Where is my research data securely stored during my research? Is there a facility to share my data with collaborators from different institutions? In which data archive can I best deposit my data? What are the costs?

Funders, publishers and the university impose new requirements on the handling of research data. Often researchers are not sure how to comply, which facilities exist, if any, and which ones are best to use. Therefore, as part of the Leiden University project on data management, a project team started to work on a catalogue for data management facilities for researchers from Leiden University. In Dutch its acronym is DoDo : ‘Datamanagement Ondersteuning en Diensten voor Onderzoekers’. Its main goal is to help researchers make a reasoned choice when planning for the management of their data. Additionally, the information gathered helps to identify gaps and underpin the need for new or different facilities.

Firstly, the team created an overview of local, national and international facilities that are relevant to Leiden researchers. We used well-known models to enable views according to the phase in the research data life cycle, the private or shared research domain, the nature of the data, etc. We then identified the information that we wanted to record and filled out information sheets : functionalities, certifications, organizational features, conditions for use etc. Finally, we evaluated the services according to the requirements in the Provisional Data Management Regulation of the University. Facilities that meet all requirements are ticked, using them will help you comply with the regulation. Apart from the integrated models you can browse the catalogue by the stage of your project or by faculty. Faculties can, as part of their data management policy, indicate preferred facilities. According to the protocol of their faculty archaeologists, for instance, are expected to deposit their data in the EDNA archive at DANS.

Although we are still working both on the presentation and the information included, we invite you to take a look at the ‘Leiden Research Data Information Sheets’. We welcome your comments at datamanagement@library.leidenuniv.nl.

Next steps will be to explore the development of the catalogue with partners inside and outside the university, improve the interface and organize its content management in a sustainable way. In the coming years services will be added to come to a complete set of services to support the entire research process.