Administrativa krav i en kreativ process : Arkivariers syn på arkivering och tillgängliggörande av forskningsdata på svenska lärosäten

Sammanfattning: Introduction. Previous research has shown that the increasing demands of research data management have proven to be challenging to both researchers and research support. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the process of managing, archiving, and sharing research data and what challenges it faces. Furthermore, it aims to investigate what the archivist’s role is and should be in this process and how archivists and researchers communicate and collaborate with each other.  Method. To pursue this aim, a qualitative method was used, consisting of semi-structured interviews with archivists from seven different public universities in Sweden, with three larger universities and four smaller ones. Analysis. For the analysis a thematic method was used, where similarities and differences, views and opinions were identified and categorized into different themes. Result. The result showed that a fundamental challenge is for the archivists to reach out to the researchers with the information and knowledge that they need and how to make that information comprehensible. The result further showed that several of the interviewed archivists believe that the current focus of resources and demands aimed at the development of open data is misdirected and contra productive because the researchers are more interested in and have a greater need of safe storing and proper archiving of their research data, rather than making it open. Conclusion. The investigation concludes that there is a great need for new ways for archives and other research support to reach out to researchers with information on research data management and that this requires more resources. It furthermore concludes that there is a need to further investigate what researchers truly need for them to properly manage and preserve their research data in the long term and what role the archivist will play in this development.  This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival science.