With Sloan Foundation Funding, Six Major Academic/Research Libraries to Develop “Data Curation Network” Project

From the University of Minnesota Libraries:

In an effort to improve researcher support, the University of Minnesota Libraries will lead efforts to develop a network for sharing data curation resources and staff across six major academic libraries. The one-year project is funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The one-year project is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and will be led by the University of Minnesota Libraries.
The Data Curation Network will develop a ‘network of expertise’ model for data curation services that will enable academic libraries to collectively, and more effectively, curate a wider variety of data types – for example, by discipline and file format – that expands beyond what any single institution might offer alone. The goal is to better support researchers faced with a growing number of requirements to openly and ethically share their research data.
Currently, staff at each of the participating institutions provides data curation services, including preparing digital research data for open access and reuse.
The one-year project planning team, led by Lisa R. Johnston, Research Data Management/Curation Lead at the University of Minnesota Libraries, is charged with determining how to effectively implement, assess, and sustain a shared staffing model for providing data curation services.
Johnston, Principal Investigator, will be joined by:

• Jake Carlson, Research Data Services Manager, University of Michigan
• Patricia Hswe, the Digital Content Strategist at Penn State University
• Cynthia Hudson-­Vitale, Data Outreach Librarian, Washington University in St. Louis
• Heidi Imker, Director of the Research Data Service, University of Illinois at Urbana­-Champaign
• Wendy Kozlowski, Data Curation Specialist, Cornell University Library
• Claire Stewart, Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning, University of Minnesota.

The project team will actively monitor the metrics involved with curating data (such as duration, volume, skill sets utilized, and data type frequency) at the six academic institutions. The project outcomes will be posted publically on the team’s website.
The consortia will seek input from researchers to better understand how data curation services fit into their research workflow and data management needs through informal engagement activities held in parallel on each campus.
“We are particularly excited to receive this award as it addresses a pressing need not just for academic libraries but for researchers in all fields who need support in sharing their research data,” said co-collaborator Jake Carlson from the University of Michigan. Through this process the team will release findings on budgeting, staffing models, and workflows for data curation relevant to academic libraries.
Following this work, the project team will seek funding to implement this model as a fixed-term pilot of the Data Curation Network.
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to demonstrate a successful and attractive Data Curation Network model,” said Johnston. “And we believe that this will help build the network beyond our initial cohort and enable informed and sustainable services by libraries.”

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