Research Data Services in Europe’s Academic Research Libraries
Almost all of Europe’s academic research libraries are working collaboratively, within and outside of their institutions, to help ensure that the scientific data of today is curated properly, so it can be accessed, shared and reused by future generations. That is one conclusion from a recent survey on Research Data Services (RDS), carried out by a group of internationally renowned researchers in collaboration with LIBER’s Scholarly Communication & Research Infrastructures Committee and DataONE.
The survey — which reflects answers from a representative sample of research libraries in 22 countries across Europe — also revealed that:
- Libraries are currently offering more consultative-type RDS services (eg. how to find information on Data Management Plans, metadata standards, or data citation practices) than technological services (eg. own storage solutions);
- Less than half of libraries say their institutions currently have policies relating to RDS;
- Two-thirds of library directors express strongly that libraries need to offer RDS to remain relevant.
The full results of the survey can be downloaded. The raw data underlying the survey has also been published on Zenodo, and key figures are presented in the infographic below.
