Adaptability in the Development of Data Archiving Services at Johns Hopkins University

Abstract:

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Data Management Services provides archiving services for institutional researchers through the JHU Data Archive, thereby increasing the access to and use of their research data. From its inception our unit’s archiving service has evolved considerably. While some of these changes have been internally driven so that our unit can archive quality data collections more efficiently, we have also developed archiving policies and procedures on the fly in response to researcher needs. Providing our archiving services for JHU research groups from a variety of research disciplines have surfaced different sets of expectations and needs. We have used each interaction to help us refine our services and quickly satisfy the researchers we serve (following the first agile principle).

Here we discuss the development of our newest archiving service model, its implementation over the past several months, and the processes by which we have continued to refine and improve our archiving services since its implementation. Through this discussion we will illustrate the benefits of planning, structure and flexibility in development of archiving services that maximize the potential value of research data.

We will describe interactions with research groups, including those from environmental engineering and international health, and how we were able to rapidly modify and develop our archiving services to meet their needs (e.g. in an ‘agile’ way). For example, our interactions with both of these research groups led first to discussion in regular standing meetings and eventually development of new archiving policies and procedures. These policies and procedures centered on limiting access to archived research data while associated manuscripts progress through peer-review and publication.