• We assist you with the creation of data management plans and advise you on their realization as well as how to handle research data in the project.
• We help you to find a suitable metadata model for depicting your data or develop an appropriate solution together with you.

Responsible data management eases and improves the scientific research project, ensures high data quality, and significantly increases the lifespan of the data and thus the possibilities to re-use it. If exercised early on in the planning process, it allows for resources for data management to be appropriately considered in the project proposal (e.g. INF projects in SFBs). Furthermore, the creation of a data management plan is increasingly becoming an important component of funding proposals to national (DFG) and international (NSF, EU) funding institutions.

The depiction of the datasets with the help of standardized metadata is also becoming increasingly important. This is the only way research results can be sustainable, and discussions among each other during the project and the archival and publication of research data at the end of the project can become a reality.

• We advise you on the individual possibilities for publishing or sustainably securing your research data and support you in preparing your data for the publication process.

Discussions about the promotion of a sustainable backup of and public access to research data are increasing in scientific discussions, especially when they are the result of publicly funded research. There are different  data publication possibilities:

• Backup and publication in subject-specific or interdisciplinary data centers (research data repositories)
• Publication as independent and citable data publications in a data journal
• Publication in combination with an article in a peer reviewed professional journal as a data supplement

In order to be able to cite and permanent link to research data, it must be allocated persistent identifiers (PID). There are a variety of PID services, which differ in their conceptual implementation.

• The search for information and supplying researchers with scientific content are core skills of the University Library. We offer trainings focused on handling research data, in which we provide information about subject-specific possibilities for searching for information.
• We are happy to advise you in a private conversation about possible ways to access datasets (portals, data catalogs), searching for research data (metadata), and re-using published datasets (terms of use).

When beginning a research project, information is sought about the current state of research, published results, and comparable research projects. In later project phases it is necessary to reference one's own results with others. This increases the value of your research by networking and linking it with other datasets.

• We help you establish a SharePoint-based work environment and prepare storage capacity in collaboration with the IT Center.
• We offer advice on how to use standardized metadata and suitable thesauruses, which enable you to publish your research data at the end of the project without extra effort.

Communication and collaboration are the foundation of excellent research during the project period. Tools for achieving this (e.g. Sharepoint, BSCW, Google Docs) are often used. In some disciplines work is conducted in virtual research environments. The most important thing however, is a shared language in the project and beyond. The use of metadata and thesauruses make your datasets understandable and sustainably usable even when there is no longer a contact person.