RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND THE EMERGING RESPONSIBILITIES OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

Background: Research Data Management (RDM) has become central to modern scholarship. However, academic libraries worldwide, particularly in the Global South, struggle to translate policy mandates into sustainable practice due to persistent resource and capacity challenges. Purpose: Grounded in Socio-Technical Systems Theory, this paper examines the evolving role of academic libraries as partners across the research lifecycle and interrogates current RDM practices in both global and African institutional contexts. Methodology: The study adopts a literature synthesis approach, drawing on contemporary global case studies and evidence from African institutions to analyze how libraries operationalize FAIR principles, manage repositories, and deliver data literacy training. Findings: The analysis identifies four interlocking domains of library responsibility: consultative data management planning, repository curation, metadata and identifier services, and strategic advocacy for institutional data policies. Key barriers include storage and power constraints, interoperability issues, cultural resistance to data sharing, skills gaps, policy fragmentation, and immature cost-recovery models. To address these, a tiered, context-sensitive framework is proposed. It prioritizes DMP support and basic repository services for teaching-focused institutions, while recommending full lifecycle curation for research-intensive universities, supported by regional consortia and emerging technologies such as AI-assisted metadata and blockchain provenance. Conclusion and Implications: Academic libraries must strategically reposition as data stewards and compliance enablers to remain central to data-driven scholarship. In developing higher education systems, coordinated and pragmatic RDM investment can yield disproportionate gains in research visibility, reproducibility, and societal impact.