The Research Data Steering Group (RDSG) is a team of people from the Research Office, Campus IT, and the Library who provide a specific set of skills and expertise ranging from discipline specific guidance, data management tools, metadata guidance, and more. RDSG can work with you in the following ways:
- Consultations: Whether you are just beginning your research or have been working on it for many years, RDSG can meet with you to discuss your specific data needs, providing guidance as we work together to figure out the best solutions that are unique to your individual project. Types of consultations include:
- General Data
- Data Cleaning and Transformation (including metadata and documentation)
- Copyright and licensing of Data
- Identifying Digital Repositories for Datasets
- Campus Events and Programs: You can find RDSG at various campus events like: the Research Office New Faculty Orientation, Darwin Day, and others.
- Workshops: RDSG can design and teach tailored workshops for groups across campus, including classes. RDSG Librarians will work with you or a group to create concrete learning objectives for the session. Examples include:
- Research Data Management (RDM) workshops that are discipline or research-specific. For example, RDM workshops for Art History will look very different from RDM workshops for Biochemistry.
- Data for Humanists
- Basic of Research Data Management
- Beyond the Basics: Writing a Data Management Plan
- Program Support: Examples include:
- An RDSG member attending a graduate seminar to field questions about the inclusion of a data management plan in a grant application.
- If the help you are looking for is not listed, send us an email! We are still developing new services, and are always interested in learning more about researchers’ needs.
- Support for Grant-Funded Research: Grant proposals may request information about university provided services available to researchers. If you would like to include UD Research Data Services in your grant proposal, we recommend submitting a support request to discuss expectations. Some general guidelines about including library provided services in grant applications are provided on the library’s Collaborating on a Grant Proposal webpage.What to include in grant proposals:A common requirement for grant proposals is a Data Management Plan (DMP). We can support the development data management plans by recommending formats and templates, training researchers on the DMPTool for plan development, and providing feedback on written DMPs to ensure all required components have been addressed.
You may wish to include Research Data Services in general as a university-provided resource. If that is the case, we recommend a discussion with our team. However, the following verbiage may be sufficient:
University of Delaware Research Data Services (RDS) is a cross-campus collaboration between data service providers. RDS experts provide guidance for researchers of all levels about the collection, description, analysis, visualization, storage, sharing, and preservation of research data. Through training, researcher support, and partnerships with campus collaborators, RDS aims to promote a culture of research data management best practices that will enhance the visibility, rigor, and reach of research at the University of Delaware.
Beyond our scope:
UD Research Data Services is unable to directly engage with researcher datasets. Unfortunately we do not have the capacity to clean, curate, and steward datasets across the UD research enterprise. It is our intention to provide the support and training to make decisions about your research data and become stewards
To talk to a RDSG member about any of the above services, email lib-rdsg@udel.edu or fill out the RDSG Service Request Form to schedule a consultation.