Practice and Enlightenment of Japanese University Libraries in Using Institutional Repositories for Research Data Management

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] Universities are important institutions for the creation and use of research data. However, how to organize, manage and reuse research data has become a challenging task for universtiy researchers. At present, Chinese university libraries and research institutes have become an important part of institutional repository (IR) construction. Of studies on IR construction by university libraries, there are few cases of embedding research data management (RDM) into IR functions for data preservation and sharing. The relevant theories and practices are still in the exploratory stage and have not been popularized. Therefore, through the investigation of the construction of Japanese IRs for research resource management, some experience is summarized, including the concept of data life cycle management, the optimization of data management policies, and the establishment of a scientific data management platform are applied to the management of scientific data generated by university researchers, the construction of a professional social science data platform for application research, and the conversion of data from decentralized storage to centralized storage and public release, in order to promote academic exchanges and provide innovative services. [Method/Process] IR platforms of 18 university libraries in Japan were selected as the sample. According to the life cycle of "collection - preservation - reuse" of RDM, the characteristics and experience of service construction were summarized from the aspects of RDM content, planning service, policies, and training courses. [Results/Conclusions] The enlightenment for the IRs of Chinese university libraries in their RDM service is summarized as follows: using the data life cycle to carry out the RDM service, optimizing data management policies, formulating RDM norms, developing data management courses, improving data management ability, raising the awareness of RDM among researchers, and paying attention to the training of RDM professionals. This study has several limiations. First, the survey data are not comprehensive enough. This paper only investigated IRs of some university libraries in Japan. Second, the research on the reuse of research data in Chinese universities is not comprehensive enough. Our future research will focus on the value-added development, reuse and sharing of research data.

Keywords

• research data management (rdm)|institutional repository (ir)|data life cycle|data management plan|university library