“DUA” or Don’t Ya: Implementing Data Use Agreements in an Academic Library

A Data Use Agreement (DUA) is a contract that governs the exchange of specific data between parties. Data Use Agreements establish who is permitted to use and receive a unique dataset, and how that user may use and disclose the data. Often, Data Use Agreements serve as a guaranteed first point of contact between data stewards and researchers in the community. As universities continue to grapple with issues of data security and intellectual property, Data Use Agreements are becoming tools to ensure an ethical foundation for research.

At our university libraries, creating and implementing Data Use Agreements is a component of the data acquisitions workflow. During this presentation, we will discuss our university libraries’ approach to creating and implementing Data Use Agreements and provide a general framework for actualizing Data Use Agreements at attendees’ home institutions. We will share how to identify key criteria for knowing when to employ these Agreements, as well as who across a broad community of internal stakeholders (such as subject specialists, acquisitions staff, licensing librarians and data support specialists) should participate in their development. We will also review practical and scalable tools, such as templates, for drafting Data Use Agreements, and how to leverage programs like Qualtrics and Redivis to manage user assent. Finally, we will acknowledge and share current workflow challenges and our approaches to solving them.