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Reflections from a First-Time RDAP Summit Attendee: Lots of Learning, Inspiration, and Connections

Attending the 2025 Research Data Access and Preservation (RDAP) Summit for the first time was an exciting and eye-opening experience for me. As I’m very new to my position as the Research Data Management Coordinator at the University of Georgia Libraries, my work focuses on helping researchers navigate best practices for data management, open science, and institutional repositories. Going into the conference, I was very eager to learn from others in my field, connect with like-minded professionals, and explore some innovative approaches and strategies for supporting research data services. The conference theme Evolutions in Data Services: Forging Resiliency—felt especially relevant, given the ongoing challenges and rapid changes across scholarly communication, data stewardship, and federal research policies.

A particularly inspiring moment for me came right away on day 1 from Thomas Padilla’s keynote address ["On Service, Services, and Maintaining the Public Interest"], which emphasized the importance of flexibility and adaptability in research data services. His insights into how institutions have successfully pivoted in response to funding shifts, technological advancements, and evolving researcher needs underscored the resilience required in our field. This shared passion for building sustainable, researcher-centered services reminded me why I love working in research data management and gave me a renewed sense of purpose.

One surprising takeaway was learning just how interdisciplinary and collaborative data services have become. While I expected to hear about trends in open science and repository management, I hadn’t anticipated the depth of discussions on topics like AI-driven data curation, data ethics, and even the role of data in public policy decisions. These conversations reinforced how critical it is to stay agile and open to new developments—whether that means embracing new metadata standards, exploring emerging repository platforms and data tools, or even just rethinking how we communicate data policies to faculty, researchers, and students.

Beyond the sessions, one of the most rewarding aspects of RDAP was the sense of community, even within a virtual environment. As a first-time attendee, I was welcomed, introduced to peers who shared similar challenges, and given opportunities to engage in meaningful conversations about the future of research data. Having a space like this to share ideas, learn from experienced professionals, and problem-solve in a supportive and open environment was incredibly valuable to me.

I’m leaving the 2025 RDAP Summit with a fresh perspective on resiliency in data services, a list of new tools and strategies to explore and share on my campus, and new connections with professionals who are equally passionate about improving research data practices. In the coming months, I really hope to integrate some of these insights into UGA’s data management initiatives, particularly by incorporating more inclusive and adaptable data policies into our newly minted institutional repository and outreach efforts.

For anyone considering attending RDAP for the first time—just go for it! It’s a fantastic space to learn, grow, and connect with a dedicated community that is shaping the future of research data services. I’m already looking forward to attending next year’s Summit! I am also incredibly thankful for RDAP for providing this valuable training opportunity to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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I am Alparslan Ozturk, and I am the Data Support Specialist from the institutional library at Carleton University, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I’ve been working with academic data for almost 2 years. I really couldn’t have imagined how deep the data iceberg descends when I was first exposed to it.

I came across the RDAP scholarship application through IASSIST and was happy to apply to learn more about resilient data services, as it would help me feel better about how I would be doing my work in the discourse that be, and the discourse to come.

I’m a firm believer of mixed-methods research and one of my knowledge gaps came in the form of qualitative data analysis QDA. So, when I read that there was a workshop being conducted on an open source QDA tool ["Teaching Qualitative Data Analysis using Open Data, Standards, and Tools"], I was more than happy to jump on board!

Besides that, I spend quite a lot of time providing general data service, especially administering my institutional data repository, to which I was glad to attend and learn more about RDM and how others have approached handling and teaching it to their respective groups!

From the get-go I was enlightened by the purpose of storytelling in resilient data services. Often in the context of data, storytelling is attributed to visualization data and helping anyone (and everyone) to consume it. But from Thomas Padilla’s opening keynote ["On Service, Services, and Maintaining the Public Interest"], the tone was set as to how it would be approached in an institutional and instructional method, which carried through the rest of the conference.

Some great sessions involved how other institutions were teaching RDM specifically the gamification of it. Be it the (welcome surprise) Kelly Burns and Koushiki Pohit’s discussion of developing an actual video game to teach RDM, or the micro-sessions showcased by Amber Gallant, the approaches are (and were respectively) driven by narrative to help users feel more in engaged in the storytelling embodying RDM.

Additionally, a recurring theme throughout the many fantastic discussions was storytelling inwards to the institution. Where Data Services teams across the conference were collaborating, working for, or realigning their teams in a way that was needed to tell the "RDM story."

One big component I appreciated was the opportunities for socializing and networking with the conference goers, be it through the first-timers session, or just the breakout rooms to discuss hobbies. The conference goers and organizers were so welcoming, friendly, and enthusiastic, it just strengthened my appreciation for the community that much more. 

Overall, I am grateful for the opportunity to have attended RDAP this year due to the scholarship and am looking forward to hearing more from the community in the coming years.

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I began my role as a new Research Data Librarian with Laupus Health Sciences Library in June 2024. This position requires me to work with researchers, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals on managing and curating research data. This job is incredibly interesting and rewarding, as I will not only contribute to the research projects by supporting the research lifecycle, but also educate and train researchers and students on data management practices, tools, and technologies. However, it is also a challenging role, because data management and sharing (DMS) activities are relatively new not only to researchers but also to data professionals and librarians. The evolving landscape, driven by emerging technologies like AI and the principles of open science, adds complexity to our work.

The RDAP Summit provided an excellent platform for professionals engaged in DMS to share their achievements, challenges, and concerns while learning from one another. I gained valuable insights from the presentations which covered a range of DMS practices and strategies.

Elizabeth McCall’s talk "We’re New, Want to Talk?": Conducting a Listening Tour as the First Step in RDM Outreach" was particularly relevant to me. She shared her experience as a new librarian reaching out to researchers, promoting data services, and building relationships with patrons – an invaluable perspective for someone new to a data services role like me.

Unlike other library reference services, data services require specialized expertise in data management and strong institutional collaboration. Libraries must partner with multiple stakeholders to effectively support researchers in managing their data needs. On-campus collaborators may include IT offices that oversee research computing and central and collegiate research offices. Many speakers in the session Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration and Partnerships emphasized that collaborations and partnerships could strengthen data services. However, effective partnerships require mutual understanding. Deb McCaffrey et al. in their talk "Send it away, or put it on display? How to talk with research computing staff" highlighted the different perspectives and terminologies used by data service providers and computing professionals. Their insights will help us develop strategies for fostering stronger collaborations with campus partners.

Chelsea McCracken and Ruby MacDougall shared their findings from interviews conducted at 29 institutions, highlighting researchers' needs in data services. Many of the concerns they identified, such as data custody, data size challenges, lack of awareness of library data services, are common at my university as well. Their recommendations for enhancing collaboration among data service partners were particularly useful.

At my institution, we are recently planning to host an institutional data repository. Andrzej Rutkowski et al.’s presentation, "Building Resilience in Research Data Services: Establishing a Dataverse Instance at USC," provided practical guidance on identifying key partners for such a project and fostering engagement throughout implementation. What’s more, Bryan Gee’s presentation, "Development of an Open, Automated Workflow for Gaining Bibliometric Insights Into University Research Data Publishing," and Claire Warner’s talk, "Developing a Dataset Catalog for the University of Alabama at Birmingham," offered valuable insights on tracking data/harvesting metadata from multiple repositories and ensuring data curation and reproducibility.

I also greatly appreciated both the opening keynote and closing keynote. Each provided in-depth discussions on critical issues in data services and offered thought-provoking perspectives. The RDAP Summit has been the most impactful conference I have attended since stepping into my role as a Research Data Librarian. I am deeply grateful to all the speakers for their contributions and for the wealth of knowledge they shared.

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My name is Madiareni Sulaiman, and I serve as a research data librarian at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN Indonesia). I am currently in my third year as a PhD student in Information Studies at UCL, with a focus on Research Data Management (RDM). This is my second time attending the RDAP Summit. Previously, I was a lightning talk speaker, and now I am participating as a scholarship recipient!

This Summit is truly inspiring and has given us food for thought. The term resilience was mostly addressed during the Summit in the context of its sustainability, particularly when a speaker from Invest in Open Infrastructure highlighted that funding issues perpetually recur [“Stronger together: Ecosystem-level approaches to strengthening data sharing infrastructures”]. Regarding that issue, my key takeaway from the "Collaborative Modalities for Data Services Instruction and Outreach" is to continue focusing on iteration and growth. By concentrating on the evolving roles of data librarians, we can better meet the high demand for skills necessary to serve our stakeholders, especially in relation to research data across various disciplines.

In addition, the session that inspired me the most was the "What is "Curation" In a Self-Mediated, Open Repository?". Many researchers rely upon open repositories, with the subject of this session being Open Science Framework (OSF). I had not given it much thought, as I assumed that the generalist repository would typically fall short in curation and quality. However, it seems that we can curate them, although researchers may still need to participate actively. And as an institution, we do not have direct access to the data deposited because it will be done by researchers themselves anyway. But it turns out that as curators, we could facilitate it.

The OSF initiatives aimed at facilitating curators in generalist repositories actually align closely with my interest in RDM collaboration, as they provide data librarians with the opportunity to actively participate in research projects beyond the confines of institutional repositories. The session highlighted the synergy among generalist repository providers, the accountability of researchers, and the role of institutional access in enhancing the FAIR principles of research. The shown dashboard enables institutions to access the metrics report, while curators can efficiently perform their tasks to curate the dataset. During the session, I asked about when this curation might take place and whether it can be done while the data is still active. And the speaker responded that it is feasible, provided the researchers grant access to the dataset as the research project commences.

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Greetings, my name is Talisha and I'm a Document Control Librarian at the Air Force Civil Engineering Technical Information Center. This is my second time attending the RDAP Summit as my first time was back in 2023 when I was a library student. I wanted to attend again as librarian and compare my experiences and also see what more I can learn now that I'm an information professional.

This year's summit was impactful. I thought the theme Evolutions in Data Services: Forging Resiliency was important not only due to exploring concepts such as "technical, human, and organizational durability and flexibility" but also due to the current times that we're in. With a hostile administration, rapid disinformation, attacks on libraries and other institutions and book banning, it's essential that information professionals are equipped to face these challenges and changes in research and data service needs.

Though work was busy—mostly due to a potential government shutdown—I was able to attend the Summit all four days. On Monday I attended the workshop "Job Crafting with Purpose: Elevating Wellbeing In Research Data Services." This workshop helped me take a new look at my job and how I view it. The workshop had a workbook which featured exercises that attendees worked on in small groups. These exercises helped me think more about what my duties are and how I view them. I learned that work engagement is a positive work outcome. I also learned that flourishing is the opposite of burnout. A term that I hadn't heard before the workshop is job crafting which is the "proactive process of  reshaping your work to create more meaning, fulfillment, and alignment with your strengths and values" which I hope to learn more about.

Tuesday started off with an excellent keynote session that informed me more on what role I as an informational professional can play in maintaining public interest during these tumultuous times. For the remainder of the day I attended the sessions Institutional Policies and Resilience ["The Tenuous Juggle: Navigating Research Needs, Policies, and Institutional Challenges"; "The repository of last resort? Exploring the relevance of institutional data repositories"; "Locating Restricted Data Repositories – Access via Data Use Agreements"; "Unwilling, Unable, Unsafe: Policy to Meet Unusual Sharing Requests"] and Enhancing Repository Practices ["Cultivating a resilient research data stewardship community through sustained dialog"; "Lessons Learned: Looking back on 10 Years of DMP Feedback"; "Domain Repository Not Available: Developing Guidance for Researchers Using Generalist Repositories"; "Automation Through Collaboration: Building Trust Across Teams"] which were informative. Throughout the week I attended sessions that were both informative and fascinating and provided and equipped me with information that I'll use to enhance my skills and assist customers. Thursday's closing keynote [Casey Fiesler’s "When Data Is People: Ethics, Privacy, and Ownership for Research and AI Uses of Public Data"] was also excellent. 

Overall I enjoyed this summit and this fulfilled my wish from my 2023 blog post  to attend again. I want to continue to be a member of RDAP and attend future summits. I'm grateful to the association for granting me a scholarship and I firmly believe that RDAP is an essential organization that provides resources and insightful discussion for librarians and other information professionals. 

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My name is Homeyra Banaeefar, and I was privileged to receive a scholarship to attend the RDAP Summit 2025. I am currently an Information Resources Specialist at ICPSR and halfway through obtaining my MLIS from San Jose State University. Notified about RDAP through IASSIST’s email list, I found that the Summit aligns perfectly with my long-term career goals in data librarianship. I am deeply grateful to the sponsors for funding my scholarship, which not only made my participation possible but also underscored the importance of accessibility in professional development.

The RDAP Summit offered a unique platform to connect with many exceptional individuals from the field. While I have attended other conferences such as ALA and SAA, RDAP’s focus on data and its community of like-minded professionals was particularly enriching. The convenience of a virtual conference format allowed me to engage more comfortably and effectively. At the New Members and First-Time Attendees Get-Together, I had the opportunity to meet and converse with some professionals, enriching my network and understanding of the field.

The summit kicked off for me with the "Programming Logic for Non-Programmers" workshop. Although I possess basic Python skills, exploring other programming languages has always piqued my interest. This workshop reinforced that understanding the underlying logic can facilitate the transfer of skills across different programming environments. Another highlight was learning about the DSCPE program, which I believe would significantly enhance my capabilities in data librarianship. Interacting with recent DSCPE graduates and hearing about their capstone projects showed how much librarians can benefit from shared knowledge. I aspire to join this program and contribute to this vibrant learning community. Despite the concurrent scheduling of sessions, the collaborative effort in note-taking by the RDAP community was invaluable. It allowed me to access presentations I could not attend in real-time. Enhancing Repository Practices was one of my favorite sessions, where valuable resources like the "Generalist Repository Comparison Chart," the "Repository Selection Flow Chart," and the "Guide for Including a Generalist Repository in an NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan" were shared. I plan to distribute these resources among my classmates, as they provide essential, straightforward information beneficial for any librarian.

The Summit concluded with a powerful keynote by Casey Fiesler, who focused on ethical best practices in using social media data for research. Her presentation, especially the section on five questions to ask when collecting data, was thought-provoking and emphasized the importance of ethical considerations in research. These insights remind us that thorough preparation and ethical deliberation are crucial before collecting any data and undertaking any research.

In conclusion, the RDAP Summit 2025 was an incredibly rewarding experience that has greatly influenced my professional path in data librarianship. The knowledge gained and the connections made are invaluable assets as I continue my education and career. I look forward to applying these insights and contributing to the field in the future. Thanks again for selecting me as a scholarship recipient and giving me the opportunity to attend this wonderful event.

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As a PhD in chemistry, my route to the RDAP Summit was not straightforward. With academic activities in biochemistry and molecular biology, I had a scientist job in a biobank for two years. In early 2024, I joined the Research Service team in the Bernard Becker Medical Library at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as a senior support scientist. The RDAP 2024 Summit provided me with a quick overview of the field and a networking opportunity. The main benefit was helping me quickly adapt to a new environment. After one year experience as a data management and sharing consultant, as well as a manager of our institutional repository, I gained much deeper appreciation of the various sessions in the RDAP 2025 Summit. Hopefully, the new knowledge will translate into more efficient work.

Without formal librarianship training, it is important for me to know many data service resources. I collected a resource list during the Summit and would like to share it with scientists who recently entered the Research Data Access and Preservation field.

1. The new RDAP LinkedIn page. One way to support RDAP is to follow the page and share posts with your LinkedIn circle.

2. The RDAP Discuss listserv. The listserv community is an important resource for information related to data service.

3. Research Data Alliance (RDA). Joining RDA’s individual membership gives one opportunity to work with others around the world to develop and adopt infrastructure that promotes data-sharing and data-driven research. The RDA-US community has a slack channel for data service-related discussions.

4. The DataCure slack channel. DataCure is an informal group of librarians and other information professionals whose members have significant roles or responsibilities in providing services in managing or curating research data. This document contains more information about this group. I am happy to help others joining the group.

5. The Public Interest Corpus is a new project focused on developing large-scale, high-quality AI training data from the world’s libraries and archives to serve the public interest. With the rapid growing interest in AI, this project may become a major resource for publicly available AI training data.

6. The Digital Library Federation (DLF) has a few working groups that are useful for the data service community. For example, the Metadata Support Group has a slack channel on metadata-related discussions.

7. The Data Curation Network (DCN) offers annual workshops for data professionals to improve their skills. Travel expenses for workshops may be covered by DCN.

8. The Data Services Continuing Professional Education (DSCPE) is a program for early-to-mid-career librarians to gain essential skills in data services. The best candidates are within three years of data service-related positions.

I attended two interesting workshops before the main event. The workshop materials are in the following links: Evolving the 3-2-1 backup rule for more resilient data and Programming Logic for Non-Programmers.

Finally, I would like to thank RDAP and the Summit sponsors for the generous scholarship.

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My name is Aubrey Jarvis and I am attending Syracuse University online to obtain my Masters of Library and Information Science degree. One of the reasons I am seeking my MLIS degree is because of my passion for archival work primarily related to digital spaces. 2025 marks the near completion of my first year in graduate studies.

When a colleague shared about the RDAP Summit opportunity, I saw an organization that was passionate and mission-oriented about data. In an effort to network with other colleagues and to expand my understanding, I applied for the RDAP 2025 Summit.

While I do not currently have a job in librarianship or data services, I appreciated the opportunity to connect with other colleagues and participate in discussions within the field. I worked as a Technology Director for K-12 schools in Oregon for seven years before I sought my MLIS. Much of what was being discussed actually felt familiar.

Without the scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to attend this important summit. I wouldn’t have been able to listen to panels, such as Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration and Partnerships regarding collaborative work with researchers, supporting researchers, and strengthening relationships we have with other colleagues. I wouldn’t have been able to learn about the Data Rescue Project and their vital mission of cataloging public data. I wouldn’t have been able to attend the opening keynote that validated our feelings as researchers and reminded me to "focus on focus."

While this conference may have been centered around data access and preservation, the most valuable lesson I took away was that of community. I saw many researchers, archivists, librarians, data scientists, and others coming together in times of crisis to support one another. I saw researchers sharing strategies, waving flags, and detailing road maps. I saw resilience in action surrounded by what matters most: our data and our humanity. Our strength is in our interdependence. I left the conference knowing there were so many doing the work to keep our data safe and that there were a variety of researchers continuing to do excellent work despite the ominous future ahead.

More than likely, I will find a career along these lines of research data, access, and preservation. I look forward to re-joining the RDAP community and attending conferences in the future. Thank you to RDAP, my summit buddy Talisha Harrison, Amy Koshoffer, and those who conducted the New Members and First Time Attendees Get-Together. I felt welcome and I wish you all the best of luck.

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Thank you to everyone who filled out the Summit Modality survey and the RDAP 2025 post-conference survey. The Executive Board met after the Summit to review the results and, after consultations with the 2026 RDAP Conference Planning Committee, has decided to hold the RDAP Summit 2026 online. While the Executive Board was really looking forward to seeing everyone in-person in 2026, we have no control over current events and can only respond to the scenario we are in. The biggest contributing factors in our decision were the elimination of institutional professional development funds many RDAP attendees rely on to attend the Summit and the travel safety concerns brought forward by RDAP members. We understand that in-person events are more effective for networking and building community. Therefore, we will be reaching out to regional and international data conferences to explore the possibility of holding RDAP meetups at their in-person conferences. Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to seeing you online at RDAP 2026 or in-person at a future RDAP meetup.

If you have any questions, please send them to the RDAP President email, president@rdapassociation.org.

By: Nina Exner and Megan O’Donnell

On December 12, 2024, the National Science Foundation (NSF)  announced in the Federal Register that there would be an “Agency Information Collection Activity: Comment Request.” The comment request specifically opened a public comment period about a Draft  NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) for 2026 due February 10, 2025.

The PAPPG is a long document that outlines both how to apply for NSF awards and what is expected of those who are awarded NSF grants. Of note to RDAP members, it is where the NSF data management plan (DMP) policy and guidance about public access compliance is documented (although there is also additional information on the NSF website, particularly on directorate-specific pages.).

Nina Exner, (Virginia Commonwealth University), sent the Executive Board an official request for RDAP to respond to the draft as it contained significant changes to data management plan requirements. The Executive Board approved the request in early January and appointed Megan O’Donnell (RDAP Secretary, Iowa State University) and Nina Exner to lead the response task force.

Due to the release of the draft shortly before many of us took holiday leave, there was a tight deadline for assembling the task force, analyzing changes, and drafting comments. However, less than 24-hours after the call for volunteers was sent out we had more volunteers than we could easily organize and capped membership to the first six respondents.

Three sections were identified for response:

• Part 1 Ch II.i.ii Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP) of the Products of Research (pg 70-71)
• Part II. Ch XI.D.2.c Public Access to Copyrighted Material (pg 185); and
• Part II. Ch XI. D. 4 (pg 187)

Even with this limited scope there was a considerable amount to analyze and comment on as there were some significant and surprising changes to data management and public access requirements. The biggest change was the change of how the DMSP (formally DMP) would be submitted. Instead of a separate document, it would be completed through a web form on the research.gov proposal platform. Some of the sections of the DMSP also showed changes and there was new information about DOIs, how to submit dataset metadata to NSF-PAR, and new metadata and intellectual property issues related to data and data sharing.

We recommend that RDAP members who work with NSF funded research read the yellow-highlighted text of pages 70, 71, 185, and 187 of the draft. While not final, the draft provides insight into where and how DMP/DMSPs and public access requirements are likely to change.

A copy of the comment RDAP submitted to NSF is available through the RDAP OSF archive.

Thank you to all of the commenters that gave us input and insights through Slack and email, to the RDAP executive board officers, and to our stellar task force!  Because of the holidays we ended up with a quite short timeframe to do the work and we appreciate every bit of insight and effort contributed.

The task force members who drafted RDAP’s comment are:

• Nina Exner (co-lead)

• Megan O’Donnell (co-lead)
• Jen Ferguson
• Sarah Gonzalez
• Dani Kirsch
• Lauren Phegley
• Allie Tararian
• Brian Westra

Association members can request an official association response by contacting the Executive Board. More information about this can be found on the Advocacy Request page.