Dylan Ruediger
Program Manager, The Research Enterprise
Ithaka S+R
Laura Hibbler
Associate Librarian for Research and Instruction
Brandeis University
Renea Barger
Associate Vice Chancellor, Health Service Library System
University of Pittsburgh
Scott Walter
Dean of the Library
San Diego State University
Jennifer Green
Associate Librarian for Research and Learning
University of Chicago
Data support services have become an essential part of the academic research infrastructure and demand for them seems certain to increase as data-intensive research grows more complex and as funder mandates raise the bar for data management across the research lifecycle. Yet, on many campuses these services have developed with little strategic oversight into a hodge-podge of workshops, trainings, and consulting options spread across a range of campus units that are opaque to researchers and administrators alike. Around the country, university leaders are recognizing the need for a more strategic approach to coordinating data support services with the goal of ensuring that they efficiently and effectively meet the current and future needs of researchers. While promising experiments are underway at some institutions, the question of how to accomplish this goal remains an open one. Early this year, Ithaka S+R launched a multi-year project in partnership with over two dozen universities to create evidence-based strategies for coordinating, funding, and staffing research data support services across campus. This project briefing, held in roundtable format, will bring together library leaders to identify opportunities and challenges associated with coordinating data support services, and will reflect on what they will need to learn in order to align support services with researchers’ needs and their institution’s strategic priorities.
https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/building-campus-strategies-for-data-support-services-project-kicks-off/
