New OCLC Research Report – Starting the Conversation: University-wide Research Data Management Policy

OCLC Research has published a new report, Starting the Conversation: University-wide Research Data Management Policy, written by Senior Program Officer Ricky Erway.

The report is a call for action that summarizes the benefits of systemic data management planning and identifies the stakeholders and their concerns. It also suggests that the library proactively initiate a conversation among these stakeholders to get buy-in for a high-level, responsible data planning and management policy that is and proactive, rather than reactive, and is also supported and sustainable. The bulk of the document advocates for the library director to initiate a conversation among the stakeholders and addresses the various topics that should be discussed, and included in the resulting policy and procedures, in order to achieve maximum benefit.  A checklist of issues is provided to help the discussion result in a supportable and sustainable policy.

Key highlights include:

• The benefits of funder-required data management planning should apply to all research data
• Research and Compliance Offices, IT, Academic units, the Library, and Researchers should be involved in setting policy
• An entrepreneurial person may need to get things going—why not the library director?

See the report publication announcement and overview page for more information or download the report directly [pdf].