Data Management Training to Support Faculty Research Needs: Lessons Learned

To build the skills of its Data Team, the Rutgers University Libraries have developed an internal Research Data Management course. The RUresearch Data Team brings together subject librarians, metadata librarians, and the technical staff working with the RUresearch data portal. The goal of the course is to instill in all team members a baseline knowledge of all aspects of data management necessary to support faculty's research data needs. The entire team meets together approximately monthly for a two hour class. In between class sessions, group homework assignments and discussion reinforce the concepts. The class modules cover these topics and more: the data model; metadata; controlled vocabularies, ontologies, and linked data; data preservation and reuse; the data lifecycle; use cases; designing a research portal; and workflow management. The presentation will present the findings from interviews of course participants and instructors that explore their reactions to the course. What do subject librarians without prior exposure to data issues take away from it? How does learning about the data needs of researchers affect technical staff? What lessons did the Libraries learn from running such a course? This presentation will provide the answers