Poster: Irish organisations and their research data: policy, practice and who’s involved

This poster will be presented at the International Digital Curation Conference, Melbourne, 4-7 February 2019. Abstract: In October 2017, a survey was circulated to 28 Irish organisations regarding their research data management policies and practices, as part of the author’s doctoral research on the connections between research data management and recordkeeping practices. Using the Digital Curation Centre’s Curation Life-cycle model as a framework, the survey was intended to answer two questions: 1. What are the current practices, policies and perspectives in Irish organisations regarding research data management? 2. Are recordkeeping professionals (archivists or records managers) involved in research data management in Irish organisations? The results provide a snapshot of the formats and topics of research data which are managed by Irish organisations, as well organisational practices regarding preservation, security, provision of access and metadata creation. Additionally, respondents reported which policies their organisation currently have in place in relation to research data management, and outlined their aspirations for how their approach to research data management might develop or improve at their organisation. The survey found that while all of the organisations receive or create data, and provide and allow reuse, 75% create descriptive metadata, and slightly fewer (63%) appraise data before deciding whether to store or preserve it. Organisational activities supporting preservation were also reviewed, with respondents reporting that most have standard back-up procedures in place in accordance with good IT practice. Very few had any migration strategies in place, or used checksums (three organisations) and two stored technical metadata for their datasets. Reflecting the likelihood of organisations to provide access to their data, the most common policy reported was an access policy (63% of organisations have one), while around half reported having an appraisal, collection development or records management policy. In relation to the role of recordkeeping professionals, more than half stated that an archivist or records manager contributed to their research data management practice or policy development. A further, more in depth examination of the surveyed organisations is also underway which will provide additional information on the role of recordkeepers in research data management. This poster presents some of the key findings of the survey of Irish organisations, and represents an advancement of our knowledge regarding the relevant skills of archivists and records managers and how they can contribute to the development of data curation practices.