Data management is an active process by which digital resources remain discoverable, accessible and intelligible over the longer term, a process that invests data and datasets with the potential to accrue value as assets enjoying far wider use than their creators may have anticipated. In the world of research, such a value-adding process is a significant contributor to the much desired achievement of impact.

Initially, the aim of this book was to introduce and familiarize the library and information professional with the principal elements of research data management. Traditionally, librarians have acted as the trusted and expert stewards of the nation's intellectual output but in the digital age they have lost ground in their engagement with the needs of the academic research community, which has found itself made increasingly self-sufficient by developments in information technology.

But it soon became apparent when assembling a representative selection of chapters, with the intention of providing an adequate picture of the prevailing research data landscape, that by explaining the reasons for pursuing effective data management and by describing the measures that should and are being taken, this volume would serve as both an introduction and a summary for a much broader community of stakeholders. Hence, within these pages you will discover a wealth of information and instruction covering such core issues as the terms of compliance with funder expectations for data management and sharing, an explanation of the context and recommended approaches to individual and institutional data management planning, a discussion of the roles and responsibilities of key players in the research data lifecycle, as well as detailed reports of initiatives, strategies and organizations being deployed nationally and on a global scale.

That initial aim remains, but in truth we all of us today ‘do data’, as information professionals, practising researchers or policy makers. I do hope this book will help you do it better.