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December 2023

Building Research Data Management Capacity: Case Studies in Strategic Library Collaboration

by Rebecca Bryant, Brian Lavoie, Amanda K. Rinehart

Research data management is an increasingly vital strategic interest for academic libraries, and many collaborate with other libraries to scale resources and meet institutional RDM needs. Library collaboration is a strategic decision that can transform your institution’s RDM capabilities, but successful and sustainable collaboration is not guaranteed and requires careful consideration.

Building Research Data Management Capacity: Case Studies in Strategic Library Collaboration provides actionable recommendations based on real-world case studies that libraries can apply to help make their own collaborations successful and sustainable. The report shares experiences from the Texas Data Repository, Portage Network, and Data Curation Network to illuminate the challenges, opportunities, and considerations of building RDM service capacity through collaboration.

Learn from success stories. This report shares experiences and insights from institutions that have built RDM capacity for their institution through collaboration:

  • Texas Data Repository (TDR)—leveraged an existing consortium, the Texas Digital Library.  
  • Portage Network (now the Digital Research Alliance of Canada)—established and coordinated RDM infrastructure at a national scale.  
  • Data Curation Network (DCN)—created a new RDM collaboration to fill shared curation expertise gaps.  

Explore four strategic frames. This report applies the following four strategic frames introduced in the previous OCLC report Library Collaboration as a Strategic Choice to the case studies explored here. Derived from economic concepts, these four strategic frames can help to understand a collaboration’s potential success and sustainability:

  • Coordination: Consider strategies for coordinating group-scale efforts, mitigating risks, and fostering trust and commitment among partners.  
  • Costs: Analyze the transaction costs associated with collaboration, from identifying partners to achieving consensus and allocating staff resources.  
  • Change: Navigate the challenges of change management with insights into path dependency and the costs of switching to collaborative solutions.
  • Control: Discover how to address the principal-agent problem, especially in governance arrangements, and establish effective oversight mechanisms.

Library collaboration is a strategic choice that requires a significant investment for success. Read this report for actionable recommendations drawn from real-world examples that can help library collaborations be successful and sustainable.

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Supplemental Material

Abstract

A two-page flyer summarizing the Building Research Data Management Capacity: Case Studies in Strategic Library Collaboration research report and its takeaways.

Download US Letter .pdf

Download A4 .pdf

 

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Suggested Citation

Bryant, Rebecca, Brian Lavoie, and Amanda K. Rinehart. 2023. Building Research Data Management Capacity: Case Studies in Strategic Library Collaboration. Dublin, OH: OCLC Research. https://doi.org/10.25333/ag1k-3s72.