Research data services from the perspective of academic librarians

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate the perceptions of academic librarians regarding research data services (RDS) in academic library environments. This study also examines a range of challenges in RDS from the perspectives of academic librarians. Design/methodology/approach A nationwide online survey was administered to academic librarians engaged in data services at research universities around the USA. The collected survey responses were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling. Findings Academic librarians perceived that consultation services would be more valuable to users than technical services in offering RDS. Accordingly, skills associated with consultation services such as instructional skills and data management planning were perceived by participants to be more important. The results revealed that academic libraries would need to seek collaboration opportunities with other units on campus to develop and offer RDS, especially technical services. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing body of research on the topic of data services in research universities. The study investigated various types of specific professional competencies and used clustering analysis to identify closely associated groups of service types. In addition, this study comprehensively examined both relevant resources for and barriers to RDS.

Current status of research support services in university libraries of Pakistan

“…Approximately 75% of responding libraries provide an institutional research repository. Previous studies (Thompson et al, 2015;Reed, 2015) as well as the recent study by Joo and Schmidt (2021) have confirmed the importance of an institutional repository service among researchers, as it enables libraries to provide them with access to the intellectual work of the parent institution. In addition, such a service increases external, i.e.…”

“…That said, it should be noted that newer studies on RSS, and particularly RDS, have highlighted the challenges which libraries face in allocating research support staff. Cox et al (2019), Tenopir et al (2019a) and Joo and Schmidt (2021), for example, have reported on insufficient library staff, limited awareness among library staff, lack of training and insufficient time as major factors.…”

“…Recently, Joo and Schmidt (2021) have reported on their research into the range of challenges for RDS faced by research universities in the USA. They have defined RDS as “a broad set of services designed to assist researchers in data management planning, digital curation, data documentation, data analysis, data visualization and other areas” (239).…”

“…In a rapidly changing research environment, researchers are under pressure to keep pace with these changes (Courtney and Dallis, 2015; Farooq et al , 2016; Sandy et al , 2020; Joo and Schmidt, 2021). Consequently, reports from major library and information science (LIS) associations, such as Research Libraries UK (Evidence Base and Associates, 2021) and Association of College and Research Libraries (Connaway et al , 2017), have recommended that university libraries should provide RSS to researchers.…”

Fair Data: History and Present Context

“…They found that the most perceived critical data services were "assistance with data archiving", "assistance with data preservation", or "assistance with data documentation", among others. They also found that the primary skills useful for research data service were "developing and teaching instructional content related to data services", "data management planning", and "data ethics" (Joo & Schmidt, 2020).…”