Poster presented at Research Data Access and Preservation Summit, 22-24 March 2012, New Orleans, LA.In response to an increased awareness of the data management needs of
researchers, Cornell’s Research Data Management Service Group (RDMSG) was
created with the goal of making it as simple as possible for researchers to
obtain the data management services they require. As more libraries get
involved in data management, there are several different service models
emerging, with some institutions establishing dedicated staff whose main
responsibility it is to work with researchers on research data management and
others using existing library staff. An example of another possible model, the
RDMSG is a cross-disciplinary virtual group that relies on representatives from
various service groups on campus to do the work of consulting with researchers
on data management planning. With representatives from Cornell University
Libraries (CUL), Cornell Information Technologies (CIT), the Center for
Advanced Computing (CAC), and Cornell Institute for Social and Economic
Research (CISER), the RDMSG consultant pool includes staff from both business
and mission driven departments, as well as having very different backgrounds
and areas of expertise. The diverse perspectives of the consultants is both a
strength and a challenge for the group. In order to provide consistent high
quality consultations, the group developed a set of operating principles to
guide all consultants in their interactions with researchers. Developing best
practices allowed the group to reach consensus on what kinds of interactions
were desirable, and to focus their efforts on providing that level of research
data management service. We will discuss our experience working as a
cross-disciplinary group, including the advantages and disadvantages both
expected and unexpected that we’ve encountered. We will also summarize our
activities to date and offer some best practices for providing research data
management services