Support from the University Library

Support

The University Library can provide you with support for all matters related to the life cycle of digital research data, from the initial planning stage through to the end of your project. This includes:

  • Research
    Where and how can you search for data on your research project and what is the correct way of citing it?
  •  Planning
    Which data are you likely to generate in your project and how should it be structured, organised and protected during and after the project?
  •  Description
    Which standards are there for metadata and which tools are available for data visualisation?
  •  Data publication
    Which opportunities and requirements exist with regard to publishing research data?
  •  Access
    Should your research data be made publicly available a.d. if so, should it be published in full or in part, and who should receive access and when (e.g. after an embargo)?
  •  Terms of use
    Which licence models are there and what rights do they grant users?
  •  Data formats
    Which data formats are most suitable for permanent archiving and how long must data be saved for (systematic deletion)?

Training

In addition to individual consultations the library also offers various training courses for groups. The courses are organised upon request (e.g. by a research group or a graduate school) thus time and place are flexible. A general introduction to research data management (depending on focus typically 1.5 to 2.5 hours) will cover the topics:

  • data management plans and requirement by university, funding agencies and scholarly societies
  • standards for data and metadata as well as data formats
  • organisation and documentation of data
  • long term preservation (LTP), data centres and backup
  • data repositories and data publication
  • copyright, licences and citation.

The selection of topics follows the data life cycle:

The life cycle begins with the planning phase where data management plans and funder requirements are useful input. After the creation of the data a description of the data is needed. Here metadata standards can be employed. The subsequent cleansing and re-formating of the data can be supported by adhering to general rules of data organisation. Once the data has been used in the research project, it should be archived. Here information on long term preservation, data centres and backup strategies can be provided in the training courses. Next the data can be published in appropriate repositories. Finally the data can be re-used and information on copyright, licences as well as citing and searching for data is helpful.
The data life cycle and courses by the university library. In blue the steps of the life cycle, in green the corresponding subjects in the course program.

The different subjects are illustrated with example taken from the research areas of the audience. The focus of each training course can be adapted to interests of the audience. Furthermore, the library also offers training for data repository RADAR, for writing data management plans a.d. as part of our literature research courses, for researching datasets.

If you are interested in a training course or seminar regarding discipline-specific aspects of data management that cannot be adequately covered by the university library we will assist you with  finding a suitable expert. Please also consider the services for data management in the digital humanities (DHLab and UBCoach).