The DataRes Project is conducting a survey on the role of university libraries in supporting the data management needs of researchers. The survey runs through Monday, April 9.

The survey, which should take 15-minute online survey to complete, is available at this website: <http://bit.ly/y2TZoU>. For more information on DataRes, visit their website at <http://datamanagement.unt.edu>.

DataRes is seeking the input of a wide variety of stakeholders, and your participation will help shape recommendations for the future of data management in research libraries.

The DataRes Project is being conducted by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the University of North Texas Libraries, and the UNT College of Information. Funded by a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians grant from the IMLS, we are investigating how the library and information science profession can best respond to emerging needs of research data management in universities.

The NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) Office has launched a new funding opportunity for interdisciplinary teams of researchers to embark on rapidly advancing frontiers of fundamental engineering research. For this solicitation, NSF-EFRI will consider proposals that aim to investigate emerging frontiers in the following three specific research areas:

1. Flexible Bioelectronics Systems (BioFlex)
2. Origami Design For The Integration Of Self-assembling Systems For Engineering Innovation (ODISSEI)
3. Photosynthesis Biorefineries (PSBR)

This grant requires a data management plan, although in a different format than other NSF funding opportunities. For this grant, there should be a one-page data management plan. In addition, there should also be a separate document describing the means of sharing the research outcomes. We provide support for both of these documents, although applicants will need to format the output of the DMPTool to meet the NSF EFRI requirements. For more information on the requirements of this funding opportunity, see the program solicitation.

The Scientific Data Consulting Group (SciDaC) at the University of Virginia Library is pleased to announce a 2012 summer internship. Supported by DataONE, a project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, this internship will come with a stipend of $4,500 (see full details via DataONE site).

The project, entitled “Enriching the Content of the DMPTool for the DataONE Community,” will focus on marketing the DMPTool to the DataONE community. The intern will work with researchers in the DataONE community to enhance and expand content in the DMPTool, and conduct structured user testing/interviews with researchers to assess the quality of content/guidance provided by the DMPTool. For user testing, we will draw in the University of Virginia user experience/usability team for support. Throughout the internship, the intern will blog to promote the DataONE effort, DMPTool, needs of researchers, etc. .

Necessary Prerequisites: Undergraduate junior or senior or graduate student with knowledge of data management best practices within the environmental and earth sciences.

Desirable skills/qualifications: Some knowledge of research data, strong research skills, marketing experience, ability to work independently, set goals, and meet deadlines. Appropriate academic areas might include: library/information (grad or undergrad), education (grad), marketing, social science, earth or life sciences.

Primary mentor: Andrew Sallans (University of Virginia, DataONE Users Group Vice-Chair)
Secondary mentors: Carly Strasser (California Digital Library), Sherry Lake (University of Virginia)

The DMPTool now supports the National Institutes of Health (NIH) data sharing requirements. NIH requires that projects seeking more than $500,000 in direct costs in any single year address data sharing plans in their grant application. In some cases, some Funding Opportunity Announcements may request data-sharing plans for applications that are less than $500,000 in any single year.

NIH expects the data sharing plan to be part of the grant application and not a separate document. Since the focus of your project will shape how you share research data, the DMPTool provides a number of questions to consider. Not all of them may apply to your project, but are listed to help you create a comprehensive data sharing plan.

The DMPTool will be unavailable, from 5:00-5:30pm (PT) on Thursday February 23, 2012, due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.

On a previous blogpost, we listed the results of the survey. On the whole, the people who responded to the survey felt that the DMPTool was useful and easy to use. The survey also pointed out a few problems, particularly among the free-text responses we received:

• Several people want to get a document with the questions asked by a funder, or know in advance what questions the funder will ask them. These templates already exist on the Funder Requirements page. It’s clear that people aren’t finding them, either because they’re not prominent enough, or people don’t understand what we’re calling them.
• Several people remarked that the DMPTool is slow. We’re aware of this problem, and are working to fix it.
• Text formatting is getting mangled in the export to RTF format. We’re looking into what’s causing this as well.

In addition to pointing to problems or bugs, several people requested new functionality or features:

• Make it easy for institutions to customize
• Allow multiple users to work on same DMP
• Add support for institutional requirements

The original group of development partners continues to meet and discuss a new phase of development. We are looking for new development partners, particularly those that could devote staff resources for software development. Please contact us if you’re interested! In the meantime, we are thinking about priorities for new features and functionality, and the information provided by the survey responses is invaluable. Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.

We conducted a user survey in January, and received 70 responses. We held a meeting of the development partners, and discussed the survey results. More about the meeting in a future blogpost. For now, here are the survey results:

1) Were you familiar with data management plans before using the DMPTool?

• Yes: 80%
• No: 20%

2) Do you have a better understanding of data management plans having used the DMPTool?

• Yes: 71%
• No: 29%

3) How easy or difficult was it to use the DMPTool?

• Very easy: 32%
• Easy: 60%
• Difficult: 6%
• Very difficult: 1%

4) Did you use any of these features:

• Links to resources:
  • Yes: 61%
  • No: 39%
• Help for funder question:
  • Yes: 36%
  • No: 64%
• Suggested answer:
  • Yes: 40%
  • No: 60%
• DMP News:
  • Yes: 20%
  • No: 80%
• DMPTool guide:
  • Yes: 55%
  • No: 45%
• Funder requirements:
  • Yes: 67%
  • No: 33%
• Video demo:
  • Yes: 22%
  • No: 78%

5) Further comments. Summarizing the comments:

1. Thanks for providing the DMPTool
2. Improve the speed
3. Add blank templates
4. Formats mangled when exporting a plan
5. Make it easy for institutions to customize
6. Include examples of DMPs
7. Allow multiple users to work on same DMP
8. Add support for institutional requirements

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) requires grant applicants to complete a document entitled “Specifications for Projects that Develop Digital Products” when appropriate. They added a new section, Part III, for data management plans for research projects. Applicants are asked to respond to 11 questions. As the introduction to Part III states:

IMLS encourages sharing of research data. The purpose of this section is to help IMLS understand a grant applicant’s research practices and plans for management of data that would be generated through a proposed research project. If the proposed project activities will generate datasets with the potential for future re-use or repurposing, answer the following questions.

The DMPTool now includes support for the IMLS data management requirements–you’ll see it listed in the dropdown box when you “Create a new plan” after logging in.

The recording and slides from the webinar “Data management plans: tips, tricks and tools” are now available:

• Slides (on SlideShare)
• Recording

This webinar, presented by Carly Strasser and Perry Willett of the California Digital Library, introduces the data management plan as a significant part of any scientific research involving data. It also gives a brief overview of the DMPTool as an important tool for creating data management plans.

We’re beginning the next phase of development, and would greatly welcome any opinions or ideas you have for improving the DMPTool. Please help us by taking a moment to complete our brief, 5-question survey. We will hold a meeting in late January to discuss next steps, and will incorporate survey results into our discussions. The survey is available here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LSTV8QL

In addition to the survey, we always welcome direct contact and feedback. Please feel free to contact us at uc3@ucop.edu with questions, comments, or opportunities.