Last Updated on November 27, 2024, 10:40 am ET
With a research budget of more than $1 billion, the management of research data at Penn State University involves a diverse set of researchers, systems, campus units, and an increasingly complex policy environment. The Penn State University Libraries plays a key coordination and information role in all of this, including hosting a two-day workshop in early October: “Machine-Actionable Data Management and Sharing Plans: Exploring Opportunities to Develop Scalable Data Management Infrastructure.” The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research co-hosted the workshop, and the speaker lineup included the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) team from the Machine Actionable Plans (MAP) Pilot project, funded by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (grant LG-254861-OLS-23).
With the development of machine-actionable data management and sharing plans well underway, the MAP Pilot is poised to transform how institutions handle research data. These structured, dynamic plans can go beyond traditional data management plans by integrating directly with research workflows and administrative systems, such as research information management platforms, grant management tools, and institutional review board notifications. This integration streamlines communication, automates processes, and reduces the administrative burden on both researchers and staff, while also enhancing data discoverability and sharing.
While the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act (Section 10344b) mandates machine-readable data management plans for research proposals submitted to the US National Science Foundation, the MAP Pilot takes this a step further by ensuring that these plans are fully machine-actionable, offering even greater efficiency and flexibility. As part of this initiative, the California Digital Library (CDL) is enhancing the technical capabilities of the DMP Tool to fully support these advanced features, positioning institutions to better meet new policy requirements while improving the overall research data management ecosystem.
The MAP team visiting Penn State included Judy Ruttenberg, senior director of Scholarship and Policy at ARL, and Cynthia Hudson Vitale, associate dean for Technology Strategy & Digital Services, Johns Hopkins University. During the workshop, Ruttenberg and Hudson Vitale interviewed key stakeholders from the Office of Sponsored Research, the University Libraries, the Institutional Review Board, and Office of Grants and Contracts. The team also presented on the MAP Pilot and interacted with the faculty, librarians, and administrators in attendance as they considered how information contained in a data management and sharing plan could make their work more efficient and effective.
The MAP Pilot project is creating a feedback loop between campus units managing research data and the tool developers at CDL. The Penn State MAP Pilot project team includes:
- Briana Ezray Wham, PhD, Research Data Management Librarian, University Libraries
- John Hanold, PhD, Associate Vice President for Research and Director of Research Administration Services, Office of Sponsored Programs
- Courtney Karmelita, DEd, Executive Director of Ethical Research and Outreach and Research Integrity Officer, Office for Research Protections
- Paulina Krys, Data Modeling Analyst, Office of Research Information Systems
- Sarah Matthews, Research Integrity Program Assistant, Office for Research Protections
- Mike Stedelin, Executive Director, Office of Research Information Systems
Featured speakers also included fellow pilot participants Jim Taylor, Arizona State University, and Matthew Murray, University of Colorado Boulder. The MAP Pilot institutions meet monthly to share their progress with the ARL and CDL teams.
“The relationships are in place—especially between the University Libraries and the Office of Research—to make this a real success and contribute to the technical improvement of the DMP Tool and the improved coordination here at Penn State,” said Nathan Hall, associate dean for Distinctive Collections and Digital Strategies. “It’s a win for researchers and administrators alike.”
Data management and sharing plans (DMSPs), as one workshop participant put it, contain a list of promises that a researcher makes to the funder about how data will be preserved, shared, documented, and under what conditions it will be secured and/or used. Understanding those promises at the time they are made—as well as any changes made over the progress of a grant project—would be invaluable to the units on campus that are responsible for data storage, data security, protection of human subjects, and findability. The MAP Pilot, and the two-day workshop, brought those people together to examine where in the research life cycle they handle data, and how they might better coordinate with other units using the kind of information in a DMSP.
The MAP team is scheduled for three additional site visits in the coming months, including stops at the University of California, Riverside; the University of Colorado Boulder; and Arizona State University. Following these visits, the team will compile and publish best practices and recommendations to help institutions adopt machine-actionable data management and sharing plans (maDMSPs) and improve campus-wide coordination in research data management.
