Earlier this month, over 100 people from 33 institutions gathered at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus for the Summit for Academic Institutional Readiness in Data Sharing (STAIRS). The primary goal of this two-day summit was to build a robust community of practice amongst those who manage and share data at universities, including data service providers, repository managers, and data curation experts.

The summit was organized by the University of Minnesota Libraries and the Data Curation Network (DCN, based at the U of M Libraries), and funded by the National Institutes of Health Office of Data Science Strategy. This work built on previous collaborations between the NIH ODSS and the Data Curation Network.

Summit programming was organized around four broad topics:

• Training, Consulting, and Education
• Technologies, Metadata, and Repository Platforms
• Building Community Internally Within the Institution
• Building Community Externally Across Institutions

For each topic, attendees had the opportunity to share the challenges and experiences they faced, with an emphasis on collaborating across institutions.

“In the DCN, we really value learning from one another — it’s a way we make ourselves, our institutions, and each other better, more efficient. We wanted to make this happen on a national scale, and are grateful the NIH saw the value in this community building effort,” said Mikala Narlock, DCN Director. “This was the first chance many of us had to discuss data sharing opportunities with colleagues outside of the libraries/archives profession. It was invaluable to hear what other institutions across the country are doing, and we look forward to continued collaborations.”