Music Research Data Management: A Guide for Librarians (Music Library Association Technical Reports)

What is research data for music researchers and performers? How can music librarians develop their knowledge and skills to better meet the research data needs of their constituents, and contribute to the data-intensive turn in academia? Music Research Data Management: A Guide for Librarians explores these questions, provides readers with a background in research data management as it applies to specific music disciplines, and presents examples of the data used within several of the major music and music-related disciplines. Many academic libraries offer extensive research data management services, which may include support for data management planning, data description and access, preservation, and the promotion of open data initiatives. Because of a lack of shared vocabulary, music researchers may not realize that they work with “data” and are eligible for these services. Music researchers and performers work with items such as texts, datasets, and recordings, and create new items for the library to curate and preserve. By drawing upon research data management principles, music librarians can define music research data and articulate its importance. Music Research Data situates research data management within the music disciplines and examines how music librarians can become leaders in the evolving turn towards data-focused research and scholarship, including ways in which our libraries can better support and curate these data. Useful to music librarians with varying levels of experience and development in research data management services at their libraries, this book offers a solid foundation for building these services.