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BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY
Preserving research data without breaking the bank
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
UK: England & Wales License
Gareth Knight
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
M25 Academic Libraries Conference 2015
28 April 2015
Overview
1. Motivation & challenges for preserving research data
2. Overview of sustainability research
3. Data management as a sustainable economic activity– Creating incentives to manage research data
– Acquiring resources to manage process
– Assigning roles & responsibilities
4. Providing centralised support– Challenges for RDM support services
– Managing process using limited resources
5. Conclusion
London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine
Institution
• A university for research and postgraduate education in public health and tropical medicine
• Recognised as one of world’s highest rated universities for collaborative research
• Research taking place in 100+ countries
RDM Support Service
• Researcher-demand for central support
• Established as part of Library & Archives Service in 2012
– Wellcome Trust funded 2012-15
– Institutional funded 2015 onwards
Research data in the university
Context
• Digital information is fragile & needs to be managed over time
• Significant amount of research data held in varied forms
• Library & Archives Services well placed within institution to help researchers and provide curation function
Challenge:
• Long-term management needs rarely addressed in short-term funding
• Difficult to place value on preservation benefits if not in institution’s core business
• Institutions unwilling to allocate large amount of centralised funding
• Little co-ordination of preservation activities & lack of clear responsibility within projects
"One of the greatest risks we run in not preserving our own digital assets for ourselves is that we simultaneously cease to preserve our own viability as
institutions"Halbert & Skinner (2010)
Towards Sustainable resources
“sustainability is the ability to generate or gain access to the resources… needed to protect and increase the value of the content or service for those who use it”
JISC - Sustaining Digital Resources: An On-the-Ground View of Projects Today (2009)
Preservation as a
sustainable economic activity
“ sustainable economics for digital preservation is not just about finding more funds”Blue Ribbon Task Force (2010)
Rusbridge & Lavoie (2011)Draft Reference Model for Economic Sustainability of Digital Curation
Benefits & Incentives
Build case for preserving research data in institution
Rusbridge & Lavoie (2011)Draft Reference Model for Economic Sustainability of Digital Curation
Establish benefits
• Outcomes that will be possible as a result of activity
• Objectives that won’t be achievable if not performed
Identify key stakeholders
• Establish role in organisation
• Relation to research data preservation
Tailor message
• Target their “self interests”
• Encourage them to invest & accept responsibility
Establishing buy-in: Incentives
Outcomes that may result from improved data management practice
Data Creators
Improve likelihood of research funding
Potential to use data in further research
Fulfil publisher obligations & achieve higher rate of citation
Spend less time answering data user
questions
Research Leaders
Contribution to “reproducible research”
agenda
Enhanced data handling practice & less
duplication of effort
Greater take-up of research outputs in research & teaching
Senior Management
Better able to achieve strategic goals to maximise
research impact
Build capacity within institution & collaborators
Remain competitive with other institutions
Ensure compliance with regulatory and
contractual obligations
Establishing buy-in: Challenges
Reaching audience
• Staff don’t read emails
• Ignore 1-to-1 meeting requests
• Work overseas
Too much work,too little time
• Sciences are highly regulated
• Concern over institutional ‘red tape’
Varying motivations
• Many researchers are supported with no data management req.
• Uncertainty on how it applies to their field
Absence of case studies in subject area
• “These practices may apply to domain X, but my research is different”
Departure of local champions
•Replacement staff unaware of need / less willing to champion
•Need to restart process
Acquiring data management
resources
Various resources:
• Staff
• IT Systems
• Funding
Appropriately allocated:
Should fulfil:
• Current needs
• Scalable to future needs
Calculating resource allocation:
• Need to tailor to local needs
• Several resource calculators exist
Roles & responsibilityP
roje
ct s
taff • Role:
• RDM responsibility during project.
• Limited RDM role in post-project
• Supported by research funder(?)
• Challenges:
• Staff may not have expertise
• Not all funders support RDM costs
• RDM costs often removed during negotiation phase R
DM
sta
ff • Role:• Post-project curation & preservation
• Typically located within Library, Research Office or Archives
• Challenges:• How to fund model in long-term
• Standard - Standard (institutional fund)
• Project-specific support (day rate)
• Out-sourced/in-house data repository
• How to pass charges to project
• Flat vs. variable
• Oxford Research Archive £140 + £5 per GB
• Archaeology Data Service – data type
Management structure for maintaining data
Scientific Data Management
• Research methods can be difficult to understand for non-experts
• Language varies between– Subject domains
– Science & technology(DOI has a different meaning!)
Specialised software & file formats• Characterisation tools don’t identify
• Limited conversion options
• Few recognised preservation formats
Using staff time effectively
Providing RDM support using limited resources
Plan proposal
Project Start
Project End
Possible deletion
Identify RDM
resources
Develop funder DMP
Create & store data
Journal data needs
Data sharing
agreementPrepare data for deposit
Data description
Preservation & sharing Qs
RDM Website Training sessions RDM videos
Responding to evolving needs
Support requests:• Monitor demand over time
– 88 (2013)
– 120 (2014)
– 42 (Jan-Mar 2015)
• Produce/Update guidance to reflectcommon questions
Data Management Plans
• Tailored feedback on request
• Produce sample DMPs for common fundershttp://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/researchdataman/plan/
Top 10 RDM topics raised in 2014http://blogs.lshtm.ac.uk/rdmss/support-planning/
Enhancing RDM Practice
Mandate that projects without a funder DMP obligation should produce a institutional DMP
Strategy for minimising resource allocation:
1. Prioritise key projects: LSHTM-led projects are mandated, consultancies & others encouraged
2. Avoid duplication: Allow projects to submit a Research Protocol or other DMP if they have produced one
3. Acquire DMPs for funded projects only: Analysis of 2013 funding bids found that:
– 247 met eligibility criteria at pre-award
– 97 met eligibility criteria at post-award
Ensure Data Management is considered from outset
End of project support
Guidance on ‘data archiving’ process:
• (re)familiarisation with funder/publisher requirements
• Prepare data for transfer
• Locating appropriate repository
– Domain repository preferred
– LSHTM repository for non-sensitive ‘homeless data’
Liaise with projects in final 3 months of funding
Concluding thoughts
• Need to embed digital preservation within research process and institution structure
• Emphasise outcomes of digital preservation to obtain commitment to maintain digital resources in long-term
• University library & archives well placed to drive change - collaborative approach necessary to fulfil objectives
• Future levels of support cannot be guaranteed - careful management of resources is needed to support and enhance data handling practice
“ sustainable economics for digital preservation is… about building an economic activity firmly rooted in a compelling value proposition, clear incentives to act, and well-defined preservation
roles and responsibilities.”Blue Ribbon Task Force (2010)
Thank You for your attention!
Gareth Knight.Project Manager, LSHTM Research Data Management ServiceEmail: [email protected]
Questions
References
Blue Ribbon Task Force - Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet http://brtf.sdsc.edu/biblio/BRTF_Final_Report.pdf
eSpida balanced scorecard handbook - http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/library/espida/
Balanced value Impact Model - http://www.kdcs.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/impact.html
A Digital Roadmap for Long‐Term Access to Digital Heritage Conference (2013) -http://www.unesco.nl/sites/default/files/uploads/Comm_Info/digital_roadmap_-_report.pdf
Keeping Research Data Safe - http://www.beagrie.com/krds/
JISC - Sustaining Digital Resources: An On-the-Ground View of Projects Today (2009)http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/programmerelated/2009/scaithakaprojectstoday.aspx
Rusbridge & Lavoie (2011). Draft Reference Model for Economic Sustainability of Digital Curation https://unsustainableideas.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/sustainability-strategy-revised/
JISC. Funding for sustainability: How funders' practices influence the future of digital resources http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140614201525/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/programmerelated/2011/fundingforsustainability.aspx