Seeking information is of the great key for both researchers and academic li-brarians and for that matter getting data plays a key role. The act of sharing, preserving, collecting, disseminating, and managing of data with respect to re-search data is of the essence in our current system of retrieving information. This has been made possible by the collaboration with information communi-cation and technology for both researchers and academic librarians. Scholars are now producing, disseminating and storing digital data in much larger vol-ume than the text. Management of research data is a major challenge for many universities in Ghana. In case, having access to such data is really difficult because some data are not stored in libraries. The study reveals that some academic libraries are beginning to provide frameworks for these services with some degree of success as policies are being formulated. Also, infrastructures are being set up, and library staff trained, and awareness and advocacy campaigns held with academic staff and researchers. The study seeks to explore academic librarians’ perceptions of their roles and involvement in RDM support services. In view of that, the researchers used the qualitative method and gathered data using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data collected. A sample of 116 librarians was targeted for the survey in the data collection process. Out of one hundred and sixteen (116), only eighty-one (81) agreed to participate. The findings reveal that academic libraries in Ghana need to improve their technical skills and competency sets through training and other capacity building program. Based on the findings recommendations were also provided which can help major Ghanaian academic libraries to improve.
Cite this paper
Frederick, A. and Run, Y. (2019). The Role of Academic Libraries in Research Data Management: A Case in Ghanaian University Libraries. Open Access Library Journal, 6, e5286. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105286.
Tolle, K.M., Tansley, D.S.W. and Hey, A.J.G. (2011) The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery [Point of View]. Proceedings of the IEEE, 99, 1334-1337. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2011.2155130
Kahn, M., Higgs, R., Davidson, J. and Jones, S. (2014) Research Data Management in South Africa: How We Shape Up. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 45, 296-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2014.951910
Van den Eynden, V., Corti, L., Woollard, M., Bishop, L. and Horton, L. (2011) Managing and Sharing Research Data: A Best Practice Guide for Researchers. https://data-archive.ac.uk/media/2894/managingsharing.pdf
Flores, J.R., Brodeur, J.J., Daniels, M.G., Nicholls, N. and Turnator, E. (2014) Libraries and the Research Data Management Landscape Suggests a Broader Role for Libraries and Librarians, including Integration of RDM into Teaching at the Undergraduate Level and in Schools. No. 2010, 82-102. https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/RDM.pdf
Tenopir, C., Sandusky, R.J., Allard, S. and Birch, B. (2014) Research Data Management Services in Academic Research Libraries and Perceptions of Librarians. Library & Information Science Research, 36, 84-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2013.11.003
Chiware, E.R.T. and Mathe, Z. (2016) Academic libraries’ role in Research Data Management Services: A South African Perspective. South African J. Libr. Inf. Sci., 81. https://doi.org/10.7553/81-2-1563
Yoon, A. and Schultz, T. (2017) Research Data Management Services in Academic Libraries in the US: A Content Analysis of Libraries’ Websites. College & Research Libraries, 78, 920-933. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.7.920
Tripathi, M., Shukla, A. and Sonker, S.K. (2017) Research Data Management Practices in University Libraries: A Study. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 37, 417-424. https://doi.org/10.14429/djlit.37.11336
Perrier, L., et al. (2017) Research Data Management in Academic Institutions: A Scoping Review. PLoS ONE, 12, e0178261. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178261
Hey, T. and Trefethen, A. (2003) The Data Deluge: An e-Science Perspective. In: Berman, F., Fox, G.C. and Hey, A.J.G., Eds., Grid Computing: Making the Global Infrastructure a Reality, Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, 809-824.
Tsang, D.C. (2014) Research Data Management: Challenges and Opportunities. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?r eferer=&httpsredir=1&article=1001&context=lib_events
Lyon, L. (2016) Librarians in the Lab: Toward Radically Re-Engineering Data Curation Services at the Research Coalface. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 22, 391-409. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2016.1159969
Lewis, M. (2018) Libraries and the Management of Research Data. In: McKnight, S., Ed., Envisioning Future Academic Library Services, Facet Publishing, London, 145-168.
Bryant, R., Lavoie, B. and Malpas, C. (2018) The Realities of Research Data Management Incentives for Building University RDM Services. 1-26. https://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2017/o clcresearch-research-data-management.html
Creswell, J. (2014) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 4th Edi-tion, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. https://books.google.com/books?id=4uB76IC_pOQC&pg= PA58&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q &f=false
Tenopir, C., Birch, B. and Allard, S. (2012) Academic Libraries and Research Data Services: Current Practices and Plans for the Future. Library (Lond), 46, 61-75.
Surkis, A. and Read, K. (2015) Research Data Management. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 103, 154-156. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.103.3.011
Brown, R.A., Wolski, M. and Richardson, J. (2015) Developing New Skills for Research Support Librarians. The Australian Library Journal, 64, 224-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2015.1041215
Carlson, J. (2013) Opportunities and Barriers for Librarians in Exploring Data: Observations from the Data Curation Profile Workshops. Journal of eScience Librarianship, 2, e1042. https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.2013.1042