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LibraData User Guide

UVa's Local Instance of the Dataverse Software

Sharing Data and Other Products of Research Type

In most Data Management and Sharing plans you are required to indicate what repository you have chosen to share your data. LibraData, UVA's Dataverse repository, meets the desirable characteristics of repositories for managing and sharing data resulting from federally funded or supported research. See the next section for specifics.

You can use the language below to describe LibraData, the University of Virginia's data repository, in your data management and sharing plan:

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.

UVA Dataverse meets the OSTP desirable characteristics of data repositories

LibraData can help you meet the data sharing requirements of federal grants, as it meets most of the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy OSTP desirable characteristics of data repositories. Each of the characteristics in the document are organized into four main themes and each section below lists the categories within that theme and how LibraData, UVA's Dataverse repository, specifically meets these requirements. For a quick look, check out our chart on how LibraData meets the desirable characteristics.

  • Organizational Infrastructure
  • Digital Object Management
  • Technology
  • Storing Human Data


Organizational infrastructure

Free and Easy Access: 

LibraData is publicly accessible and free to submitters as well as users of the data. Practices and policies are in place for privacy and ethical practices. Sensitive data is not allowed on LibraData.

Clear Use Guidance: 

LibraData is publicly accessible and does not implement a data use committee.  By default LibraData deposits are under the CC-0 open access license and if a depositor has chosen a different terms, it is clearly indicated on the dataset's page.

Risk Management:

LibraData abides by the robust policies, procedures, and standards of the University, including identifying appropriate data security level and system security level in order to apply the appropriate Information Security Standards for access and monitoring.

Retention Policy: 

The Library is committed to the durability and sustainability of scholarship deposited in Libra. LibraData uses standard data management practices, including security and backup procedures, to provide a reasonable assurance that files will remain retrievable over time

Long-term Organizational Sustainability:

LibraData content is preserved in Academic Preservation Trust, digital preservation system, and managed according to industry best practices for stewardship.
 

Digital object management

Unique Persistent Identifiers:

Once published the dataset is assigned a DataCite-generated DOI. If datasets are "deaccessioned" DOI points to a tombstone page with reason for deaccessioning. 

Metadata:

LibraData conforms to the FAIR principles with appropriate level of metadata for purposes of reuse and discovery. The repository uses DDI (Data Document Initiative) standard formetadata submission and discovery . Datasets in LibraData are discoverable via OAI-PMH in Harvard's Dataverse and in Google Dataset Search, as well as the University of Virginia's Library Catalog. Metadata can be exported in a variety of other metadata standards and formats (DDI, Dubin Core, Schema.org, DataCite, OpenAIRE, and JSON).

Curation and Quality Assurance:

Librarians in the Scholarly Communication Services and Research Data Services teams provide curation and quality assurance when asked.

Broad and Measured Reuse:

Each LibraData dataset's citation, including its DOI, metadata and terms of reuse is clearly identified on each dataset page. Downloads for each dataset and file are clearly displayed on each dataset page.

Common Format:

LibraData is an open repository where anyone can download files and metadata regardless of affiliation. When possible, research data in proprietary formats are accompanied by alternative open formats. Metadata is available through an API in various formats (including JSON format) and OAI-PMH harvesting of the repository.

Provenance:

Dataset versioning tracks any metadata or file changes. LibraData also support data provenance to record where the original data came from and any transformations to its current state.
 

Technology

Authentication:

Depositors are authenticated using UVA's single sign-on, and their institutional identity is associated directly with their deposited objects, and with associated DOIs. The metadata has a field for Dataset authors' ORCID.

Long-term Technical Sustainability:

The University of Virginia Libraries has invested in full-time staff roles in research data management, repository support, and digital preservation. We have in-house IT expertise. UVA uses Amazon Web Services.  AWS provides future-proof technology and migrates data to new infrastructure as technology changes.

Security and Integrity:

LibraData uses AWS’s security infrastructure, including backups, firewalls, network controls, and access and tampering monitoring. Repository doesn’t provide documentation, but there are guidelines as to what data is allowed on LibraData per the deposit license: https://library.virginia.edu/libra/datasets/public-dataset-license. This deposit license conforms to UVa's Data Protection Policy: https://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/IRM-003


Storing human data

Fidelity to Consent:

Not applicable - Per the deposit license, LibraData does not host restricted use datasets.

Security:

Not applicable - Per the deposit license, LibraData does not accept identifying human participant data.

Limited Use Compliant:

Data use limitations are documented in LibraData's terms of use.

Download Control:

Not applicable - LibraData only disseminates open access datasets

Request Review:

Not applicable - LibraData only disseminates open access datasets

Plan for Breach:

LibraData follows UVA’s Data Protection of University Information policy https://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/IRM-003.

Accountability:

Violations of terms of use are documented in LibraData's terms of use.
LibraData is also subject to the University’s data polices, see:

Chart of Data Repository Characteristics

The following charts outline how LibraData, UVa's Institutional Repository for data and other products of research, compare and align with Federal Funder agencies' "Desirable Characteristics for Research Data". Details for each characteristic is found here.