MSU Libraries considers the purchase of datasets on a case-by-case basis. We will consider the acquisition of datasets from faculty, students and staff requests. However, not every data purchase is possible by the library. Here is what we take into consideration when deciding on a data purchase:
- Broad interest for researchers across campus meeting a current need.
- Data vendor must make the data available to libraries.
- Data must be made available for the entire campus. We do not purchase access for an individual or department only. We also would not be able to participate in cost sharing with grants for one project. The MSU Shared Research Infrastructure Program would be a better choice for a research group to request help purchasing data just for themselves.
- We also take into consideration whether walk-in users can use the data. We also typically want the data to be available remotely off-campus for MSU people.
- Price must be reasonable and fit within our budget. Prices for libraries are typically much higher than what they would be for an individual or department.
- We must be able to negotiate an acceptable license agreement regarding liability and other issues with the vendor.
- The data must be something that we can make available on an ongoing basis, whether as a subscription on a vendor platform or by hosting the purchased data ourselves. We subscribe to resources annually not for a shorter amount of time (i.e. month or semester). If it is something we host, we take into consideration format, file size, and access method.
- The acquisition process can take months. If it is towards the end of our budget year, we will likely need to wait until the next budget cycle to start the process. Therefore we need plenty of time to review and possibly acquire the data.
See our entire data collection development policy for more details.
