The Association of Research Libraries (ARL)/Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Joint Task Force on Research Data Services was formed in early 2020 with a two-fold purpose: (1) to demonstrate and commit to the roles research libraries have in stewarding research data as part of institution-wide research support services and (2) to guide the development of resources for the ARL and CARL memberships in advancing their organizations as collaborative partners with respect to research data services in the context of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data principles and the US National Academies’ Open Science by Design framework.
The Task Force comprised directors and data librarians from various institutions around North America, and formed three working groups of data practitioners, representing a wealth of expertise, to research the institutional landscape and policy environment in both the US and Canada. The working groups focused on critical areas in research data services development: federal, national, and transnational policy; partnerships and stakeholders; and institutional strategies and benchmarks.
Campus Resources
- ARL/CARL Joint Task Force on Research Data Services: Final Report
- The Final Report presents the task force’s recommendations for the roles of research libraries with regard to research data principles, policies, and approaches to managing research data. The report also offers strategies for discipline-specific research data approaches, priorities for automation of processes, economic models to scale and sustain shared resources, prioritization of research data to steward, and decision-making rubrics.
- Ali, Ibraheem, Thea Atwood, Renata Curty, Jimmy Ghaphery, Tim McGeary, Jennifer Muilenburg, and Judy Ruttenberg. Research Data Services: Partnerships. Washington, DC, and Ottawa, ON: Association of Research Libraries and Canadian Association of Research Libraries, January 2022. https://doi.org/10.29242/report.rdspartnerships2022.
Task Force Members
Martha Whitehead, Chair (Harvard)
Dale Askey (Alberta)
Donna Bourne-Tyson (Dalhousie)
Karen Estlund (Colorado State)
Susan Haigh (CARL)
Claire Stewart (Nebraska)
Kornelia Tancheva (Pittsburgh)
Tyler Walters (Virginia Tech)
Working Group Members
Ibrahim Ali (UCLA)
Thea Atwood (Massachusetts Amherst)
Jonathan Cain (Oregon)
Jake Carlson (Michigan)
Renata Curty (UCSB)
Marcel Fortin (Toronto)
Jimmy Ghaphery (VCU)
Wind Knowles (Princeton)
Amy Koshoffer (Cincinnati)
Lisa Johnston (Minnesota)
Wendy Kozlowski (Cornell)
Sherry Lake (Virginia)
Tim McGeary (Duke)
Andi Ogier (Virginia Tech)
Plato Smith (Florida)
John Watts (Texas A&M)
