Edinburgh DataShare : Tackling research data in a DSpace institutional repository

Abstract

The DISC-UK DataShare Project (2007-2009) was funded under JISC’s Repositories and Preservation programme. It was led by EDINA and Edinburgh University Data Library in partnership with the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton. The project built on the existing informal collaboration of UK data librarians and data managers who formed DISC-UK (Data Information Specialists Committee – UK) by joining forces with repository managers and developers at our institutions in order to advance the current provision of repository services for accommodating datasets. The use of three open-source repository platforms provided exemplars for the community in ‘tackling research data’ as an object type for submission. This paper will summarise the work of DataShare and Edinburgh in particular in the following areas: defining the institutional data repository in the broader landscape and within the ‘data sharing continuum’; investigating deposit of research data in institutional repositories including metadata and policy development; understanding and improving data management practice through partnering with academic departments in the use of the Data Audit Framework; and licensing issues including ‘open data’.