Diving into Data: Implementing a Data Repository at the Texas Digital Library

The need for Data Management services is one of two large‐scale needs consistently expressed by members of the Texas Digital Library (TDL), a consortium of academic libraries throughout the state. In particular, members are seeking a repository that offers researchers a platform for publishing, citing, reusing, and preserving research data. In response to this need, TDL has formed a series of working groups aimed at building a statewide data repository.

This panel session presentation will document the work of two TDL working groups focused on the storage and accessibility of research data, as well as connect their efforts to a growing number of research data repositories worldwide:

The first group, the TDL Data Management Working Group, selected a platform to act as the statewide repository. Panel presenters will outline the group’s methodology, including the development of researcher use cases and system evaluation criteria and the testing of Dataverse, an open source platform for research data sharing and management developed by Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS). They will also highlight the results of these efforts and discuss why the group recommended that TDL and its members implement the Dataverse repository.

Secondly, presenters will share the current activities of the TDL Dataverse Implementation Working Group, which is charged with launching an instance of Dataverse as the statewide data repository for Texas. Updates will focus on the work of four subgroups (Budget and Business Model, Policy and Governance, Technical Configuration, and Workflow and Outreach) as well as the results and lessons learned from an initial pilot launch of the software in Spring 2016.

Finally, a representative of the Dataverse project from Harvard IQSS will situate the TDL Dataverse project within a wider community of Dataverse implementations, both at Harvard and elsewhere across the globe.

As more institutions consider launching a repository for research data, our panel presentation offers important lessons that others may value. Attendees of our session will learn more about the assessment of data repositories, including potential methods and criteria for evaluating systems, as well as the challenges and benefits to building a collaborative, consortial data repository.