Sentencing Your Darlings: Appraisal and Disposal in Research Data Management at Monash University
Ali Hayes-Brady Catherine Nicholls
<p>Monash University has been actively sentencing legacy electronic research data since 2017.<br>
In 2018 we had $AUD413 million in research income and it has become obvious that while &ldquo;data storage is cheap&rdquo;, it is not unlimited. However, there is still a mentality of &ldquo;keep everything&rdquo; in our research data space and we need to address this idea head-on to effect any change. Keeping everything is not only not an option but is detrimental to the discoverability, accessibility and reusability of research data.</p>

<p><br>
To date we have been using traditional corporate records management practices to sentence<br>
research data. We are now looking at the value of incorporating traditional archival principles into Research Data Management as well - with regards to appraisal and collection management.<br>
&nbsp;</p>

<p>This lightning talk will look at:</p>

<ul>
	<li>What the Research Data Culture looks like at Monash University</li>
	<li>The value of sentencing data</li>
	<li>Case studies we have undertaken with different sets of electronic research data</li>
	<li>Pros and cons of what we have discovered during these case studies</li>
	<li>The creation of a specific item type for research data in our current -RMS and the benefits of including research data metadata in a recordkeeping system</li>
	<li>Communicating to our stakeholders about the changes needed in our current research data culture - especially the researchers and IT professionals</li>
</ul>

<p>The questions we are asking (and attempting to answer) are:</p>

<ul>
	<li>When we appraise, what do we look for? How do we identify what to keep and what to dispose of?</li>
	<li>How can we foster a cultural shift in the way research data is created and sustained - how do we make it &ldquo;naturally FAIR&rdquo;?</li>
	<li>Who is responsible for what actions, and when do we need to collaborate?</li>
	<li>How can we articulate our storage and sentencing needs to those without archival or records management experience?</li>
	<li>What is next?</li>
</ul>