Adapting central RDM messages to discipline-specific needs at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge

Abstract

The University of Cambridge established its Office of scholarly Communication (OSC) in 2015 (http://osc.cam.ac.uk/). Since then it has developed many services to support Research Data Management (RDM), including a central website, RDM training and support, and a data repository. It communicates with researchers and support staff including librarians and administrators across the University using a variety of methods. It has also had direct discussions with researchers, and carries out structured interviews and surveys, in a bottom-up approach to RDM which engages with researchers, combined with a top-down, policy-driven approach (Teperek, Higman and Kingsley, 2017). There is therefore a considerable amount of outreach into departments and faculties where research takes place. However, its resources are limited: it is not possible for it to deliver RDM training in every department or faculty in the University, for example.

Most departments and faculties have an embedded library service, which is discipline-specific. Librarians in the University are in a key position to be able to collaborate with the OSC and their own researchers in developing and implementing RDM services locally. This paper presents a case study of how centralised RDM services have been rolled out in the Department of Chemistry, thus adapting the central RDM messages to discipline-specific needs. I will begin by introducing the Department of Chemistry and the OSC and the centralised RDM services it offers to researchers. I will then cover my role as the Chemistry Department Librarian in delivering RDM training, and my involvement in the Data Champions programme (http://www.data.cam.ac.uk/intro-data-champions). I will describe the outcomes of this for the Department of Chemistry, and for the centralised service.

Finally, I will outline future developments in the Department of Chemistry regarding RDM services offered in collaboration with the OSC. Teperek, M., Higman, R., and Kingsley, D. (2017). Is Democracy the Right System? Collaborative Approaches to Building an Engaged RDM Community [pre-print]. https://doi.org/10.1101/103895