Purpose
A major development in academic libraries in the last decade has been recognition of the need to support research data management. The aim of this paper is to capture how library research data services have developed and to assess the impact of this on the nature of academic libraries.

Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire responses from libraries in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and USA from 2018 are compared to a previous dataset from 2014.

Findings
The evidence supports a picture of the spread of research data services, especially advisory ones. However, future ambitions do not seem to have seen much evolution. There is limited evidence of organisational change and skills shortages remain. Most service development can be explained as the extension of traditional library services to research data. Yet there remains the potential for transformational impacts, when combined with the demands implied by other new services such as around text and data mining, bibliometrics and artificial intelligence. A revised maturity model is presented that summarises typical stages of development of services, structures and skills.

Research limitations/implications
The research models how research data services are developing. It also reflects on the extent to which RDM represents a transformation of the role of academic libraries.

Practical implications
Practitioners working in the research data management arena can benchmark their current practices and future plans against wider patterns.

Originality/value
The study offers a clear picture of the evolution of Research Data Services internationally and proposes a maturity model to capture typical stages of development. It contributes to the wider discussion of how the nature of academic libraries are changing.

/pdf/maturing-research-data-services-and-the-transformation-of-2o3bawkljl.pdf

Maturing research data services and the transformation of academic libraries

Research Data Services in Academic Libraries: Data Intensive Roles for the Future?

“Planning the Data Curation Network” funded 2016-2017 by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant G-2016-7044

/pdf/data-curation-network-a-cross-institutional-staffing-model-n46h3hrzp3.pdf

Data Curation Network: A Cross-Institutional Staffing Model for Curating Research Data

/pdf/supporting-digital-humanities-for-knowledge-acquisition-in-3dgb63ojtu.pdf

Supporting Digital Humanities for Knowledge Acquisition in Modern Libraries

Mapping the Current Landscape of Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies in Research and Learning

Data science is a rapidly growing field with applications across all scientific domains. The demand for support in data science literacy is outpacing available resources at college campuses. The ac...

/pdf/data-science-support-at-the-academic-library-536ajk43v8.pdf

Data Science Support at the Academic Library

This book chapter was first published in: "Curating Research Data" published by the American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries.

Research Data Services Maturity in Academic Libraries

The role of academic libraries in providing access to and preserving geographic information has seen considerable change. Some libraries are beginning to provide access to geospatial data using geospatial data catalogs and geospatial Web services. Academic libraries are interested in developing geospatial data catalogs, but this can be complicated. The technology is rapidly evolving and many have questions around what software to use and what staffing might be required. The American Library Association (ALA) Map and Geospatial Information Round Table (MAGIRT) Geographic Technologies Committee established the Spatial Data Subcommittee in September 2010 to investigate spatial data catalogs and provide recommendations to MAGIRT on technology, staffing needs, and similar issues needed to develop a spatial data catalog. The subcommittee conducted interviews with eleven geospatial data catalog managers at academic libraries that yielded findings showing the diversity of implementation and prioritization. Guidan...

Geospatial Data Catalogs: Approaches by Academic Libraries

A Century of Mexican and Mexican American Press: Preserving the Past Online

As any library strives to improve services and make them increasingly relevant, planning for change has become routine. During 2011, the University of Arizona's Libraries undertook extensive assessments in order to develop and improve services in support of research and grant services so that campus-wide achievements in research, scholarship, and creative works could improve. A project explored ways for the library to become more effective at increasing research and grant support to faculty, researchers, and graduate students in a scalable way, and to help the campus increase achievements in research, scholarship, and creative works. The project defined the library's role in research and grant activities and explored ways for the library to be involved at optimal points in these cycles. This chapter discusses the process developed for assessing what new research and grant support services the library might want to develop. This involved interviewing peer university libraries and surveying faculty and graduate students at the University of Arizona about their research and grant needs. The chapter also describes how results were analyzed to identify potential new library services. The project team recommended new services which were presented to the library for inclusion in its Strategic Plan. The methodology presented in this chapter can be used by any type of library for developing new services to include in their strategic plans.

Christine Kollen

Papers

Data Science Support at the Academic Library

Research Data Services Maturity in Academic Libraries

Geospatial Data Catalogs: Approaches by Academic Libraries

A Century of Mexican and Mexican American Press: Preserving the Past Online

Using Needs Assessment to Develop Research and Grant Support Services