Data management encompasses a broad spectrum of activities, from proposal preparation through data collection, analysis, sharing and archiving. Support services for those activities is not typically provided by a single entity on campus, but rather is often distributed across multiple geographically and organizationally separate groups such as the library, information technology departments, discipline-specific centers and administrative offices. Many institutions have set up data service groups to help provide consultation on these often complicated issues, but frequently, researchers actually want to do the information gathering themselves. Unfortunately, finding, comparing details, and making decisions about what services are appropriate for a given situation can be frustratingly time consuming and difficult.
To begin to meet this need for comprehensive, easy to use, self-help resources on our campus, the Research Data Management Service Group (RDMSG) has created an interactive, online tool to help researchers find and choose between data storage options at Cornell University. This presentation will demonstrate our data storage finder, and describe the process of building the tool, including pitching the idea and procuring financial support, working with developers to design, build and test the tool, and interacting with service providers to populate content. We will also discuss lessons learned throughout the process, and ideas on how we might implement similar support tools in the future.