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Webinar Series: Insights from the Machine Actionable Data Management Plans Pilot

Want to learn about how technological advancements in data management plans can benefit research at your university? Have you heard the term “machine actionable” a lot but aren’t sure what it is or why it’s important? Are you looking for strategies to reduce burden on researchers and administrators in working on data management plans?

Join our free webinar series to learn from several US institutions that explored and piloted machine-actionable approaches to data management plans (DMPs).

Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (award LG-254861-OLS-23), and led jointly by the California Digital Library (CDL) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Machine Actionable Plans (MAP) Pilot initiative enabled institutions to test and pilot data management plans that are machine-actionable and facilitate communication with other university research and IT systems. Each institution developed its own projects in alignment with their institutional mission, and with their specific challenges and opportunities taken into consideration. The DMP Tool team also worked with pilot partners to test features and advance technical developments to improve usability, best practice adoption, compliance, and efficiency.

In this series of webinars, we invite librarians, administrators, data managers, IT & security staff to find out more about the motivations of these institutions to explore machine-actionable DMP integrations: what they did, how they did it, and what they learned. For those interested in more technical aspects of integrations, some webinars will also provide detail on the API of the DMP Tool, along with more detailed implementation instructions and advice.

Webinar 1: Streamlining Research Support: Lessons from maDMP Pilots  

• Tuesday, May 6, Noon EDT / 9:00 a.m. PDT Duration: 1 hour, with an optional additional 15 minutes for Q & A

This webinar is for those looking to improve the efficiency, collaboration, and coordination of research support within their institutions. Learn from several institutions about their explorations of maDMP integrations to facilitate automated notifications for coordination across campus, and about how they used the pilot more broadly to facilitate discovery and collaboration within their institutions. This webinar will provide an overview of each institution’s activity, rather than detailed instructions about integrations.

Presenters include:  Katherine E. Koziar, Briana Wham, Matt Carson, Andrew Johnson

Register

Webinar 2: Creative Approaches for Seamless and Efficient Resource Allocation 

• Tuesday, May 20, Noon EDT / 9:00 a.m. PDT
• Duration: 1 hour, with an optional additional 15 minutes for Q & A

Don’t miss this webinar if you’re interested in new ways to enable efficient resource allocation. Institutions will share their experiences in leveraging maDMPs to develop integrations for automation systems that enable such allocations. This webinar will provide an overview of each institution’s activity, rather than detailed technical instructions about integrations.

Presenters include:  Katherine E. Koziar, Andrew Johnson

Register

Webinar 3: Five Technological Advancements in DMPs to Benefit Your Organization 

• Tuesday, June 3, Noon EDT / 9:00 a.m. PDT 
• Duration: 1 hour, with an optional additional 15 minutes for Q & A

If you’re interested in emerging technologies within the pilot project and the DMP Tool and how they can help your institution expedite research sharing, compliance, and operational efficiency, this webinar will provide a strong introduction. We’ll also hear from pilot partners about promising AI developments related to reviewing DMPs, and will hear more detail on technical advancements coming to the DMP Tool based on feedback from the pilot. 

Presenters include:  Jim Taylor, Becky Grady

Register

Webinar 4: How to Implement Machine-Actionable DMPs at your Institution

• Tuesday, June 17, Noon EDT / 9:00 a.m. PDT 
• Duration: 1 hour, with an optional additional 15 minutes for Q & A

If you want to find out more about specific integrations and how to implement maDMPs, this webinar is for you. Hear from the DMP Tool team about the API, common challenges and how to overcome them, and actionable recommendations for campus buy-in.

Presenters include:  Becky Grady, Brian Riley

Register

Welcome, Adam Buttrick: Introducing UC3’s new Persistent Identifiers Product Manager

Championing PIDs and Open Science at UC3

Hello! My name is Adam Buttrick and I’m excited to be joining the UC3 team to lead its portfolio of persistent identifier-focused products and services.

Prior to joining UC3, while based at Crossref, I had the privilege to help build a new persistent identifier service, the Research Organization Registry (ROR). My role in this project, scaling ROR’s data infrastructure to support community contributions from thousands of organizations and diverse sources, was a fast-paced journey at the intersection of data science, product management, and community engagement on a global scale. In collaboration with my predecessor, Maria Gould, and with colleagues from Crossref and DataCite, we took ROR from a fledgling service to being a central feature of national level policy in many countries, as well as the institutional model in widely-used services like ORCID and OpenAlex. This work required constant engagement with universities, governments, and funders from around the world and has given me a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in building a future based on open infrastructure and open research information.

As I was witness to in my work on ROR and was constantly cited to me by other organizations, the University of California plays a vital role in the success of so many transformative projects and initiatives. I thus leapt at the chance to help advance these goals and all the other important, necessary work done by the UC system. I’m eager to be a part of this long and storied tradition!

If you’d like to connect or discuss opportunities to collaborate, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me – adam.buttrick@ucop.edu. Here’s to the next chapter and here’s to advancing all things PIDs and open science!

Welcome, Becky Grady: Introducing UC3’s new DMP Tool Product Manager

Hello everyone!  My name is Becky Grady, and I’m thrilled to be joining UC3 to work on Data Management planning.

For the past few years I’ve worked as both a UX researcher and a product manager in the tech industry, working on gaming platforms, account systems, and internal tools.  Before that, I received my PhD in Psychological Science at UC Irvine, studying bias in false memory, fake news, and misinformation under advisors Elizabeth Lofuts and Pete Ditto. 

As a former researcher, I know how important open science practices are at every stage of the process.  I’ve published multiple meta-analyses and know firsthand, both as the requestor and the requestee, of the challenges in finding and sharing data and materials from long ago.  I’ve also conducted many studies, from both academia and industry, about meta-science practices such as survey design and replication processes, because I know how important it is to look at how we conduct research and not just what the output is. 

As a product manager, I know how important it is to provide the right tools for people to get done what they need, understanding their needs and goals to make a great experience for them.  My UX research experience helps me work with users to understand their motivations, getting to their core needs to build the product that does what they need.

I can’t wait to bring my industry and academic experiences together to help in this important area and help plan, track, and preserve critical research data.  Making it easy and intuitive to create and update data management plans, serving the needs of both researchers and institutions, will be core to advancing open science practices.  Excited to work with all of you more!  You can reach me at becky.grady@ucop.edu or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Connecting DMSPs to Research Outputs

By Brian Riley, California Digital Library (CDL), and Mary O’Brien Uhlmansiek, The Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

In March, the lead developer for the DMP Tool, Brian Riley, attended a workshop on “Scientometrics Using Open Data” offered by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. Participation in this session allowed us to share the work we are doing as part of the MAP Pilot project funded by the NSF and IMLS, and to collaborate on scientometric analyses using open data sources such as Crossref and DataCite.

The MAP Pilot project involves working with 10 institutions across the US to test connecting machine-actionable data management and sharing plans (maDMSPs) with related research outputs. Using research project metadata and persistent identifiers to query open data sources, it is somewhat easy to find research articles produced by a particular project, but not the datasets, software, and other artifacts described in a DMSP. We are investigating ways to improve their findability using automation, including machine learning/AI.

When maDMSPs are created in the DMP Tool, users can enter useful project metadata to enable queries with other systems. This includes ORCIDs for contributors, funding opportunity identifiers, RORs for affiliations and funders, anticipated project start and end dates, and the planned data repository for storage. The DMP Tool then assigns a DMP ID to the DMSP.

DMSPs are often created years before the research outputs. The DMSPs in the DMP Tool with good metadata are only 2-3 years old, and their DMSP outputs have not yet been published. Therefore, the institutions contributing to our pilot have been asked to find older, funded research projects and their outputs to use as test cases. Using a new feature to upload an existing DMSP, they will enter basic information about the project (i.e., title, PI, grant identifiers) for research funded by 4 major US agencies (NSF, NIH, DOE, and NASA) and for which we have the most developed API integrations. As potential DMSP outputs are identified, the pilot teams will verify their relation to the research.

Identifying related DMSP outputs within the DMP Tool will give data librarians and research/grant management offices insight into the outputs of research projects, academic departments, and the institution. Users can generate reports for compliance checks (was the data shared according to the funder’s policy), grant reporting, and research management activities.

With sufficient metadata, how do we find related DMSP outputs? We start by exploring open data sources like Crossref, DataCite, and COKI. For example, we explore DataCite’s GraphQL API to extract DataCite metadata and compare it with DMP Tool projects. We use an algorithm to compare and score each field in the records. Each data source structures its metadata differently, though, so we must transform that metadata into a standardized format. We then weigh or score the confidence level of any matches found. A high confidence level is when grant IDs match, but this is rare currently. Confidence levels improve with additional identifiers like ORCIDs, RORs, and repository IDs.

Some development challenges discussed at the workshop include:

• US funding agencies lack a standard way of sharing metadata via their APIs and rarely include Grant IDs. Grant IDs are important but not reliable yet for identification purposes.
• Research/DMSP outputs associated with older projects frequently lack identifiers such as ROR and ORCIDs in their metadata record.
• How can we find datasets and software related to published research articles in systems like COKI? Can we use an article’s references to find these artifacts? What other hooks will allow us to identify these related outputs, and how could improved metadata and the usage of identifiers help facilitate making these connections?  

We are exploring adding more data aggregators to combine findings and create a clearer picture of a research project and its outputs. We will also explore methods to identify related works from research article reference sections, like dataset or software references. We are experimenting with ML/AI techniques to determine if a research output might be related to a DMSP.

Findings from the MAP Pilot will be published as reports and best practices for implementing maDMSP workflows at research institutions after the project ends in 2025. If interested in collaborating on this important developmental work, please contact muhlmansiek [at] arl [dot] org for more information.

New Project Director Joins the MAP Pilot Project

By Mary O’Brien Uhlmansiek, Project Director, The Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

This February, I joined the MAP Pilot team as Project Director, serving in a joint position with The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the California Digital Library (CDL). In this role, I will support ten research libraries in our pilot project, exploring ways to advance institutional coordination around machine-actionable data management and sharing plans (maDMSPs). The project will compile resources for research workflow improvements utilizing maDMSPs, such as for tracking compliance with funder data-sharing requirements or to initiate internal research infrastructure requests upon grant award, for example. Our pilot partners will also help drive improvements in the DMP Tool itself, providing valuable software testing and feedback as new interoperability features are developed, and using real-world examples to ensure the application will meet the needs of researchers and stakeholders alike.

Through my experiences serving as a data and repository manager for sensitive health-related information, in managing research software adoption and implementation at a large medical university, and as a facilitator for the adoption of outputs and recommendations at the Research Data Alliance, I can see the potential for the DMP Tool to provide critical research infrastructure for researchers and administrators alike as they navigate new data-sharing requirements from funders. I am excited to work with the project PIs, Cynthia Hudson Vitale and Maria Praetzellis, and the many other dedicated professionals from research library organizations in the open science movement. Projects such as the MAP Pilot are building blocks for the transition to more open science, and I look forward to the dissemination of the teams’ outputs to aid research institutions in adopting and continuing this important work. 

If you would like to learn more about maDMSPs or to get involved in future work in this area, please consider joining a group such as the Active Data Management Plans Interest Group at the Research Data Alliance.

Join the UC3 Team: Two Senior Product Manager positions now open

UC Curation Center (UC3) is recruiting two Senior Product Manager positions. This is a unique opportunity for someone passionate about shaping the future of scholarly infrastructure on a global scale. If you’re a creative thinker with a knack for innovation, strategic planning, and product management, please consider applying.

The past few years have been full of developments, new technologies, and policy changes driving change for those working with scholarly infrastructure. A lot is happening in our space, from the increasing adoption of persistent identifiers, new open data mandates from federal funders, and the development of machine-actionable data management plans. Working within the UC3 team is a great way to actively drive change and make a real impact in scholarly infrastructure.

What are we looking for?

While domain expertise is always an asset, we are looking for thought leaders with passion and with proven track records in product management—someone who thrives on collaboration and strategic thinking. You’ll lead and guide cross-functional teams, enhance product usability, and explore new opportunities to expand our portfolio of work at UC3.

Which positions are we recruiting?

Both positions will be the lead on a diverse range of products and services, playing a key role in both UC systemwide and international initiatives. However, each has a discrete focus:

UC3 Senior Product Manager – Data Management Planning
“Data Management Planning” is the label UC3 uses to describe the portfolio of projects regarding the infrastructure, policy, consultation, and outreach associated with current and future of data management plans (DMPs). Primary responsibilities include building and leading cross-functional teams, managing DMP Tool product development, and implementing strategies for how to leverage machine-actionable DMPs.

UC3 Senior Product Manager – Persistent Identifiers
“Persistent Identifiers” is the label UC3 uses to describe the portfolio of projects regarding persistent identifiers (PID services) and how they are instrumental in tracking and describing research outputs. This includes the interconnectedness of scholarly infrastructure, metadata schemas, policy, consultation, and outreach associated with current and future of scholarly PIDs. Primary responsibilities include building and leading cross-functional teams, managing EZID product development, and implementing strategies for optimizing the connections of research outputs through PIDs (including ROR, DOI, ORCID, ARK, etc).

These roles are not just about managing day-to-day operations within each portfolio; they also involve crafting long-term strategic plans and being an active thought leader within the global scholarly infrastructure space.

How we work?

UC3 is a program of the California Digital Library (CDL), which is part of the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). Within this context, UC3 recognizes and supports the unique challenges of each campus while also strategically investing time and energy to maximize impact at a systemic level. Our program comprises of 12 individuals organized around four different aspects of digital curation (data management planning, persistent identifiers, digital preservation, and data publishing). In addition to these focus areas, we also have a cross-program goal to support data and software skills training programs such as The Carpentries.

UC3’s structure is optimized to allow autonomy and encourages UC3 team members to pursue their passions within the overarching mission of CDL and the University of California. Our strength lies in this collaborative approach, combining individual expertise with a shared understanding of UC3’s role within the larger university structure. Our model thrives when each product manager actively contributes to tangible work – balancing tasks like sprint planning and feature development with consultations and community involvement. To ensure credibility and impact, we carefully select commitments, prioritizing quality over quantity in our actions. Despite working on diverse portfolios/projects, understanding each other’s portfolios is crucial to our combined success.

How do you apply?

UC3 is a program of the California Digital Library, which is part of the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). The positions are now posted on the UCOP website:

• UC3 Senior Product Manager – Data Management Planning
• UC3 Senior Product Manager – Persistent Identifiers

John Chodacki (UC3 Director) and Maria Praetzellis (UC3 Associate Director), the hiring manager, are available to discuss the opportunities, so reach out with questions. Both positions can be remote, offsite or hybrid, however, hiring is limited to California residents (also open to those willing to relocate to California). We will keep these positions open until filled and expect to start interviewing in late February 2024.

Call for Institutions to Pilot Development of Scalable Data-Management Infrastructure

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the California Digital Library (CDL) are seeking four institutional teams to pilot the integration or creation of prototypes and possible workflows for machine-actionable data management and sharing plans (maDMSPs). The pilot project will run January–December 2024. This project is funded by an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant. Additional information about the project is on our project webpage.

Interested organizations should submit their expression of interest here.

Machine-actionable data management and sharing plans are structured, machine-readable documents that allow for dynamic reporting on the intentions and outcomes of a research project, enabling streamlined information exchange across relevant parties and systems. These plans go beyond traditional static document-based DMSPs, and contain an inventory of key metadata about a project and its outputs (not just datasets), with a change history that stakeholders can query for information over the lifetime of the research. Implementing maDMSPs can be a key piece of establishing interconnected, automated systems for research data management and compliance.

This pilot provides an exciting opportunity for selected institutions to help shape the development of maDMSPs and gain valuable early experience with new approaches to enable more automated and connected research data management.

By agreeing to be part of this pilot program, institutions will:

• Define a set of success measures for institutional pilot projects of maDMSPs at their organization.
• Gather a sample set of data management plans from funded research projects to use as test cases for connecting plans with associated datasets and other research outputs.
• Provide engaged feedback on the maDMSP features and uses at their organization.
• Conduct ongoing work to meet the locally defined success measures.
• Attend and actively participate in bimonthly project meetings.
• Participate in project communication, outreach, and engagement (such as conference panels, webinars, reports and articles, etc.).
• Coordinate and manage one program team site visit.

Pilot projects should include a team of three to five people representing institutional stakeholders who will work together to test or prototype an institutional solution to support public access to research data leveraging the maDMSP. Teams may include representatives from the offices of several institutional stakeholders, such as the research office, library, information technology, institutional review board (IRB), high-performance computing units, and/or faculty.

Examples of possible pilot projects include, but are not limited to:

• Modeling notification workflows that could be automated through maDMSPs to alert stakeholders to key events over the data life cycle. Example use cases include alerts around sensitive data, managing big data, enabling data transfer, and linking datasets to published outputs.
• Building prototype integrations connecting maDMSPs with existing research information management systems (RIMS) or researcher profile systems. For example, automatically updating and exchanging key metadata between maDMSPs and other research systems.
• Engaging academic or administrative departments to test the utility of maDMPs for their research workflows and data management needs. Departmental testing would provide feedback to inform the optimization of maDMSP systems.
• Demonstrating and improving communication workflows between key campus units involved in research data management using maDMSPs as a connecting platform. Example stakeholders include the library, research office, IT/security, IRB, research computing, and high-performance computing units.

Pilot institutions will:

• Gain early access to new maDMSP features and functionality.
• Influence technical development and workflow processes of the maDMSP platform.
• Be reimbursed for up to $6,000 per institution to attend conferences or workshops to communicate pilot project goals or outcomes.

The ARL/CDL project team will produce all required reporting to IMLS; there are no federal grant reporting requirements for pilot partners.

We are seeking a range of institutions that are diverse in size, research activity, and level of development of services and infrastructure for research data management and sharing. Even if your institution has just begun planning for research data management and sharing, we invite you to apply.

Applications will remain open until Friday, November 10, 2023, and we anticipate notifying applicants by the end of November.

If you are interested in learning more, you are invited to register to attend an optional, informational webinar on Thursday, November 2, at 10:00 a.m. PDT/1:00 p.m. EDT.

Please direct any questions to Cynthia Hudson Vitale cvitale@arl.org or Maria Praetzellis maria.praetzellis@ucop.edu.

Association of Research Libraries and California Digital Library Receive Grant to Advance Data Management and Sharing

Cross-posted from ARL News and written by Cynthia Hudson-Vitale | cvitale@arl.org | August 4, 2023

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the California Digital Library (CDL) have received a $668,048 National Leadership Grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to assist institutions in managing and sharing federally funded research data. This project will build a machine-actionable data-management plan (maDMP) tool by enhancing and developing new DMPTool features utilizing persistent identifiers (PIDs). CDL and ARL will work together to further strengthen institutional capacity for tracking research outputs by piloting the institutional integration of maDMPs across an academic campus and building community across institutions for maDMPs.

The promise of the maDMP is to be a vehicle for reporting on the intentions and outcomes of a research project that enables information exchange across relevant stakeholders and systems. maDMPs contain an inventory of key information about a project and its outputs with a change history that stakeholders can query for updated information about the project over its lifetime. By incorporating open persistent identifiers (PIDs) into DMPs and leveraging all DMP metadata for interoperability across infrastructures, institutions—and specifically libraries—will be better equipped to track and manage their institutional research data products.

CDL and ARL have collaborated before on advancing PIDs and maDMPs, including joint efforts on the 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant Implementing Effective Data Practices that led to stakeholder recommendations for collaborative research support. The new IMLS project builds on this prior work by piloting maDMP workflows in the DMPTool, gathering feedback from partner institutions, and iterating on maDMP features to put those recommendations into practice at scale.

“We are thrilled to work with ARL on this timely project to advance open science by utilizing machine-actionable DMPs,” said Günter Waibel, associate vice provost and executive director, California Digital Library. “Facilitating the sharing and tracking of research data furthers our goals of supporting open scholarship and leveraging innovative technology to situate research data within an open knowledge graph of scholarly activity. We look forward to collaborating with ARL and partner institutions to build new tools and workflows to strengthen the research data ecosystem.”

“ARL is eager to engage its members and the broader research library community in testing new DMPTool features to improve cross-institution communications around open-science practices and research integrity,” said Mary Lee Kennedy, executive director, Association of Research Libraries.

In addition to developing DMPTool workflows to link research outputs and track relationships, this project will also work with four institutions to pilot the new features and improve capabilities. The call for institutional teams will be distributed in the next few months. Stay tuned for information on community calls and other project updates.

About the Association of Research Libraries

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence, and implement institutional, national, and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.

About the California Digital Library

The University of California (UC) founded the CDL in 1997 to take advantage of emerging technologies that were transforming the way digital information was being published and accessed. Since then, in collaboration with the UC libraries and other partners, we assembled one of the world’s largest digital research libraries and changed the ways that faculty, students, and researchers discover and access information. In partnership with the UC libraries, the CDL has continually broken new ground by developing systems linking our users to the vast print and online collections within UC and beyond. Building on the foundations of the Melvyl Catalog, we developed one of the largest online library catalogs in the country. We saved the university millions of dollars by facilitating the co-investment and sharing of materials and services used by libraries across the UC system. We work in partnership with campuses to bring the treasures of our libraries, museums, and cultural heritage organizations to the world. And we continue to explore how services such as digital curation, scholarly publishing, archiving, and preservation support research throughout the information life cycle. Serving the UC libraries is a vital component of our mission. Our unique position within the university allows us to provide the infrastructure and support commonly needed by the campus libraries, freeing them to focus their resources on the needs of their users. Looking ahead, the CDL will continue to use innovative technology to connect content and communities in ways that enhance teaching, learning, and research. CDL is on the web at cdlib.org.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

FAIR Island Project Receives NSF Funding

Crossposted from the FAIR Island website

The California Digital Library (CDL), University of California Gump South Pacific Research Station, Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS), Metadata Game Changers, and DataCite are pleased to announce that they have been awarded a 2- year NSF EAGER grant entitled “The FAIR Island Project for Place-based Open Science” (full proposal text).

The FAIR Island project examines the impact of implementing optimal research data management policies and requirements, affording us the unique opportunity to look at the outcomes of strong data policies at a working field station. Building on the Island Digital Ecosystem Avatars (IDEA) Consortium (see Davies et al. 2016), the FAIR Island Project leverages collaboration between the Gump Station on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia (host of the NSF Moorea Coral Reef Long-Term Ecological Research site), and Tetiaroa Society, which operates a newly established field station located on the atoll of Tetiaroa a short distance from Moorea.

1. CDL, BIDS, and the University of California Natural Reserve System will work together to build an integrated system for linking research data to their associated publications via PIDs. We will develop a provenance dashboard from field to publication, documenting all research data and research outcomes derived from that data.

2. The project also facilitates further development of the DataCite Commons interface and extends connections made possible via the networked DMP that allows users to track relationships between DMPs, investigators, outputs, organizations, research methods, and protocols; and display citations throughout the research lifecycle.

3. Developing an optimal data policy for place-based research by CDL, BIDS, and Metadata Game Changers is the cornerstone component of the FAIR Island project.  A reusable place-based data policy template will be shared and implemented amongst participating UC-managed field stations and marine labs. In addition, we will be incorporating these policies into a templated data management plan within the DMPTool application and sharing it with the broader community via our website, whitepapers, and conferences such as the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Plenaries.

Furthering Open Science through Research Data Management Services

As I begin my second year at CDL, I am excited to outline the objectives and key activities for my work: furthering research data management (RDM) practices that support open science at the University of California and beyond. 

I conceptualize our work in the larger context of what an ideal RDM ecosystem might be: wherein open science practices are universally understood and implemented by data creators and stewards and built upon the bedrock of simple, interoperable RDM infrastructure and optimal open data policy. Below are four key ways in  which RDM services at CDL contribute to this overall effort in 2021:

Facilitating Communication Between Data Librarians and Researchers

For almost ten years now, the DMPTool web application has provided accessible, jargon-free, practical guidance for researchers to create and implement effective data management plans for 30+ funding agencies. Thanks to our dedicated Editorial Board we are able to keep the tool up in sync with current funder requirements and best practices. 

In 2021, we will be expanding our outreach to the library community by offering quarterly community calls with DMPTool users in order to discuss new features, highlight community use, and facilitate feedback. Additionally, the DMPTool Editorial Board will analyze existing guidance within the tool to identify aspects that need to be updated or new topics that should be included. The DMPTool has long been a community-supported application and we will continue to expand our engagement with the community as we grow the application. 

Serving as an Interoperable Partner in Essential RDM Services

Our work developing the next generation of machine-actionable, networked DMPs builds upon community developed standards and is rooted in collaboration. In order to create the new networked DMP, these partnerships will continue to be essential to our success. Last year’s release of the RDA DMP Common Standard for machine-actionable Data Management Plans and the recent report Implementing Effective Data Practices: Stakeholder Recommendations for Collaborative Research Support (written by CDL, ARL, AAU & APLU) are testament to the power of these partnerships. We simply get more done when we work together. Additionally our continued collaboration with DMPonline allows us to share resources as we co-develop via the DMPRoadmap codebase, share best practices, and advance new features jointly. 

Looking ahead, in 2021, we will expand on our collaborations including:

• Partnering with DataCite to encourage adoption of the new DMP ID, a resource made possible by the forthcoming metadata scheme update. Expect more updates on this soon!
• A new integration between the DMPTool and electronic lab notebook platforms, starting with RSpace.
• Partnering with the UC Natural Reserve System and the Tetiaroa Society to advance data policies supporting open science at working field stations.

Supporting a Transparent Research Process 

Much of our work last year was focused on developing the backend infrastructure necessary to confidently be able to say DMPTool DMPs are machine-actionable. 

With the infrastructure in place and development completed, in 2021 we will be releasing several new features to expand the possibilities of the new networked DMP and help ensure transparency in the research process. Many of these new features are currently being pilot tested as part of the FAIR Island Project. We will also be conducting webinars in the coming weeks to gather feedback from the community to further inform our iterative feature development and release cycles.

Developing Optimal Open Data Policies 

The FAIR Island project is a real-world use case evaluating the impact of implementing optimal research data management policies and requirements; the project will help demonstrate and publicize the outcomes of strong data policies in practice at a working field station. 

With the recent addition of Erin Robinson to the team, the FAIR Island project is making swift progress towards implementing a data policy that will govern data collected on the Tetiaroa atoll. This data policy is still open to community feedback so if you are interested in contributing, now is your chance! Please share your thoughts via this survey. 

In 2021, the FAIR Island project team will continue to advance and iterate on the data policy, working with additional field stations to advance data policies supporting open science. In partnership with the UC Natural Reserve System and 4Site network, we aim to move toward a common, optimal data policy that can be shared amongst UC field stations and other partner sites. To keep abreast of our progress please check out our project website where we are tracking project work in our blog. 

How to contribute

Building on a solid foundation of community developed standards for DMPs and FAIR data, this year we will be moving much of this work from theory into real world implementation. 

It’s an exciting time for these developments and we welcome all questions, comments, and advice.  Please reach out with your thoughts!