The library establishes an interdisciplinary Open Science competence network

The University of Tartu development fund has allocated €96,112 to the library to create an Open Science competence network and develop a support system for addressing research data management and open science-related issues across all disciplines. The library will provide training for network members and continue offering guidance on open science.

"The competence network will make researchers' work much easier in the future," said Liisi Lembinen, Development Director of the University of Tartu Library. "Until now, data management and open science consultations have been provided solely by the library. In the near future, we aim to train consultants who, based on their specific fields, can offer even better support to researchers."

The competence network will consist of researchers from all university faculties, whose main tasks will be to advise colleagues on research data management, publishing open-access (OA) articles, and open science topics generally. These advisors will act as contact persons whom researchers can turn to for guidance. If necessary, they will direct issues to other relevant units, such as the library, IT services, or information management. The consultants for each field will be determined in the coming months.

Once the consultants are selected, the library will develop a training program to provide them with in-depth knowledge of open science principles and the skills needed to guide researchers in managing and sharing research data. Additionally, the advisors will have access to specialized training through the Skills4EOSC project. When possible, the library will also offer specialized learning programs organized by international partners, such as the RDA (Research Data Alliance) and the Enlight network.

The funding from the Development Fund will also enable the university to migrate its open research data repository, DataDOI, from the DSpace platform to the open-source Dataverse platform, which is significantly more suitable for managing research data. Dataverse supports domain-specific metadata schemas and aligns with FAIR data principles.