ABSTRACT
The study seeks to analyze the Impact of Research Data Management (RDM) Services in Academic Libraries on Postgraduate Students Academic Research in University of Benin, Benin city, Nigeria. 4 purposes of the study were stated during the cause of the research, and 4 questions were raised to guide this study. served as the study's guide. The descriptive survey research design was used for this study. The population for this study was 100 postgraduate students from the Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin City. No sampling was done, all 100 postgraduate students was used for the sampling. This means that the entire population was used for the study because of the small size of the population. 100 copies of questionnaire titled “Impact of Research Data Management Services in Academic Libraries on Postgraduate Students Academic Research Questionnaire (IRDMSALPSARQ)” were administered to the respondents.The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency count and percentages.
Findings revealed that the extent to which Postgraduate students use these research data management (RDM) services for academic research is to a high extent and Research Data Management (RDM) services have a positive impact on postgraduate student’s academic research such as: saving time and resources, facilitates sharing of research data, helps prevent errors, validates and replicates findings, and increases the quality of your analyses. The study also revealed that there are several challenges facing postgraduate students who access these services and these includes: lack of metadata standardization, challenge of data overload, problem of research data management policies, improper management of research data, lack of knowledge and skills required to create data management plans, and challenge of proper management of research data.
Based on the results of the analysis, it was recommended that the Library manager should devise means of finding a good research data repository for the library and in the university at large, there should be sufficient documentation of research data to enhance and encourage the use of Research Data Management (RDM) services in academic libraries, and the library management should ensure that there is adequate orientation and training to provide adequate Knowledge and Skills in the Management of Academic Research.
