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Liaison Toolkit

Research Data Management Competencies

Librarians' activities in research data management generally fall into two broad categories: providing access to data, and supporting researchers and students in managing their data.

Librarians should be able to:

  • Demonstrate understanding of the research data management cycle
  • Maintain awareness of evolving data management services provided by other departments in the library and on campus, and refer, when needed, to the appropriate expert
  • Know how to search for discipline-specific and general use repositories and data sets relevant to a researcher's discipline/subject areas

  • Maintain awareness of any restrictions or requirements for the management and sharing of data in assigned subject areas/disciplines (e.g. HIPAA, personally identifiable data in social sciences)

  • Develop competency in basic data literacy skills by undertaking professional development provided and/or recommended by the Library's Research Data Management Steering group or others.