Managing Research Data

This title defines what is required to achieve a culture of effective data management offering advice on the skills required, legal and contractual obligations, strategies and management plans and the data management infrastructure of specialists and services. Data management has become an essential requirement for information professionals over the last decade, particularly for those supporting the higher education research community, as more and more digital information is created and stored. As budgets shrink and funders of research demand evidence of value for money and demonstrable benefits for society, there is increasing pressure to provide plans for the sustainable management of data. Ensuring that important data remains discoverable, accessible and intelligible and is shared as part of a larger web of knowledge will mean that research has a life beyond its initial purpose and can offer real utility to the wider community. This edited collection, bringing together leading figures in the field from the UK and around the world, provides an introduction to all the key data issues facing the HE and information management communities. Each chapter covers a critical element of data management: Why manage research data? The lifecycle of data management Research data policies: principles, requirements and trends Sustainable research data Data management plans and planning Roles and responsibilities – libraries, librarians and data Research data management: opportunities and challenges for HEIs The national data centres Contrasting national research data strategies: Australia and the USA Emerging infrastructure and services for research data management and curation in the UK and Europe. Readership: This is essential reading for librarians and information professionals working in the higher education sector, the research community, policy makers and university managers. It will also be a useful introduction for students taking courses in information management, archivists and national library services.

Table of Contents:
1. Why manage research data? - Graham Pryor 2. The lifecycle of data management - Sarah Higgins 3. Research data policies: principles, requirements and trends - Sarah Jones 4. Sustainable research data - Brian F. Lavoie 5. Data management plans and planning - Martin Donnelly 6. Roles and responsibilities – libraries, librarians and data - Sheila Corrall 7. Research data management: opportunities and challenges for HEIs - Rob Procter, Peter Halfpenny and Alex Voss 8. The national data centres - Ellen Collins 9. Contrasting national research data strategies: Australia and the USA - Andrew Treloar, G Sayeed Choudhury and William Michener 10. Emerging infrastructure and services for research data management and curation in the UK and Europe - Angus Whyte

About the Author :
Graham Pryor is Associate Director of the Digital Curation Centre, the UK's leading centre of expertise on digital data curation supporting the HE community.

Review :
This is an excellent book for anyone, not just information professionals, looking to ‘introduce and familiarize' themselves with a complex and challenging, yet increasingly important topic. The book benefits from a prestigious line-up of knowledgeable authors, including those who are actually ‘doing’ research and research data management. As an edited volume it fits well together as a single entity even though written by a number of individuals: chapters reference other chapters and the reader is not left with a sense of a ‘cobbled-together’ mix of disparate topics from different people. The content can equally well be dipped into, as read from cover to cover. The book provides a good introduction to RDM, but would also be of use to those readers very experienced in all matters to do with research data curation and management. I was impressed by the clarity and liveliness of the prose- inevitably any book on a relatively “dry” topic will have stretches of unexciting or technical prose, but this book’s style of writing is in general mercifully free from this problem. I would recommend it for middle to senior library managers who are looking to dip their toe into the murky waters of RDM; senior university managers wanting a broad overview of RDM policy and practice; and to those already well-versed in RDM matters but wanting to know about recent developments in RDM, as well as its future. "This is an excellent book for anyone, not just information professionals, looking to ‘introduce and familiarize' themselves with a complex and challenging, yet increasingly important topic. The book benefits from a prestigious line-up of knowledgeable authors, including those who are actually ‘doing’ research and research data management. As an edited volume it fits well together as a single entity even though written by a number of individuals: chapters reference other chapters and the reader is not left with a sense of a ‘cobbled-together’ mix of disparate topics from different people. The content can equally well be dipped into, as read from cover to cover." - Ariadne "The book provides a good introduction to RDM, but would also be of use to those readers very experienced in all matters to do with research data curation and management. I was impressed by the clarity and liveliness of the prose- inevitably any book on a relatively “dry” topic will have stretches of unexciting or technical prose, but this book’s style of writing is in general mercifully free from this problem. I would recommend it for middle to senior library managers who are looking to dip their toe into the murky waters of RDM; senior university managers wanting a broad overview of RDM policy and practice; and to those already well-versed in RDM matters but wanting to know about recent developments in RDM, as well as its future." - SCONUL Focus ...this collection belongs at every library considering or already implementing tools and services to help researchers manage their data better and comply with the bewildering array of data-related policies emerging from all quarters. 'This is an excellent book for anyone, not just information professionals, looking to ‘introduce and familiarize' themselves with a complex and challenging, yet increasingly important topic. The book benefits from a prestigious line-up of knowledgeable authors, including those who are actually ‘doing’ research and research data management. As an edited volume it fits well together as a single entity even though written by a number of individuals: chapters reference other chapters and the reader is not left with a sense of a ‘cobbled-together’ mix of disparate topics from different people. The content can equally well be dipped into, as read from cover to cover.'