Update on NRC-CISTI’s data registration agency for Canada

NRC-CISTI establishes DataCite Canada web presence

Ottawa, ON, December 13, 2010 – As announced earlier this fall, NRC’s Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI) is in the process of establishing a central research data set registration service for Canada.

In an initial step, NRC-CISTI has created a series of DataCite Canada web pages. The intent of these pages is to provide an overview of the initiative and answer basic questions about how the research data registration service will work. The pages will be regularly updated with the latest information as it becomes available. Contact information is available for those interested in finding out more about both the technical and non-technical aspects of DataCite Canada.

The DataCite Canada service will provide a mechanism for Canadian data centres to register data sets and assign unique, persistent digital object identifiers (DOIs) to them. Registration of data sets with DOIs makes data more highly visible and easier to access. DOIs provide long-term links to data sets and allow published articles to link to their underlying data.

As a next step, DataCite Canada will invite a small number of Canadian data centres to pilot the registration service and feed into its development to ensure it meets the needs of the community.

NRC-CISTI expects to launch DataCite Canada’s registration service in early 2011. DataCite Canada will also offer a searchable database of metadata describing the registered data sets.

NRC-CISTI is a member of DataCite, an international consortium of libraries and research organizations committed to increasing access to research data on the internet. NRC-CISTI is DataCite’s DOI allocation agent for Canada.

For more information, contact Karen Morgenroth, NRC-CISTI’s Manager Content Access Services at Karen.Morgenroth@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.

If you would like to be added to our mailing list for future updates, please email: DataCite.CISTI@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.