Our subject librarians can help you with disciplinary-specific data repository queries.  

• Explore the Libraries' guide on Data Resources, which offers strategies and resources for locating and evaluating datasets.

• The Registry of Research Data Repositories is an interdisciplinary registry of data repositories with global coverage. Use this when starting a project and for guidance finding data.
   

• Data.gov provides data, tools, and resources to conduct research with the U.S. Government’s open data. UAlbany’s Government Information Research Guides provide additional sources.
   
• ICPSR is an archive of social and behavioral science data. UAlbany is an institutional member. If you would like to access (or deposit) data there and have questions, contact Elaine Lasda.

• The New York Federal Statistical Research Data Center (NYRDC) operates three secure facilities that provide researchers with the opportunity to engage in approved projects that use the restricted-access microdata collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRW). NYRDC facilities are located at Baruch College, Cornell University, and Yale University. UAlbany is a member of the NYRDC Consortium. 

Additionally, DMAC staff can help faculty and research staff obtain data from both governmental and commercial data vendors. The team also assists with negotiating terms with data vendors. 

Additional Resources

As you start to think about organizing and describing your data you may also find some of these resources helpful:

• Cornell’s Research Data Management Service Group’s data management best practices, which offer guidelines for data citation, file format and management, and more.

• ICPSR’s Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving, “a compilation of best practices gleaned from the experience of many archivists and investigators.”

• MIT Libraries’ guides to documenting data and and MIT Libraries’ guides to organizing data.

• NISO’s Research Data Management Primer, which aims to introduce researchers to the basics of data management.

DMAC can provide support with survey data collection as well as qualitative and mixed methods approaches.

DMAC and the Libraries offer data documentation support (e.g., metadata and “read-me” consultations), so critical for finding, using, sharing, and preserving data. To help get you started, you may want to explore the following:

• Digital Curation Centre’s Metadata Directory

• Research Data Alliance’s Metadata Directory

• Cornell’s Guide to Writing “readme” Style Metadata

Contact Scholarly Communications for additional support.

ITS provides 10 TB of shared storage for research groups and a 10-GB home directory quota, accessible either on personal computers or the general purpose cluster. Research directory storage is encrypted at rest, compressed, de-duplicated, and is backed up via "snapshot" daily for 21 days and hourly for the past 23 hours.

ITS manages local high-performance computing (HPC), including a 33-node research cluster for general purpose use. All researchers at the university can leverage this instrument to enable scientific discovery. Find ITS's research-specific computing how-to articles and real-time cluster availability.

ITS offers personalized help including grant consultation, data analytics or visualization collaboration, software installation on the cluster, and resource optimization support, along with other support services.

All faculty at the University with National Science Foundation (NSF) funding have free access to XSEDE, an NSF-funded HPC system that scientists can use to interactively share computing resources, data, and expertise. To get started, contact Spencer Bruce (ITS, sbruce@albany.edu) or Kevin Tyle (DAES, ktyle@albany.edu), UAlbany's XSEDE Campus Champions. 

ITS's Data Classification Standards, which detail what controls are needed to protect data confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and Category 1 Data Storage Standards, which identify approved or recommended storage solutions, are helpful resources to consult when starting a project. 

In addition, in collaboration with ITS, DMAC provides storage and security support for research projects. 

In addition to meeting funder and journal requirements, there are many benefits to you and the larger scholarly community when you share your data, and you have many options for doing so.

• Scholars Archive 
  Use UAlbany’s institutional repository, Scholars Archive, for preserving and sharing your research publications and associated data. While there is no storage limit for individuals, there is a practical upload limit of about 15-20 GB for an individual primary or supplemental file.
   

• Registry of Research Data Repositories
  Share your data in a disciplinary-specific repository.  

Your subject librarians can help you find the most appropriate home for your data.

UAlbany’s M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives preserves and provides access to data if is focused on one of their collecting areas: New York State politics, the death penalty, the local capital region, or the University. We can help you navigate this process.

If your data will include human subjects data or animal use data, your data management and data sharing plans will need to be provided to the Intuitional Review Board (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), as appropriate. The IRB and IACUC review plans for managing data as part of the study protocol review.

Find more information about IRB and IACUC services.

Contact IRB with your questions about human subjects data and IACUC with your questions about animal use data. 

Data Management and Security Considerations

Federal sponsors have implemented a variety of data management, security, and sharing policies that apply to grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. Within these policies, there is an inherent tension between sharing and safeguarding research data of which researchers need to be mindful as they develop a data management plan.

Sponsor requirements for data management and protection can often be found in the agency’s granting or procurement policies, the funding solicitation, and/or in the funding agreement.

Find an overview of data sharing requirements for several major sponsors as they apply to grants at SPARC's online resource, Data Sharing Requirements by Federal Agency. Please note, however, that within the same agency data sharing policies will differ if you are funded through a contract instead of a grant.

If you have questions about the specific data sharing and security requirements in your proposal or sponsored project, please contact your Research Administrator.

Updated National Institutes of Health Data Management and Sharing Policy

For all research applications with due dates on/after January 25, 2023, NIH requires a Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP) to be submitted with every proposal that generates scientific data.

In this DMSP, researchers must indicate how data generated from the project will be preserved and shared as required.

You may find an overview of these requirements, tips on writing your plan and sharing your data, and links for additional support on the Libraries NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy LibGuide.

For more information on this policy, please visit the NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy Overview webpage.

You can explore and register for the Libraries' current Research Data Management workshops.

Select recordings of Data Services presentations follow: 

• Get started with our quick DMPTool Tutorial, which walks you through this free online tool and the UAlbany resources embedded within it.  
• Explore Research Data Management: Tools and Tips if you’re looking to better manage your data and aren’t sure where to start. 
• Need help with visualization? Try Introduction to Tableau for Data Visualization, which will get you started with the basics of importing data, making basic charts, and dashboards in Tableau.

You may find DMAC workshop offerings and recordings, which cover topics such as survey design, data processing, and data visualization. 

Please contact us if you would like to request a Data Services workshop. 

Our brief guide to research data management and DMP basics checklist may be helpful resources to bookmark for at-a-glance guidance.

Please contact us with any questions you may have. We are here to help.