Research Data Management Assistance at Virginia Tech: Posts - Data Management and Curation Services

Engaging Researchers with Data Management: Virginia Tech University Libraries Informatics Consultants

Jon was interviewed for a case study in a recently released open-access book Engaging Researchers with Data Management: The Cookbook by Connie Clare, Maria Cruz, Elli Papadopoulou, James Savage, Marta Teperek, Yan Wang, Iza Witkowska, and Joanne Yeomans.

The book focuses on how institutions can address the issue that “many researchers are unfamiliar with [research data management] best practices, and research support staff are faced with the difficult task of delivering support to researchers across different disciplines and career stages.” If you are working in research data management services at an institution you should look into this book!

Within Virginia Tech University Libraries Data Services lies the Informatics Lab, which Jon discussed for the book (case study within the book here). Staffed with Data and Informatics Consultants with both domain research and consulting experience, they can help researchers with many research data management processes including analysis, visualization, and workflow development.

Towards how the Informatics Lab and its staff help to engage researchers in research data management, Jon is quoted in the book: “When our consultants talk to researchers about the kind of data they produce, about all those different proteins and complex molecules, for example, they help researchers realise that it’s actually all data. They get them to think about their research in a different way. This opens up an opportunity to have a conversation about changing their practice...It’s a one person to one person thing and it leads to slow cultural change.”

A newer addition to Data Services is the DataBridge program, wherein undergraduates work on research data projects, assisting researchers and also providing education experiences for the undergraduates themselves. This program is a useful model in how research data management services may be scaled up from full-time employees.

Jon also presented this case study at the Research Data Alliance 14th Plenary in Helsinki, Finland within a Birds of a Feather group looking to begin professionalizing data stewardship in the RDM community.