Dr. Keralis is Assistant Professor and Digital Humanities Librarian. Their research crosses disciplinary boundaries to examine labor ethics and applied social justice principles in digital scholarship and librarianship. They were principal investigator for the TX-Gender Project, and the Becoming a Trans Inclusive Library Project, which explored the professional development needs of librarians to deliver inclusive services for transgender and gender creative patrons.
I’m a firm believer in Open Access and Open Data, so I always make a point of making sure my data, survey instruments, and publications are in a repository. The Illinois Data Bank is a safe, sustainable, and secure place to share my data, and has a great reputation on campus and beyond. The level of collaborative service and professionalism of the Illinois Data Bank staff makes me feel confident that my data will be well cared for and available to cite, share, and reuse in the future.
I’d urge other scholars to explore ways to make their data and other research outputs open. It’s a great way to increase awareness of your work, and is much safer than ad hoc data storage, and more affordable than commercial solutions. I kind of feel like an ad for Illinois Data Bank, but I really do believe they’re among the best in the academic data repository business, and there’s nobody I’d rather trust with my data!