Neil Rambo, director of the Health Sciences Library at NYU Langone Medical Center, graciously agreed to describe the development of data management services at his library for our issue brief series. “Research Data Management: Roles for Libraries” is his account of how NYU’s Health Sciences Library established this relatively new service and the challenges the library still faces.

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The library began with one central question: “how can libraries and librarians contribute to the advancement of the research mission?” Neil describes how from this beginning, the “initial foray has begun to coalesce into a set of services that have gained traction across the medical center” and has now become “part of the library’s strategy and identity.”

As others contemplate building similar programs at their institutions, this brief provides a helpful starting point. Neil shows how NYU began by learning more about their researchers’ needs, but also notes that the library had to raise “researchers’ expectations of what libraries and librarians can deliver.”

There are many important lessons here, and I thank Neil for this contribution.