Managing, processing, and sharing research data and experimental context produced on modern scientific instrumentation all present challenges to the materials community. To address these issues, two MaRDA Working Groups on FAIR Data in Materials Microscopy Metadata and Materials Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) convened and generated recommended best practices regarding data handling in the materials research community. Overall, the Microscopy Metadata group recommends: (1) instruments should capture comprehensive metadata about operators, specimens/samples, instrument conditions, and data formation and (2) microscopy data and metadata should use standardized vocabularies and community-standard identifiers. The LIMS group produced the following guides and recommendations: (1) a costs and benefits comparison when implementing LIMS; (2) summaries of prerequisite requirements, capabilities, and roles of LIMS stakeholders; and (3) a review of metadata schemas and information storage best practices in LIMS. Together, the groups hope these recommendations will accelerate breakthrough scientific discoveries via FAIR data.