be repurposed and future research can build upon, but more importantly research data provide critical evidence for validating the results of research. In recognising the significance of research data, the government, funding bodies and the general public increasingly demand open data for sharing and re-use. Evidently, to be able to share and re-use, research data need to be well-managed and securely stored. Research institutions have a responsibility to ensure that the research data produced by their researchers are well managed. The Australian Code of Responsible Conduct of Research states that academic institutions have responsibilities to “provide facilities for the safe and secure storage of research data and for maintaining records of where research data are stored.” (The Australian Code of Responsible Conduct of Research, 2007, p. 2.1)Academic libraries have a long history of supporting research activities by acquiring, maintaining and disseminating scholarly information in universities (Corrall, S, 2013; Searle, S; 2015). With the skills and knowledge of information preservation and curation, and with their extremely flexible and responsive attitude, academic librarians can be instrumental in providing training and advice for managing, preserving, sharing and re-use of research data (Cox & Pinfield, 2014; Brown, Wolski & Richardson, 2015). Increasingly the governing committees in academic libraries recognise that developing research data management support services is an important strategic priority for librarians to provide to their parent institution (Cox & Pinfield, 2014; Rambo, N, 2015). At the same time, it becomes evident that research data management is a complex process that happens at every stage of the research life cycle (Brown, Wolski & Richardson, 2015; Pryor, 2012); therefore, it is a priority for librarians to closely align their work in this area with other organisational units within the University. This requires librarians to build and maintain relationships with both external as well as internal stakeholders. Because of their knowledge and skillset, academic librarians can potentially play a vital role in providing research data management services to researchers. However, for these services to be successful, it is imperative for the librarians to build and maintain relationships with both internal and external stakeholders at all levels. The University of Queensland Library Research Data Management team work closely with the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), the Research Integrity Office, the Information Technology Services (ITS), researchers, research administrators, as well as external data service providers such as the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) and Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF). The Research Data Management Team is supported by faculty librarians to provide infrastructure, advice, and training to UQ Research Higher Degree (RHD) students and researchers. This presentation will discuss the strategies and approaches we adopted over the past five years to engage and maintain relationships with the multiple critical stakeholders, and share the tangible outcomes achieved by developing the Research Data Management Services at UQ Library.