Library News

Inside the UI Libraries with Chris Childs

Inside the University of Iowa Libraries is your look behind-the-scenes to meet the people and discover the stories making our organization unique and valuable. From cutting-edge databases to rare books, join us to explore a world of research, preservation, and discovery that fosters student success through countless touchpoints.

Chris Childs’ journey in librarianship began when he was seeking a meaningful career. Looking for something beyond “just a job,” Chris’s first step into the world of libraries was as a volunteer. Eventually, he landed at Hardin Library for Health Sciences where he now works as a clinical education librarian. He started out as a liaison to the College of Public Health during his first 10 years at Hardin Library. For the past six years, he has worked as liaison to the College of Pharmacy and College of Dentistry.

Chris works with students, faculty, and staff in one-on-one consultations. Depending on their needs, he trains them to use important resources such as PubMed or EndNote, databases which organize citations and create bibliographies. He also provides support by identifying relevant subject terms or articles for their research projects, and occasionally is a mentor to those who are interested in publishing systematic reviews.

In addition to his career as a librarian, Chris also finds personal fulfillment in traveling and it is obvious as soon as you step inside his office. The space is decorated with posters and artwork from destinations he has traveled on his yearly hiking trips. Hear about his travel goals and how a friend inspired his career in Chris’s own words below.

Q: What inspired you to become a librarian?
A: When I was living in Richmond, Virginia, I met a good friend of mine who was working at the State Library of Virginia. At the time, I was working for a medical billing company, which was just a job for me. I wanted a career and soon realized that I wanted to do what my friend did. I volunteered at the Richmond Public Library for a couple of months and after that, left Virginia to get a Master in Library Information Science at the University of North Texas.

Q: In your opinion, is there an underutilized but valuable resource at the Libraries?
A: Interlibrary loan. Every time I’m introducing the Hardin Library’s services and resources to a class, I always spend a couple of minutes on this. This is such a fantastic resource and I think it’s a shame that not everyone affiliated with the University of Iowa knows about it.

Chris showcases a poster from his recent trip to Devil’s Tower National Monument in his office, along with other travel mementos.

Q: What activities do you enjoy outside of work?
A: One of my favorite enjoyments in life is to travel. I take an annual hiking trip every year. My goal is to visit all the national parks or at least all of them in the continental United States. So far, I’ve visited 43 national parks out of 63. It’s difficult to pinpoint a favorite trip as I’ve enjoyed them all. So, I’ll mention my most recent one where one of my stops was at Devil’s Tower National Monument, which I’ve wanted to see since I watched “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” as a kid. It did not disappoint, and I was in awe of it the entire time I was there. My recommendation for anyone traveling to a national park would be to book your lodging in advance, whether you plan to tent camp, stay in a cabin, or a hotel if the park has one. Depending on the park, you might have to do this six months in advance or more.

Q: Do you have a book recommendation?
A: I’m currently reading The Angels Game, which is the second book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Book series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The first book, Shadow of the Wind, is a book about a book set in gothic Barcelona in the 1940s. It was one of the best books I’d read in a long time.

Here’s what entered the public domain in 2025

COURTESY: THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF PUBLIC DOMAIN AT DUKE LAW SCHOOL

As of Jan. 1, 2025, all the books, films, songs, and art published in the 1920s or earlier are now public domain. Audio recordings up to 1924 are also in the public domain, following slightly different rules of a 100-year copyright, compared to the 95 years for film, literature, and written musical compositions.

When a work enters the public domain, the public no longer needs to seek the artist’s permission to copy or use the work. This opens the door for creative riffs on the classics and makes these materials available free of charge.

So, what are the big titles newly in public domain? The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf are a few notable literary works. In film, you can find works by legendary directors from Alfred Hitchcock to John Ford. Other works feature Mickey Mouse, the Marx Brothers, Popeye, Tintin, and the musical number Singin’ in the Rain.

Here are some places to check out the newest creative works now in the public domain:

Hathi Trust Digital Library – These materials from the Google Books Project have been digitized for years, but as of Jan. 1, the full-text is now available to everyone.
Center for the Study of Public Domain – Duke’s Public Domain Day page has some great selected highlights.
The Public Domain Review – This journal specializes in mining the public domain.
The UI Libraries Catalog – Search InfoHawk+ to find digital versions of public domain works.

Interested in finding out more about U.S. copyright law and how to determine a work’s copyright status? The Scholarly Impact Department helps faculty work through complex copyright issues, such as what can be used in the classroom, how to retain your rights as an author, and how to apply Creative Commons licensing. Feel free to email Mahrya Burnett at mahrya-burnett@uiowa.edu to set up a consultation. You might also try the Libraries Copyright Guide. This guide provides the basics on copyright issues, such as Fair Use, seeking permissions, author rights, and licensing.

Student employee spotlight: Charmirose “Sugar” Durante

Charmirose “Sugar” Durante’s journey to the Rita Benton Music Library at the University of Iowa began an ocean away in her home country of the Philippines. It was there that Durante first lifted a violin’s bow and played the opening notes of a lifelong career. Years later, her passion for her instrument has brought her to the United States, where she earned a master’s degree from Western Illinois University before coming to the University of Iowa to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in violin performance. And Durante is now entering her third year as a student library employee at the Music Library’s circulation desk, a role she calls “a big part of my life here in Iowa.”

One of Durante’s favorite perks of her job is finding out about new materials the moment they join the Libraries’ collections; many of these works are so new or rare that they are not yet available or accessible elsewhere. For a musician driven by curiosity, it’s a gift to have the chance to explore these newly acquired scores. It’s discoveries like this, “the broad scope of resources available to patrons,” that characterizes the Music Library, according to Durante.

Durante also places a premium on the time she’s been able to spend working with the Music Library’s full-time staff, including its director, Katie Buehner. With Buehner’s help, she’s been able to request materials that support her own scholarship, including hard-to-find transcriptions of Filipino folk songs, two of which have become part of Durante’s repertoire.

“It was a complicated process, but the scores got here,” says Durante. “And [Buehner is] very helpful in purchasing scores or books that students need in their studies, so the collection is continually growing.”

Of course, work at the circulation desk has a significant interactive component, which has helped Durante build confidence. “I’m constantly talking to patrons,” says Durante. And while Durante loves helping current students find scores, she also has a soft spot for returning alumni.

“Sometimes alumni visit the library and ask to see their thesis or dissertation, and it is always great to see their happy faces when they find them,” says Durante. “They often talk about their own experiences as students, and it is fun to listen to their stories.”

One case that charmed Durante recently involved an alumni couple who dropped by to view their theses. “It turned out that the husband’s thesis was out on loan. He was so happy when he found out that someone had checked his thesis out and was actually reading it—probably citing it, too. He kept repeating ‘I’m on loan!’”

Amy McBeth, a library assistant at the Music Library who works regularly with Durante, has high praise for her supervisee. “[Durante] brings a great attitude, terrific dependability, and an exceptional work ethic to the Rita Benton Music Library,” says McBeth.

After she graduates, Durante hopes that her skills will take her into academia again, this time as an instructor. When that happens, she says she will take the lessons learned during her time at the Music Library and be as helpful to her students as her co-workers were to her.

Student employee spotlight: Carson Hartzog

Carson Hartzog has been working at the Art Library for three years, since she first arrived in Iowa City from Oswego, Illinois.

When she enrolled as a first-year student, Carson Hartzog was already a few years out of high school. She’d tried her hand at college before and ended up withdrawing, an experience that left her feeling somewhat rattled. She wasn’t sure what to expect from her college experience, especially given her status as a nontraditional student.

Carson Hartzog is a student library employee from Oswego, Illinois. (Photo: *The Daily Iowan*)

“There was a lot of fear for me in coming back to school,” says Hartzog. “I was a bit older than the average student and wasn’t sure how well I’d fit into the student culture. The Art Library was one of the first places I connected to on campus.”

Patricia Gimenez, director of the Art Library, and Jim Hall, library assistant, immediately welcomed her into the library’s light-filled floor in the Art Building West.

Hartzog’s return to college has been a resounding success. Now in her final semester, the journalism and social work major is an enthusiastic participant in campus life, including serving as opinions editor for the Daily Iowan. Her interests have also taken her into the wider world, from an internship with the Coralville Community Food Pantry to a summer stint with BlueGAP, a National Science Foundation project that uses storytelling to take action against nitrogen pollution. According to Hartzog, the confidence to pursue these opportunities began behind the Art Library gates.

“I think that’s one of the most crucial moments for any college student—finding a space where you can be yourself while also moving beyond what you sometimes think is possible for yourself,” says Hartzog.

Hartzog’s experience as Hall’s supervisee has been so positive that in 2023 she joined her fellow student library employees in nominating him for a campus-wide award, UI Student Supervisor of the Year. Out of 106 nominees, the Pomerantz Career Center selected Hall for the honor.

The appreciation is mutual. Hall praises Hartzog’s “knowledge, experience, reliability, and diligence,” which he says have made her “an integral and vital” member of the Art Library staff.

“Her intelligence, humor, and personality make her a joy to work with and a genuine pleasure to have around,” says Hall.

Though Hartzog is not an artist herself, she says she’s learned a great deal about visual art by osmosis, thanks to friendly library users. She’s also familiarized herself with the Library of Congress classification system, which organizes millions of Libraries resources by subject. One of the things she loves most about the Art Library is its openness to students from all backgrounds and all areas of study.

“Because of the architecture and design that went into Art Building West, students are drawn to it,” says Hartzog. “And I know I’m biased in saying this, but I do think the Art Library is one of the most inclusive spaces on campus. Patricia does an amazing job of curating book displays that represent all of our readers.”

Like many undergraduates, Hartzog is enjoying exploring potential careers. She hasn’t yet pinpointed what comes after graduation, but she knows which values will guide her in the future—and they’re the same ones she’s witnessed in action with her supervisors at the Art Library.

“My end goal in terms of a career is ensuring information is as accessible as possible while also making sure that information reflects as many voices as possible, not just the voices of folks that look like me or share similar experiences,” says Hartzog.

She’s also developed a new litmus test for use in her future career.

“I’m always asking myself: Would I want to work for me? If the answer is no, I know I need to adjust and start asking myself: What would Jim and Patricia do?”

Inside the UI Libraries with Andrea Anderson

For many students, Andrea Anderson is the first touchpoint with the University of Iowa Libraries and becomes their personal guide to the vast resources available at its seven branches and beyond. From teaching classes to providing support at the Just Ask Desk in the Main Library, Andrea helps students develop important research skills and fosters a sense of curiosity about the information around them. She sees herself as a friendly expert who can bridge the gap between students and the research expectations of their instructors.

Andrea joined the Libraries in the fall of 2023 as an undergraduate engagement librarian, after serving seven years at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) as a library instruction coordinator. She graduated from CSUB with a Bachelor of Arts in history and earned a Master of Library Information Science from San Jose State University.

Now, Andrea’s work goes beyond teaching library and research skills that help students navigate their academic work. She collaborates with colleagues to engage students in a variety of resources and experiences that support holistic student success while they are on campus and in the libraries. Embracing the lasting impact of her work, Andrea approaches her time with students as an opportunity to encourage lifelong learning.

Q: When does your job feel most rewarding?
A: It’s always rewarding to hear from students that something I showed them helped make their academic life a little easier. Sometimes it’s at the Just Ask Desk. Students are surprised by the resources that are so quickly available. Sometimes it’s a faculty member mentioning that students found a workshop helpful. And sometimes it’s a student who just needed to talk their way through an assignment and hear someone tell them they were on the right track. We don’t always get feedback from the help we provide or see the impact it all eventually makes. So, it can be really rewarding to hear back from some of the people we’ve helped along the way.

Q: What is an academic library to you?
A: To me, an academic library is the heart of an academic community. It includes our resources, but, just as important, it holds our people and their differing ideas and experiences. It’s both a space to just BE and it’s also a place where curiosity leads to new knowledge and understanding of people and the world around us.

Q: What activities do you enjoy outside of work?
A: In the spare time I don’t have, I enjoy adding miles to my minivan by driving my four children around to their activities/sports, going on long walks around my neighborhood and commenting on my neighbor’s lawns, and attempting to resuscitate all the plants in my yard.

Q: What might colleagues or students find surprising about you?
A: I am currently teaching a first-year seminar on celebrity memoirs. I love memoirs in general but have recently enjoyed diving into this celebrity memoir boom. It’s been interesting sharing different excerpts and seeing themes and experiences that resonate with our students even though most tend to be leading far different lives. So far, my favorite celebrity memoir is Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime.

To find support from Andrea and other librarians, visit the Just Ask Desk in the Main Library or the Contact a Librarian webpage.

Student employee spotlight: Izabella Botto

Izabella Botto is a second-year student in the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) from California. Her role as an advanced student employee is funded by the One Day for Iowa University Librarian’s Student Employment Fund.

A conversation with Izabella Botto makes one thing immediately clear: Botto is a true believer in the Libraries. In her work with the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Department, the SLIS student has taken on an admirable array of responsibilities, from helping students at the Just Ask desk on the Main Library’s first floor to organizing book displays and working to increase the accessibility of library instruction. For Botto, libraries are a lifelong point of connection.

“I chose the SLIS program at Iowa because libraries have always been a big part of my life,” says Botto. “And as a history student during undergrad, I loved working and studying in the library.”

Botto’s dedication and adaptability have amazed her supervisor, Katie DeVries, a social sciences librarian and SLIS instructor.

“Izabella holds herself to lofty standards,” says DeVries. “She never shies away from learning something new, whether it’s a new research topic or a library work process. Our department can rely on [Botto’s] efforts.”

Botto received a BA from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and spent a year before graduate school studying visual arts in Florence, Italy. When she returned to Iowa to begin her graduate program, she applied the same adventurous spirit to her studies—and her student employment with the Libraries. She’s quickly become indispensable to DeVries and her colleagues in HSS, who prize her ability to take on tasks in areas previously unfamiliar to her. That has included stepping in to hold office hours for students in the Nonfiction Writing Program. Botto has applied herself enthusiastically to the role, viewing it as an exciting opportunity to learn on the job. As she takes on more advanced work, Botto has especially come to value the mentorship she’s received from DeVries.

“I’ve loved all my professors, but before this position, I’d never really had a mentor,” Botto says. “[DeVries] has all these great ideas and experiences and has really helped guide my work. It’s been very important to me.”

Botto also applied and was selected to serve on the Ada M. Stoflet Lectureship Committee, an internal body that works together to select the recipient of Ada M. Stoflet Lectureship. The lectureship, which is awarded every other year, brings experts in the field of librarianship to campus to deliver a lecture on a topic of interest to Libraries staff and other professionals in the field. Botto, the only student employee on the committee, says she looks forward to bringing lecturers to campus to benefit the Hawkeye community.

“I think it’s a really amazing opportunity to sit down and hear what the other people on the committee have to say,” says Botto. “We can bring in lecturers with different areas of specialization who can speak on what’s happening in the field.”

Botto’s inclusion on the committee will make all the difference, according to DeVries. “In small project teams she listens intentionally,” she says. “Her insights improve project outcomes. She is self-motivated and confident, willing to take risks and apply for new opportunities. We feel lucky to have a student employee like her.”

After she graduates in May 2025, Botto hopes to become a liaison librarian, connecting students and faculty with the world of resources academic libraries offer. Along the way, she also hopes to take part in initiatives to modernize and improve the field, including digital library exhibitions and the decolonization of archives. She believes her time at the Libraries has prepared her well to do just that.

“I’m excited to be gaining experience working in an R1 institution and hope to continue fostering student research and sharing all the resources that the Libraries have to offer,” says Botto. “Iowa has been a wonderful opportunity to explore my interests and prepare me for a future career in academic libraries.”

Inside the UI Libraries with Maggie Halterman-Dess

Being forklift certified is not typically a part of a librarian’s job requirements, but Maggie Halterman-Dess operates one daily to reach shelves up to 22 feet high at the University of Iowa Libraries Annex. The unique skill allows Maggie and her team to be the connection to more than 2.1 million items in storage at the Annex, which the university community can request for delivery to the seven library locations and offices on campus.

Maggie has served as the Annex coordinator since 2017, managing the only offsite high-density library storage facility in the state of Iowa. It’s a temperature-controlled environment that can hold up to 4.8 million items.

In her role, she provides circulation and interlibrary loan services to patrons, supervises the Annex staff, coordinates collection storage in the stacks warehouse, and processes materials moved from campus libraries. She also collaborates with Special Collections and Archives and Conservation and Collections Care staff to ensure safe storage and housing environments for a variety of physical content formats, including 16mm film, archival collections, microfilm, microfiche, books, and software.

A proud UI School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) alumna, Maggie is active in the Iowa Library Association and the Iowa Association of College and Research Libraries chapter. In September 2024, Maggie also started a temporary assignment serving as the supervisor for the Main Library’s Interlibrary Loan and Document Services, splitting her work time between the two locations.

Speaking of the Main Library, Maggie had a big and very special life event take place on the fourth floor. We propose that you read Maggie’s Q&A below to find the full story.

Q: How does your work support student success?
A: My role is largely “backstage” or “behind the scenes,” but it directly impacts how our students and campus community experience the Libraries. If we are doing our work right, resources just seem to magically appear on the hold shelf or are delivered via e-mail. Sometimes this involves more than a little bit of detective work on our end! That could be either trying to correct a citation, or merely figuring out why the catalog won’t allow a request to be put through.

Since my position and job duties are fairly unusual, I am always happy to speak with SLIS classes or have them visit us for a tour. It can be very difficult to get your head around the way materials are shelved at the Annex, or the sheer scale of both the collections and the facility! I never imagined doing this when I was in graduate school. So, I really value exposing students to a different way to “library.” I might not inspire a burning love of collections storage, but I hope to get them imagining more expansively what working in the library field might include.

Q: What might someone find surprising about your work?
A: I know it’s a clichéd joke that nobody goes to library school and learns to troubleshoot printers, but I have learned a ton about environmental engineering and HVAC systems in my work, as well as getting forklift certified.

Q: How did you find your way to the Libraries?
A: I was taking a health-related leave of absence from finishing my undergraduate degree here at Iowa and met someone working as a media specialist (though not a teacher librarian) in a middle school and thought, “Hey, I could do that!’”

Cue copious research and applying to library school. During my time in SLIS, I taught information literacy and worked in the Iowa Women’s Archives. Then, I bounced in and out of the Libraries due to life circumstances for a bit before landing out at the Annex.

Q: What advice would you have for those just embarking on their own careers?
A: My dad told me when I was in undergrad not to get too stuck on one path. He had five different majors and, at the time of this conversation, he really enjoyed what he had ended up working on. However, when he had first joined his company, that kind of role didn’t exist. Technology had changed just that much in just the dozen or so years in between. So, given that advice and my own unusual experience, I would advise keeping an open mind, staying curious, and being aware that the world is going to change a lot over the course of your working life.

Q: What might colleagues or students find surprising about you?
A: I often speak about my strong family connections to the university. My parents are alumni who met back when Currier Hall had a cafeteria for their mutual friends to hang out in, and my two siblings and I hold five degrees from Iowa between us. But something I don’t think I mention often publicly is that my spouse proposed to me on the fourth floor of the Main Library in the “PL” section.

To request materials from the Annex, search for them on InfoHawk+.

Student employee spotlight: Jiberle Mustefa

The senior from Iowa City is entering his fourth year as a library support associate at the Lichtenberger Engineering Library.

Jiberle Mustefa’s final undergraduate year is underway. In May 2025, he’ll cross the stage at graduation to receive a BBA in management and a certificate in international business. But he’s also on track for another milestone: four years of student employment at the Lichtenberger Engineering Library. For Mustefa, the sight of the finish line has prompted a surge of reflection.

“[The Engineering Library] has been central to my experience as a Hawkeye and my exposure to the community.” Mustefa says. “It has been the primary way that I have built connections, through interactions with people who were first patrons or coworkers and then became friends; it’s been the place on campus that I have spent the most time.”

Mustefa’s time at the Engineering Library has been foundational to his college experience, in part because his employment began right away with a placement through the First Gen Hawks program. The program aims to provide incoming first-generation students with holistic support, and that includes matching interested first-years with campus jobs where they can receive mentorship.

One of Mustefa’s primary mentors at the Engineering Library is his supervisor, James M. Cox, public services and emerging technologies librarian. Cox, who was once a first-generation student himself, has watched Mustefa’s personal and professional development with admiration.

“It has been a true pleasure to witness [Mustefa’s] growth in skills, confidence, and engagement with the university,” says Cox. “His journey exemplifies the benefits of student employment that we strive for, and he epitomizes what it means to be ‘outstanding.’”

Mustefa has plenty of praise for the Engineering Library, too, which he believes is among the university’s friendliest environments. “The full-time staff really make an effort to make the space welcoming, and you can really feel it once you walk through the doors,” he says. “I genuinely feel like it might be one of the most social places on campus.”

Observing the Engineering Library’s operations and assisting the students, faculty, and researchers who form his user base has also been beneficial to his studies. Mustefa has chosen the human resources (HR) track within his major, and he hopes to have a long career in the field.

According to Cox, Mustefa’s “friendly nature and strong work ethic” make him a natural when it comes to interpersonal communication and relationship-building, and his skills have only grown.

“He has encountered nearly every situation at the Service Desk,” Cox says. “These experiences enable him to deliver exceptional customer service to our library users and mentor fellow student employees.”

Mustefa arrived on campus in August 2021 with clear goals: to learn, to open his mind to new people and experiences, and to become part of the Hawkeye community. He now credits his work at the Engineering Library with helping him achieve them.

“I can say with absolute certainty that this position at the Engineering Library was able to do that for me, thanks be to God,” says Mustefa. “I always imagine that in the future, when I look back on my time in college, the Lichtenberger Engineering Library will be the first place my mind goes to.”

Learning about open access agreements–OA Week 2024

International Open Access Week 2024 is here! This year’s theme is “Community over Commercialization” —and from Oct. 21 to 27, the Libraries is highlighting some of the many ways you can leverage community resources and support to make your work open access (OA) for free.

Welcome to day three of International Open Access Week 2024. Today, we’re going to focus on the Libraries’ open access agreements, which remove financial barriers for University of Iowa authors on the path to freely and openly sharing the results of their research.

Gold OA (or publisher-facilitated OA) accomplishes the goal of making your work open and available to readers everywhere. But publishers pass along the costs of publication to authors in the form of Article Processing Charges (APCs). Depending on the journal, these fees can be quite expensive (for example, the APC to publish OA in Nature is $12,290), creating barriers to OA publishing for authors without grants or other funding.

To expand the OA publishing options for UI authors, the Libraries has entered into open access agreements with publishers. Under these agreements, the Libraries pay publishers a single fee to give UI authors the opportunity to publish open access in their journals without paying APCs. The Libraries has contracted 18 open access agreements so far, with major scholarly publishers like Wiley, American Chemical Society, and Cambridge University Press. The terms of the agreements can differ, but eligibility is determined at the point of submission or acceptance, to make the process as easy and seamless as possible for authors.

Since the Libraries entered our first OA agreement in 2019, UI authors have saved over $3.36 million in APCs to publish hundreds of OA articles.

We’re negotiating new agreements with publishers whenever possible, so check the list of OA agreements or contact us to find out if you can publish your article OA for free.

Learning about open data during Open Access Week 2024

International Open Access Week 2024 is here! This year’s theme is “Community over Commercialization” —and from Oct. 21 to 27, the Libraries is highlighting some of the many ways you can leverage community resources and support to make your work open access (OA) for free.

Welcome to day two of International Open Access (OA) Week 2024! The goal of this year’s celebration is to “prioritize approaches to open scholarship that serve the best interests of the public and academic community.”

When it comes to Open Access, conversations frequently revolve around journals and publishing, and those will be the subject of other posts. But today, I want to highlight another increasingly important subject: open access to research data.

If you want to share your data, there are an increasing number of sustainably managed and supported data repositories to choose from. NIH lists 147 domain repositories, and there are also a variety of repositories specific to science, social science, engineering, and other domains.

The Libraries’ Research Data Services offers several resources to enable data sharing and access. These include our institutional repository, Iowa Research Online (IRO), for data; curating data deposits in IRO; and resources and consultations on data management and sharing plans for grant proposals.

Data sharing can demonstrate a researcher’s commitment to transparency, reproducibility, and accelerating research. A Pew survey found that the public puts greater trust in research when the associated data is accessible.

Certainly, there are legitimate reasons to not share certain data or restrict access, e.g., to protect human research participants. Some repositories, especially those supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are specifically designed for restricted access data. But in many cases, researchers, funders, and the public have a vested interest in access to preserved, well-described research data. Data sharing via repositories is increasingly emphasized by funders (see the 2023 NIH policy) and other stakeholders, including publishers and professional societies. This is because sustainably managed repositories preserve data integrity, make it discoverable and citable, and provide context and usage information.

In addition to repositories, academic communities, and research-funding institutions can work together in support of systems that enable open access to well-described research data. Groups such as the Coalition for Open Access Repositories, Research Data Alliance, nonprofit and governmental funding organizations, and professional societies and associations are working to develop and refine policies, standards, tools and incentives to facilitate reasonable data sharing.

These communities and partnerships have developed domain repositories, tools, methods, and best practices that enable data to be preserved, discoverable, and openly accessible. As noted above, the Libraries support and curate data deposits in our institutional repository, IRO, but we also help researchers identify an appropriate domain repository if that is a better fit. And the Libraries, in partnership with the Division of Sponsored Programs and ITS-Research Services are working together to encourage and enable researchers to take advantage of local and national resources for data sharing.

To learn how to make your data open, please contact Research Data Services for assistance.