Jobs that make a difference: Research Data Librarian

Managing and sharing Bath’s research data

Kate Ehrig-Page is a Research Data Librarian within the Research Data Service team at the University of Bath, part of the larger Research Services department, which comprises the Open Access, Research Analytics, and the Archives & Research Collections team.

Based in the library Kate works as part of a small team managing the University’s central research data repository, the ‘Research Data Archive’ – a resource that supports research produced by staff and students across the University and underpins other research outputs including articles, reports, and theses.

I’m always heartened when students come to us at the very beginning of their research journey with an eagerness to manage their research data appropriately.

The Research Data Archive seeks to make data supporting research conducted at the university more discoverable and accessible. This is useful to demonstrate the integrity of the research, it helps to back up the findings people are making, and it helps to build on your research - because if people can see the data, there is a real chance that the research will have a broader impact.

Whether it’s providing staff and students advice on Data Management Plan creation, storing or archiving data in the right way, answering bespoke data management questions from members of the university community, or directing academics to the most appropriate ethics committee – Kate’s role helps to guide individuals throughout the research data life cycle.

It’s been a really stimulating job to be dropped into.

On a personal level, it’s fascinating to work with Faculty to see the enormous breadth and scale of world-class research being undertaken at Bath.

Kate’s research data librarian skillset helps colleagues across different disciplines navigate through ethics and legal information in addition to arranging training in issues such as licensing of data, copyright, data literacy, and privacy.

I hope that by managing and sharing research data I play a small but beneficial role in partnering staff and students to make Bath’s resources more accessible for the wider research community.

Before joining the University in 2021, Kate worked in the USA as an Institutional Repository Coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

With the funders for research in the UK increasingly wanting to broaden access to research data to extend the impact of public funding, it’s an exciting time to be working in a field that is fast growing in both visibility and credibility.

Trained and specialising in the curation, preservation and archiving of data, with an MA Archives and Records Management from University College Dublin, Kate started her information management career working in archives and museums.

Kate feels privileged to have worked in the heritage and academic sector and have the opportunity to increase access to educational resources.

Kate is excited about the future of the open research movement and how it puts value on outputs throughout the research lifecycle, benefiting individuals, the University, and society.

A big motivator for me is helping us all learn from each other and break down barriers to education. We all benefit from our shared resources (just like a library!) and if we can all learn from each other society as a whole will benefit enormously.