Research Data Management

LibraData is a data repository for UVA researchers to share data publicly, and is part of the Libra Scholarly Repository suite of services which includes works of UVA scholarship such as articles, books, and theses as well as data.

Why deposit data in LibraData?

• Ensures your data is FAIR. By depositing in LibraData you ensure that your data are managed and shared in ways that are consistent with the FAIR Guiding Principles. Depositing in LibraData fulfills the requirement of many funding agencies that data "to the greatest extent possible, be shared, open, and stored in FAIR-aligned repositories." Each dataset in LibraData includes a machine-readable license describing how the data can be reused. Funding sources, associated publications, and other references can also be included in the metadata. 
• Increased visibility and impact of your research data. Sharing your data publicly can increase your research impact and visibility, creating additional opportunities for collaboration and connection within and beyond your existing network. To assist in the sharing process, a persistent identifier (DOI – Digital Object Identifier) is created for each LibraData dataset. All content in LibraData is indexed so that it is searchable through Virgo (the UVA Library catalog), across many Dataverse instances, and Google Dataset Search.
• Safe management of your data. Depositing your research data in LibraData not only makes your data discoverable and accessible to a wider audience, but also keeps your data safer. The UVA Library, and UVA’s Information Technology Services, are committed to the durability and sustainability of scholarship deposited in Libra. Libra uses standard data management practices, including security and backup procedures, to provide a reasonable assurance that files will remain retrievable over time. LibraData will be preserved in the Academic Preservation Trust of which UVA Library is a founding member and partner.
• LibraData is UVA’s local instance of the Dataverse software developed by Harvard. By depositing your data in LibraData, you have local support from a UVA librarian, including assistance with uploading data, creating metadata, and curating data for re-use.

LibraData is for publishable products of research. LibraData is a place for UVA researchers to publish research data for sharing publicly. If you are looking for a home for data in progress, consider using the Open Science Framework during the collaborative phase of your research - it integrates easily with instances of Dataverse repositories like LibraData to enable publishing of research products at the appropriate point in the research lifecycle. You can also deposit data into LibraData even if it’s already been made publicly available through another repository.

If you plan on depositing your data into LibraData to fulfill funder requirements and need to include this in your data management plan, we first recommend reaching out to libra@virginia.edu to verify the suitability of deposit. If your dataset is suitable, you may consider including language like the following:

The sharable data and research materials will be deposited in the University of Virginia’s institutional repository LibraData, UVA’s local instance of Dataverse repository. LibraData assigns DOIs to each dataset which makes data searchable and discoverable by Datacite and other data search engines. The necessary metadata, documentation, code and other resources to make my data accessible and re-usable for future users will also be submitted. By depositing data and research materials in UVA’s Dataverse, the sharable research from this project will be discoverable and citable by others who wish to use it. The current preservation plan for Libra will be to preserve the data indefinitely. The Libra backup plan provides for data redundancy including off-site storage.