Joining in the Enterprise of Response in the Wake of the NSF Data Management Planning Requirement (Feb. 2011)

The data management plan requirement activated in January 2011 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has mobilized many research libraries to develop and offer resources and services more specifically dedicated to guiding faculty and students to meet this new condition. At libraries, library associations, and data service organizations alike, a spate of new or revised web pages, as well as webinars, workshops, templates, and tutorials, has emerged in the months since the NSF’s May 2010 press release. A sense of urgency no doubt infuses this enterprise of response—and rightfully so. Funder requirements cannot be ignored. Such enterprise may hint at novel, even groundbreaking, roles for librarians and libraries, particularly as subject specialists, data curators, researchers, information technologists, and university administrators come together, perhaps for the first time, to address the requirement in actionable ways. Yet, it is also necessary and affirming to take momentary stock of the situation. What are libraries already doing in this space that would be valuable to apply and expand on? Who are the data specialists in our libraries whose expertise could be leveraged for purposes of both “inreach” (educating librarian colleagues in data management concepts and practice) and outreach (getting the word out to faculty researchers that the library is ready to help)? This article affords an overview of the new, leading roles libraries can RLI 274 11