LIBR 559S (3) Research Data Management for Information Professionals

PREREQUISITES:

MAS students: Completion of the MAS Core courses, plus permission of the instructor.

MLIS and Dual students: Some electives can be taken in conjunction with the MLIS Core courses; consult with the MLIS Program Chair for recommendations.

GOAL: This class will introduce students to issues in the management and curation of research data. It will cover the systems and metadata standards for curating and preserving research data, and will develop the skills necessary to create data management plans.

OBJECTIVES:

After completing this class, the students will be able to:

  • Describe data management challenges and opportunities in archives, academic and public libraries
  • Differentiate between data management needs and practices in various academic communities (e.g. physical sciences, natural sciences, engineering, humanities, health sciences and social sciences)
  • Understand research data lifecycle, data curation profiles and data needs assessment tools for research projects
  • Develop data management plans for digital humanities and science data

CONTENT:

  • Overview of research data management – history, challenges, trends and obstacles to data curation;
  • Types, formats, and stages of data – best practices for file and folder structuring, data types and stages for data;
  • Metadata standards and details needed to make data meaningful to others  – metadata schemes and controlled vocabularies;
  • Data storage and backup – different systems for storage, management and public access for data (REDCap, DataVerse, Archivematica, DSpace);
  • Data sharing and reuse policies – data management plans and Canadian developments in this area;
  • Archiving and preservation of data – systems and connections to data management systems.
  • The class will also feature a variety of invited speakers – librarians, archivists, researchers and graduate students that directly deal with various aspects of data management.
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