Doerr's Candies delivery car in front of The Gettas Restaurant, 1916.
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RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT:
MARKING A MILESTONE WITH A NEW INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY
Alison Hitchens Associate university librarian
With research comes lots of data; information that can and should be organized, stored, built upon, and possibly shared with others. Since their inception, libraries organized, stewarded and provided easy access to information, making librarians frequent partners of researchers. In fact, our Library has been actively working with academic libraries across Canada for upwards of a decade to develop strategies to better manage research data. When the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy was announced in 2021, stating that publicly funded research data should be responsibly managed and – where appropriate – shared with others, the Library was a natural partner with the Office of Research to formalize a lot of the work that is already happening across campus.
To support researchers, the policy requires institutions to develop a holistic strategy to provide them with a path and the resources needed to create a research data management (RDM) plan. Sponsored by Charmaine Dean, vice-president, research and international, Beth Namachchivaya, university librarian, and Bruce Campbell, chief information officer, a cross-institution working group was struck to undertake this work on behalf of the University of Waterloo in July 2021.
“Our goal is to develop an RDM strategy for the University of Waterloo that sets researchers up for success … we truly believe that stewarding your data, describing your data, preserving your data, and, if appropriate, sharing your data aren’t just buzzwords but are things that foster research excellence,” said Ian Milligan, associate vice-president, research oversight and analysis, at the fall 2022 town hall on the subject. He is co-chair of the RDM working group, alongside Alison Hitchens, associate university librarian.
Ian Milligan Associate vice-president, research oversight and analysis
The working group developed an intentional approach that underscores the importance of this work in supporting research excellence – including engaging outside consultants to interview a cross-section of Waterloo researchers and launching a survey, shared widely with the campus research community.
By taking the time to gather as much information as possible, the working group gained a strong grasp on the current state of RDM planning on campus and gaps in services and resources directly from those that are impacted by this change. “We wanted to craft a research data management strategy that researchers could see themselves reflected in, and in turn, could help facilitate their research activities. Given the diversity of researchers on campus – from STEM to the humanities – the only way we could do this was through active outreach and engagement,” says Hitchens and Milligan of their approach.
After the town hall meeting where the working group shared a draft strategy to solicit further feedback, the final institutional strategy is ready to share; it will be regularly updated to reflect changes at Waterloo. However, as RDM plans become commonplace in the research landscape, one thing won’t change; the Library will remain the place to go for the latest tools and expertise in managing information.
With research comes lots of data; information that can and should be organized, stored, built upon, and possibly shared with others. Since their inception, libraries organized, stewarded and provided easy access to information, making librarians frequent partners of researchers. In fact, our Library has been actively working with academic libraries across Canada for upwards of a decade to develop strategies to better manage research data. When the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy was announced in 2021, stating that publicly funded research data should be responsibly managed and – where appropriate – shared with others, the Library was a natural partner with the Office of Research to formalize a lot of the work that is already happening across campus.
To support researchers, the policy requires institutions to develop a holistic strategy to provide them with a path and the resources needed to create a research data management (RDM) plan. Sponsored by Charmaine Dean, vice-president, research and international, Beth Namachchivaya, university librarian, and Bruce Campbell, chief information officer, a cross-institution working group was struck to undertake this work on behalf of the University of Waterloo in July 2021.
“Our goal is to develop an RDM strategy for the University of Waterloo that sets researchers up for success … we truly believe that stewarding your data, describing your data, preserving your data, and, if appropriate, sharing your data aren’t just buzzwords but are things that foster research excellence,” said Ian Milligan, associate vice-president, research oversight and analysis, at the fall 2022 town hall on the subject. He is co-chair of the RDM working group, alongside Alison Hitchens, associate university librarian.
Alison Hitchens Associate university librarian
Ian Milligan Associate vice-president, research oversight and analysis
The working group developed an intentional approach that underscores the importance of this work in supporting research excellence – including engaging outside consultants to interview a cross-section of Waterloo researchers and launching a survey, shared widely with the campus research community.
By taking the time to gather as much information as possible, the working group gained a strong grasp on the current state of RDM planning on campus and gaps in services and resources directly from those that are impacted by this change. “We wanted to craft a research data management strategy that researchers could see themselves reflected in, and in turn, could help facilitate their research activities. Given the diversity of researchers on campus – from STEM to the humanities – the only way we could do this was through active outreach and engagement,” says Hitchens and Milligan of their approach.
After the town hall meeting where the working group shared a draft strategy to solicit further feedback, the final institutional strategy is ready to share; it will be regularly updated to reflect changes at Waterloo. However, as RDM plans become commonplace in the research landscape, one thing won’t change; the Library will remain the place to go for the latest tools and expertise in managing information.