Introduction to Research Data Management Services Course
Produced by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries
For more information, contact Kathleen Shearer, CARL Research Associate,
kathleen.shearer@carl-abrc.ca
Learning outcome: Participants will have an outline of the entry-level data curation
services for their institution and a plan for how these services will develop over a 3-4
year period.
Intended audience: Librarians at CARL Libraries: (mid-level) administrators responsible
for data management and librarians who will be undertaking data curation services.
General objectives:
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Support the implementation of research data management services at research
libraries.
Foster a community of practice in research data management.
Improve the knowledge of research data management amongst Canadian
librarians.
Support the development of collaborative services for research data
management.
Course assumptions:
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Participants will be open and willing to share their experiences and plans with
other participants.
The course will focus on the Canadian context and develop realistic expectations
with this context in mind.
No question will be perceived as a stupid question.
The curriculum will incorporate “active learning” techniques”, which involves
high levels of participation by students.
Course developers/instructors: Pascal Calarco (University of Waterloo), Michelle
Edwards (University of Guelph), Alex Guindon (Concordia University), Chuck Humphrey
(University of Alberta), Stephen Marks (Scholars Portal), Kathleen Shearer (CARL), and
Wendy Watkins (Carleton University)
Course materials are available:
Presentations: http://datalib.library.ualberta.ca/rdmi/
AND
Exercises: http://conference.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/rdm/index/pages/view/docs
Detailed Course Outline:
Several weeks in advance of course
Webcast (1 hour) (Presentation)

Introduction to the course (context, aim and objectives)

Introduction to the instructors

Review of course outline
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Introduction to service areas

Introduction to the pre-course exercise, “Evaluating Current Research Data
Management Services” (Exercise 1, E and F)
o Objective: to benchmark your Library’s current involvement in data
management services.

Logistical information (location, hours, etc.)
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Questions from participants
Day 1
Introduction (15 minutes) (January 22, Presentation 1)

Norms and expectations
Reports on the “Evaluating Current Research Data Management Services” Exercise (45
minutes) (January 22, Presentation 2)

Having completed this exercise, what was the one thing that surprised you and
why?
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Two minutes per institution
What are research data? (15 minutes) (January 22, Presentation 3)
Break (30 minutes)
Research and data lifecycles (30 minutes) (January 22, Presentation 4)
Current context, status of various projects and history of research data management in
Canada (45 minutes) (January 22, Presentation 5)
Gap analysis (30 minutes) (January 22, Presentation 6)
Lunch (1 hour)
Major drivers and trends in research data management (20 minutes) (January 22,
Presentation 7)
Major drivers and trends exercise (40 minutes) (Exercise 2, E and F)

Objective: To gain an understanding of the factors that influence data
management services and some major trends driving or shaping the
environment.

Appoint one spokesperson and one recorder per table. Spokesperson will report
to the larger group and the recorder will record the sheet.

Are there any other drivers that you believe should be included here?

Identify the most important trend(s) within each driver
Report back on environmental scan exercise (20 minutes)

One major trend identified at your table?
Break (30 minutes)
Review of elements in the local data landscape (20 minutes) (January 22, Presentation
8)
Local data landscape exercise and discussion (40 minutes) (Exercise 3, E and F)

Objective: To identify current key factors on your campus that will characterize
your library’s local data landscape
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With others from your institution
Impact of Environmental Trends on Local Data Landscape Activity (40 minutes) (January
22, Presentation 9)

Answer the following 2 questions:
1. What’s outstanding in the environmental scan that is NOT in your local
environment and could place demands on your institutions?
2. Who are the allies on campus who can help you address these shortcomings?
Day 2
Finding Common Ground to Collaborate (10 minutes) (January 23, Presentation 1)
•
On day 1, we claimed that RDMI is too large for any single institution to take on
but that there is something for every institution to do.
•
Working together we can build the national infrastructure to support RDMI.
•
We also argued that development in Canada must occur from the bottom-up
and that the key to this development is coordination, not control.
Collaboration Exercise (50 minutes)
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Based on your institutional response to the homework assignment, “Evaluating
Current Research Data Management Services”
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(1) What is one thing that you are not doing that you would like your institution
to do?
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(2) What is one thing that you are doing that you are willing to contribute to a
collaborative network?
Introduction to the four service functions (30 minutes) (January 23, Presentation 2)
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Four service functions: collection, user, access and preservation
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Eight horizontal activities: policies, procedures and guidelines; metadata and
standards; data products; data management tools and standards; expertise, skills
and staffing; collaborations and partnerships; designated user communities;
business case
Break (30 minutes)
Description of collection services (15 minutes)
Collection services exercise (30 minutes)
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Based on the lifecycle model drawn at the front of the room, with your table,
write down as many “collection services” as you can think of on sticky notes, and
place them where they belong on the research data management lifecycle
Description of user services (15 minutes)
User services exercise (30 minutes) (January 23, Presentation 4 and 5)
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Based on the lifecycle model drawn at the front of the room, with your table,
write down as many “user services” as you can think of on sticky notes, and
place them where they belong on the research data management lifecycle
Lunch (1 hour)
Description of access services (15 minutes)
Access services exercise (30 minutes)
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Based on the lifecycle model drawn at the front of the room, with your table,
write down as many “access services” as you can think of on sticky notes, and
place them where they belong on the research data management lifecycle
Description of preservation services (30 minutes)
Preservation services exercise (15 minutes) (January 23, Presentation 6)

Based on the existing service activities identified in the other exercises, place a
colored “dot” on all the services that will have a preservation component
Break (30 minutes)
Guest lecture (1 hour) (Presentation)

Marcel Fortin: Research Data Management Services at the University of Toronto
Map Library
Day 3
Review of Drivers and Trends, Local Data Landscape, and Four Services exercises and
sample analysis (30-minutes) (January 24, Presentation 1, 2, 3 and 4)
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Connecting the dots between theory and practice: Based on guest lectureservices, drivers and local landscape issues were specifically identified and
contextualized by instructor.
Three year planning exercise (1 hour) (Exercise 4, E and F)
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Objective: To identify and consider the important factors that will influence the
development of a 3-year plan for research data services at the institution.
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In institutional groups, compile information gathered in previous exercises and
then identify priorities.
Break (30-minutes)
Three year planning exercise, continued (1 hour)
Three year plan outline and report template (30-minutes) (January 24, Document 4, E
and F)
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Begin compiling an outline for a three year plan for research data services at the
institution.
Lunch (1 hour)
Three year plan outline and report template, continued (1-hour)
Break (30 minutes)
Discussion of collaborative opportunities (1-hour) (January 24, Presentation 6)
Collaborative Exercise (Exercise 4b, E and F)
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Objective: To develop a scenario with others at the table of potential
collaborations and partnerships.
Day 4
Identifying implementation options (30-minutes) (January 25, Presentation 1)
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Each instructor offered advice on strategies for implementing three-year plan
Exercise on next steps (30-minutes) (Exercise 5, E and F)
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Objective: To help integrate the findings from previous exercises into a set of
next steps.
Participants report on the exercise (30-minutes)
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Reporting by table groups
Break (30-minutes)
Discussion on community of practice (30-minutes) (January 25, Presentation 2)
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Group discussion: What steps can we take as a community to ensure that we
share information and continue to communicate with each other?
Evaluation (30-minutes)
End