Data Services at JMU Libraries
JMU Libraries supports faculty, staff, and student researchers in planning, managing, sharing, and preserving research data. Whether you are planning a research project, developing a grant proposal, or teaching a course, we are happy to help!
We offer consultations, workshops, classroom instruction, and self-help resources. While we do not provide data analysis services, our Data Services Librarian can assist with managing both primary and secondary research data. For project-based statistical consulting, we can connect you with our campus partners.
If you’re not sure where to begin, request a consultation and we’ll help you identify the right resources and support.
What Do You Want to Do?
Select an option below to learn how we can support your work.
Create a Data Management Plan
We can help you plan how you will organize, document, store, and share data for a research project or grant application.
What we do:
- Review and provide feedback on data management plans (DMPs)
- Advise on file formats, metadata, storage, preservation, and data sharing
- Provide templates, examples, and guidance for tools such as DMPTool
- Connect you with additional resources through our Data Management Guide
What we don’t do:
- Write DMPs on your behalf
- Guarantee funder approval
- Host research data outside of supported platforms
Save & Organize Your Data
We can help you create systems that make your data easier to find, understand, reuse, and share with others.
What we do:
- Recommend file naming conventions and folder structures
- Provide guidance on version control and documentation practices
- Assist with creating README files and other supporting documentation
- Advise on storage options, including considerations for sensitive data
What we don’t do:
- Manage your files or data
- Provide data storage services
Store & Share Your Data
We can help you prepare data for publication, sharing, and long-term access.
What we do:
- Recommend repositories such as ICPSR and other general repositories or discipline-specific repositories
- Explain licensing and data-sharing options
- Advise on preparing data and metadata for deposit
- Guide you through repository submission processes
What we don’t do:
- Upload or manage your data for you
- Provide long-term data hosting services
Explore Data Literacy
We can help researchers and students build skills in finding, evaluating, using, and citing data.
What we do:
- Offer workshops, classroom instruction, and self-paced guides
- Teach strategies for finding datasets
- Discuss data quality, bias, and documentation strategies
- Provide guidance on responsible data use and citation best practices
What we don’t do:
- Provide access to paid datasets
- Offer statistical tutoring
- Perform data cleaning, analysis, or interpretation
Learn About Ethics, Consent, & IRB Considerations
We can help you understand how ethical, legal, and institutional requirements shape how you collect, manage, and share your data.
What we do:
- Discuss informed consent and data-sharing considerations
- Introduce strategies for protecting privacy and confidentiality
- Explain connections between IRB requirements and data management planning
- Provide guidance on basic anonymization concepts
What we don’t do:
- Make IRB determinations
- Write IRB applications or protocols
- De-identify data for research projects
Explore Qualitative & Quantitative Tools (Guidance, Not Analysis)
We can help you explore tools and workflows that support research data management across disciplines.
What we do:
- Recommend tools such as NVivo, R, and Qualtrics
- Discuss workflows for organizing, cleaning, and documenting data
- Advise on creating codebooks, audit trails, and other research documentation
- Share best practices for managing qualitative and quantitative data
What we don’t do:
- Conduct statistical analyses or qualitative coding
- Complete research tasks on your behalf
- Provide project-based data analysis services
- For statistical consulting, we can refer you to appropriate campus partners
Contact
If you have questions about Data Services at JMU Libraries, please contact our Data Services Librarian, Samantha Harmon.