Background: The University of Iowa Libraries has recently taken the initiative to assess data management needs across campus. Two steps are involved in the needs assessment project: a web-based survey and face-to-face interviews. This paper presents preliminary results from the first step and describes a unique partnership between the authors, a Clinical Education Librarian from Hardin Library for the Health Sciences Library and a Data Services Librarian from the Main Library.
Methods: With inputs from the literature and multiple stakeholders on campus, the authors developed a questionnaire of 12 questions using Qualtrics software. One of the questions was to identify potential participants for the face-to-face interviewing. The questions were pre-tested by several researchers from multiple disciplines on campus. Efforts to encourage participation and increase the response rate were made, such as pre-notification emails from each college dean to its researchers. The survey has recently been distributed via a campus-wide email to researchers.
Results and Discussion: To date, over 529 survey responses have been received, which indicates our strategies for developing and administering the survey were effective. Results from the survey will be discussed along with plans for the next step of the assessment. In addition to its campus-wide scope, this study also features a unique partnership that brings together the public services librarian’s connections with researchers and the data services librarian’s expertise in data curation.