The generation of digital research output (let's generalize from the start and call it data) has been fairly commonplace in most if not all disciplines for some years now. More recently, the realization has emerged amongst those responsible for funding, hosting and supporting research that this data deluge could represent by far the most challenging aspect of 21stcentury research administration that they are likely ever to encounter. As formative experiences go, it appears to be an eminently larger and more complex phenomenon, most acutely characterized by its exceptional rate of growth, than has previously been experienced in the engines of knowledge creation that are our universities.

Entering that rousing context, this book has a dual purpose: to build awareness amongst our readers of the principal drivers obliging them to focus on delivering a data management service infrastructure, whilst at the same time explaining the components and processes that will normally comprise the building blocks for such a service. These two strands are presented together with an explanation of the roles and responsibilities of those who will sustain, deliver and use the services. Hence, our topic embraces both the technical and human infrastructures necessary to effective service delivery, which are fundamentally interdependent. To complete the picture, a set of case studies supplements the ‘how to’ character of the main chapters by documenting real experiences and approaches to the creation of institutional and national services in leading organizations from the UK, Australia and the USA.

Anyone with an active stake in the generation, management and sharing of research data should find something of value in this book. You could be a researcher pursuing options for the secure and sustained storage of your data, seeking support to reliably managed access or the means to enable the greatest dissemination potential; or you might be viewing research undertakings from a management or policy perspective, with an eye for achieving maximum returns on investment, perhaps, through the introduction of improvements to the mechanism for knowledge exchange. It is as likely that you are a member of a support team handling the ingest, curation and archiving of research data, needing to understand not only the techniques involved but also the political or legal contexts and the relationships between those key stakeholders whose expectations will, ultimately, rest with you.