Dataverse for Research Data: Using Best Practices for Research Data Management in UBC

The volume of research data around the world is increasing at a phenomenal rate. According to a report of the Canadian Research Data Summit in 2011, “the way that we choose to manage our research data will directly impact... [ view full abstract ]

The volume of research data around the world is increasing at a phenomenal rate. According to a report of the Canadian Research Data Summit in 2011, “the way that we choose to manage our research data will directly impact our ability to undertake leading edge research and development in the future.” In Canada, as in many developed countries, requirements for data management are being established across a wide range of scholarly disciplines. In this presentation, we will offer UBC Library expertise in managing thousands of research data files with Dataverse software. UBC Abacus Dataverse (http://dvn.library.ubc.ca/dvn/) is open-source software, developed by Harvard, which allows researchers to share, cite, preserve, discover, and analyze research data. Dataverse is designed as a self-serve platform, where individual researchers, research teams, and institutes can create their own account and deposit their own data. Dataverse has proven to be a flexible platform that can support many models for research data management services. It offers a range of features that improve data discoverability and access. It also does a good job of managing data files from a preservation perspective: it manages versions, conducts checksums to maintain data integrity, and supports persistent identifiers. In this session we will cover how to: 1) Create and change records; 2) Metadata, types of metadata, standards; 3) Uploading files, large files, zipping; 4) Version control; 5) Tabular analysis in your browser; 6) Granular access to datasets: public, institutional, groups; 7) UNFs for data analysis; and 7) OAI for discoverability.