Robert J. Sandusky
Associate University Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago
William Michener
Director of e-Science Initiatives
University of New Mexico
Karl Benedict
Director of Research Data Services
University of New Mexico
Nancy Maron
President
BlueSky to BluePrint
When DataONE was funded nearly a decade ago by the National Science Foundation DataNET program, it had become clear that with increasing volume and diversity of scientific data, researchers would require better solutions to manage and preserve the data they generated and more efficient means to discover the data created by others. DataONE was created to provide a discovery layer across multiple data repositories, provide a preservation option for participants who wished to replicate copies of their data, and conduct a broad education and community outreach campaign. The landscape today is more, not less, complicated with the profusion of open access datasets and repositories, funder and publisher mandates for researchers to make their data openly available, gradual adoption of new practices by scientists, and the slow evolution of structures to incentivize sharing and reuse of data. Over the past several years many more players have emerged, from domain and institutional repositories that host data, to new discovery products and services from Google, Elsevier, and others, requiring new thinking about how to maximize the value and impact of research data in a diversified discovery and use landscape. This session will encourage a discussion of challenges and opportunities in the contemporary data management and discovery landscape, including the ability of the academy to own and operate core infrastructure to manage its data; efforts to promote the use of metadata standards across fields; efforts to add value through expression of dataset provenance; and to transform researcher practices around the sharing and re-use of data. In addition, the session will encourage feedback from participants on areas of greatest need and opportunity for DataONE going forward. While DataONE has been successful in many ways—the federation consists of metadata from 40 scientific data repositories from around the world, referencing more than 1.2M datasets, and has been a key player in raising awareness of and improving data practices across the data lifecycle for researchers, data managers, and data librarians—DataONE is currently examining its sustainability options. This session will share an overview of DataONE progress to date, encourage participation in a discussion about current needs for better discovery and preservation of data, and seek feedback for participants on future directions for DataONE.
