The number of academic libraries offering research data management services increased dramatically after the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that all funding proposals from 2011 onward must include a data management plan (DMP). Motivated by this NSF requirement, DMP-related outreach, training, and consultation has become a core service offered by many libraries. However, because most researchers do not receive federal funding that requires creation of a DMP, a focus on providing DMP services serves to ignore the majority of campus researchers. Therefore, DMP services should be only one component of a more comprehensive research data services program designed to meet the needs of a larger researcher population.
Making DMP services the pinnacle of a library’s research data services program can reinforce the idea that most researchers, at least those in the sciences, receive federal funding that requires submission of a DMP and adherence to requirements for data accessibility.
Go to source: http://crln.acrl.org/content/75/8/435.full
