CNI Fall 2022 Membership Meeting

Two back-to-back 30-minute presentations paired together in a one-hour session

Presentation 1
Coordinating Data Services in a Decentralized Environment: Building a Successful Institutional Research Data Management (RDM) Strategy

Alison Hitchens
Associate University Librarian, Collections, Technology, Scholarly Communication
University of Waterloo

Ian Milligan
Associate Vice President, Research Oversight and Analysis
University of Waterloo

The Canadian federal government, through the Tri-Agencies, has mandated all Canadian research institutions to adopt institutional research data management (RDM) strategies and argue "that research data collected through the use of public funds should be responsibly and securely managed and be, where ethical, legal and commercial obligations allow, available for reuse by others where ethical, legal, and commercial obligations allow." Recognizing that this is not just a rote compliance requirement but rather an opportunity to foster research excellence on campus, the University of Waterloo's Library, Office of Research, and IT unit teamed up to develop both this institutional strategy and to imagine how the future of RDM support on campus could look. The process revealed a confusing array of resources, services, guidelines, policies, expectations, and working methods that researchers must navigate as they strive for research excellence (or compliance). This session will explore the institutional coordination of data services in a decentralized environment that includes core services, fee-based services, and external services, all while keeping researcher workflows and disciplinary expectations in mind.

https://uwaterloo.ca/research-data-management-institutional-strategy-project/

VIDEO STREAM: https://youtu.be/pzV5kqU1jqI


Presentation 2
Facilitating Research Computing and Data Support at North Carolina State University
Susan Ivey
Director, Research Facilitation Service
North Carolina State University

Jill Sexton
Associate Director for Digital & Organizational Strategy
North Carolina State University

Greg Raschke
Senior Vice Provost and Director of Libraries
North Carolina State University

Libraries, research offices, and central IT organizations are increasingly working together to create robust services facilitating data-intensive research. In this session, we will share the story of a successful collaboration at North Carolina State between the University Libraries, the Office of Information Technology, and the Office of Research and Innovation to develop a research facilitation service (RFS) that provides guidance, services, and tools to support evolving research practices. Launched in spring 2022, the RFS provides a single point of contact to connect researchers to campus research computing and data services, ranging from data storage and management, high-performance computing, data transformation and analysis, and security and public access compliance requirements. The RFS team also monitors emerging technologies and areas of increasing demand to advocate for service growth at the university. The session will cover the strategic discussions that led to the creation of this service, an outline of the activities of the cross-institutional service design task force, and a description of the strategic roadmap for the service. Insights into the roles required to staff a research facilitation service, plans for phased growth of the service over time, and a discussion of the opportunities and challenges encountered while balancing the needs of clients with the capacity of service providers will also be explored.

https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/rfs

VIDEO STREAM: https://youtu.be/kcTG6e5IpwI