Researchers’ Perceptions of Research Data Management Activities at an Academic Library in a Developing Country

Abstract

This study investigated researchers’ perceptions of RDM activities at the Mahatma Gandhi Graduate Research Library (MGGL) to recommend measures to enhance managing, sharing, and reusing research data. The study was underpinned by the DCC curation lifecycle model and the community capability model framework (CCMF), which enabled the investigator to employ a descriptive research design to capture data from a broad cross-section of 330 researchers purposively. The data was analyzed using SPSS to generate descriptive and inferential statistics that enabled the investigator to address the research problem. Though the library had policies on research data, quality assurance, and intellectual property, study findings evidenced no explicit policies to guide each stage of data curation and capabilities. There were also inadequacies in the knowledge and skills capability, technological infrastructure, and collaborative partnerships. Overall, RDM faced challenges in all examined capabilities. The study recommends establishing an RDM unit within the library to oversee the implementation of RDM activities.