Table 2.

A compilation of results collected during several researcher and user needs assessments conducted at the University of Minnesota during 2006–2012.

Name of Study	Date	Group Responsible	Description	Major Findings
Sciences Assessment: Understanding Scientists (Marcus, 2007)	2006–07	UMN Libraries	Interviews and focus groups; 70 University faculty, deans, and graduate students	Difficult to keep current; online resources indispensable for collaborative research; Collaborative research is challenged by time, distance, language; digital collections mitigate physical boundaries; data curation and storage are haphazard and in need of attention; student and faculty needs similar.
PEL Study (Johnston, 2010b)	2007	UMN Libraries, President’s Emerging Leaders	Survey responses from 780 researchers at UMN Twin Cities	Inconsistent data storage patterns; limited public data sharing (8% of users); inconsistent or insufficient data backup support.
Biomedical Research Needs Assessment	2010–11	Independent Consulting Firm	Interviews with 58 individuals at UMN and outside groups; identification of assets and gaps	Institutional needs result in creation of AHC IE; need to establish governance; establish enterprise clinical data repository; populate repository; establish pilot projects for repository and infrastructure.
Health Sciences Libraries Researcher Needs Assessment	2011–12	HSL liaisons	Interviews with 13 AHC researchers using 7-item survey instrument	Inconsistent data management practices, institutional guidelines requested; knowledge of collaboration tools lacking; enterprise backup required; data sharing and policies not understood.