We have answers to your data questions

Ask us anything.

IU faculty and students who send data questions to resdata@iu.edu are experiencing customized, personalized data support from experts at IU Libraries Research Data Services.

Mikala Narlock, IU Libraries' first Director of Research Data Services, says the email is a gateway for all data-related questions. It's a simpler way for faculty and students to get the answers they need, even if they don't know exactly who to ask. 

"The people sending us questions, they really care about their data and want to do the right thing," she says. "As researchers ourselves, we know you can spend years of your life collecting data. Your research is important, and we want to ensure the data are treated with the attention they deserve. We have really thoughtful colleagues at IU, and the questions we are answering show that."

Library experts are available to support IU researchers across disciplines and expertise levels, whether working individually, in a lab or department, or as part of coursework.  Any question about data is welcome, and responses could include direct assistance with needs such as Data Management Plan review and consultation, or referrals to IU departments and people who offer the services and knowledge the researcher is looking for.

Thanks to Narlock, library expertise in data is becoming much more visible at IU. 

The Libraries' Research Data Services department is ready to assist researchers from project planning through analysis to sharing results.

Erin Ellis, IU Libraries Associate Dean for Organizational Strategy and Scholarly Communication, welcomed Narlock to the Bloomington library team just about 11 months ago. The impact has been immediate. 

She says, "Mikala is a passionate leader of research data support and initiatives. She’s recognized internationally as a founding member of the Data Rescue Project and for her former role as director of the Data Curation Network. Here at IU Bloomington, she’s quickly gained recognition for the thoughtful and strategic development of IU Libraries’ Research Data Services."

Narlock says her team has answers and strategies to preserve data, such as intentional duplication with one authoritative DOI (Digital Object Identifier) identification. Sometimes researchers want help with deaccessioning policies and practices, and the library can help there, too. She says, "We can review data, figure out if it has been replaced by a new version, and create a DOI that resolves to show what the data set was. This keeps it in the scholarly record. Data is big and we don't want to preserve data that is no longer useful. We work together to know what to keep and what not to keep."

IU Libraries is making researcher support a priority.

Ellis points out that while an official Research Data Services department is fairly new for Bloomington's campus, expertise in this area is not. "As a part of the larger research infrastructure, libraries have long curated, preserved, and described information. Mikala has a deep understanding of how and why libraries are well-positioned to facilitate working with research data."

Having real people provide real answers is what libraries do. Narlock expects demand for her team's services to grow. Ellis agrees, "Interest in the accessibility and reuse of research data has grown significantly. This growth will continue as public funding agencies increasingly ask grant recipients to make their data publicly available."  

One signal of interest has been the explosion of programming for February's International Love Data Week at all IU locations and around the world. This month the Research Data Services team offered the Bloomington campus multiple in-person activities—including daily tabling in the Herman B Wells Library to reach students—as well as virtual workshops and events. An Instagram reel used building blocks as a relatable example of data visualization.  

"Students are the faculty of tomorrow, and we want to invest in them today with good data management practices that will see them through their careers," says Narlock.

National leaders answering campus data questions

In February Narlock's work with the Data Rescue Project was recognized at the national level by the Research Access and Data Preservation Association with the 2025 RDAP Work of the Year Award. The Data Rescue Project is a grassroots volunteer community dedicated to access to public data for the public good. Narlock is a founding member and communications co-director. 

The dedicated Research Data Services team of librarians is leading the way in the design of ethical data policies and practices, metadata standards, and repositories, as well as customer service models that work for researchers. 

"Mikala is a major player in this space, and IU stands to benefit considerably from her and her department’s work across this evolving landscape," said Ellis.