This report examines how research institutions are responding to data management requirements of the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies. It also considers what role, if any, academic libraries and the library and information science profession should have in supporting researchers’ data management needs. University of North Texas (UNT) Library Director Martin Halbert opens the report with an overview of the DataRes Project, a two-year investigation of data management practices conducted at UNT with colleagues Spencer D. C. Keralis, Shannon Stark, and William E. Moen. His introduction is followed by a series of papers that were presented at the DataRes Symposium that UNT organized in December 2012.

This report aims to address one of the biggest challenges facing libraries and cultural heritage organizations: how to move their special collections into the 21st century through digitization while developing successful strategies to make sure those collections remain accessible and relevant over time. Through a cooperative agreement as part of the National Leadership Grants Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), in partnership with Ithaka S+R, to undertake in-depth case studies of institutions that have worked to build the audience, infrastructure, and funding models necessary to maintain and grow their digital collections. The eight collections profiled provide useful models and examples of good practice for project leaders to consider when digitizing their own materials. We hope that these case studies will encourage greater discussion among individuals in the academic library and cultural heritage communities about the reasons why they invest so much time and energy in the creation and ongoing management of their digitized special collections, the goals they set for them, and the planning needed to realize those aims. These questions become even more pressing in an environment where the traditional sources of funding for digitization are beginning to wane. …