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

Abstract

This study investigated researchers perceptions of RDM at the MGGL to recommend measures to enhance managing, sharing, and reusing data. The study was underpinned by the DCC Curation lifecycle model and the CCMF which enabled the investigator to employ a descriptive research design to purposively capture data from a broad cross-section of 330 researchers. The data was analysed using SPSS to generate descriptive and inferential statistics that enabled the Investigator to answer the problem.Study findings demonstrate 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 the examined capabilities. These challenges limited managing, sharing, and reusing data.The study recommends establishing a CMU within the MGGL to oversee the implementation of RDM activities by assembling all the needed capabilities to support data curation activities and enable efficient managing, sharing and reusing research data