A survey of the state of research data services in 35 U.S. academic libraries, or "Wow, what a sweeping question"

Abstract

This report shares the results of a Spring 2018 survey of 35 academic libraries in the United States in regard to the research data services (RDS) they offer. An executive summary presents key findings while the results section provides detailed information on the answers to specific survey questions related to data repositories, metadata, workshops, and polices.

Developing research data management services in a regional comprehensive university: The case of Central Washington University

“…Yoon and Schultz (2017) analyzed 185 research university library websites and found that data deposit was the top service provided by research libraries. Also, Murray et al (2019) claim that data repository services were second among the services offered most by research libraries in their survey of the state of RDM in 35 US research university libraries. However, the current survey results show that the data deposit service ranked third (alongside assistance with conducting quantitative data analysis and data visualization) among the most needed services at CWU.…”

“…Most research studies investigating the role of libraries in developing RDM services have been performed in research university contexts (Murray et al, 2019; Tenopir et al, 2014; Yoon and Schultz, 2017; Yu, 2017). To date, few studies have examined the role of libraries in implementing RDM services in a regional comprehensive university context.…”

2020 top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues affecting academic libraries in higher education

“…37 The Greater Western Library Alliance found that most libraries with data repositories already have staff who assist researchers with creating metadata and data documentation. 38 A National Library of Medicine workshop identified seven skill categories for librarians working in data science and open science, including computational ability and program and service development. 39 As a result, many current data librarians will need more technical-intensive and advanced RDM training.…”

A survey of the state of research data services in 35 U.S. academic libraries, or "Wow, what a sweeping question"

“…2). The coded data, codebook, and analysis for this question is available through Open Science Framework, see files labeled "Q08" in Murray et al (2019) Which of the following research data metadata services does your library provide? (see Table 3) Table 2.…”

“…4). The coded data, codebook, and analysis for this question is available through Open Science Framework, see files labeled "Q11" in Murray et al (2019). Breakdown of the workshops or topics with a tool or programming language code applied (n=47).…”