The Medical Library Association Guide to Data Management for Librarians

摘要

Effectively managing data as part of the research process is now considered a standard best practice, and in some cases a requirement for grant applications. The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy have been actively working to highlight the importance of preserving data for over a decade. Each has created policies, best practices, and initiatives that highlight the importance of data curation as part of the research process. In addition, the Association of College and Research Libraries identified Research Data Services (RDS) as a top trend in 2016. The Medical Library Association Guide to Data Management for Librarians therefore offers a new publication that provides highly relevant information about the role librarians can take with regard to data management. In this edited work, Lisa Federer has compiled essays by individual authors that outline the many aspects of data management and how the skills librarians already possess translate into facilitating acquisition, description, access and preservation of data. As many of the authors emphasize, librarians, as keepers of the record, are in the perfect position to facilitate data curation.