Leading FAIR Adoption Across the Institution: A Collaboration Between an Academic Library and a Technology Provider

Abstract

Universities strive to foster knowledge sharing and greater research productivity. Some recognize that this requires research output to be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. But current tools do not yet allow a comprehensive adoption of these FAIR principles for making research openly and globally accessible to generate new knowledge. To address this gap, diverse stakeholders are collaborating to build effective research data management [RDM] solutions for institutional research output [publications and data] that benefit researchers, institutions, and developers. This paper illustrates a university-industry collaboration between a private U.S. university (Drexel University) and a global commercial vendor (Ex Libris, a ProQuest company). The authors examine how an emerging technology infrastructure for Research Data Management will enable librarians to help institutions adopt the FAIR principles at scale. They highlight an approach for collaborative product development that aims not to change researcher habits or add to librarians’ workloads. Their first year working together confirms factors recognized as contributing to successful collaborations, such as aligning goals, building understanding of each other’s organizations, and sustaining honest engagement. Though FAIR offers a simple articulation to help build campus infrastructure and change culture, its implementation will vary between different groups of researchers. Libraries and technology providers have a mutual interest in collaborating to address RDM challenges, but must recognize that collaboration takes time, perseverance, and flexibility to effect change. Librarians, researchers, and administrators from such campus offices as Research, Compliance, IT, Legal, and Graduate Studies will benefit from key lessons raised by this case study.