Data Day to Day: building a community of expertise to address data skills gaps in an academic medical center

Abstract

BackgroundThe New York University Health Sciences Library data services team had developed educational material for research data management and data visualization and had been offering classes at the request of departments, research groups, and training programs, but many members of the medical center were unaware of these library data services. There were also indications of data skills gaps in these subject areas and other data-related topics.Case PresentationThe data services team enlisted instructors from across the medical center with data expertise to teach in a series of classes hosted by the library. We hosted eight classes branded as a series called “Data Day to Day.” Seven instructors from four units in the medical center, including the library, taught the classes. A multipronged outreach approach resulted in high turnout. Evaluations indicated that attendees were very satisfied with the instruction, would use the skills learned, and were interested in future classes.ConclusionsData Day to Day met previously unaddressed data skills gaps. Collaborating with outside instructors allowed the library to serve as a hub for a broad range of data instruction and to raise awareness of library services. We plan to offer the series three times in the coming year with an expanding roster of classes.

A qualitative analysis of the information science needs of public health researchers in an academic setting

“…Beyond data management training, which is now common practice in libraries [ 19 , 41 ], there is opportunity for a solution that is more embedded in university processes. As funder, publisher, and government policies develop and require researchers to report on data management specifics, it is imperative for both researchers and their institutions that individuals comply.…”

“…New models of service provision have emerged, including the informationist model, functional specialists, and hybrid positions [ 16 , 17 ]. As the models through which services are delivered become more agile, libraries have been able to expand their traditional offerings to incorporate support for data management, knowledge synthesis, translational research, and digital scholarship [ 18 , 19 ].…”

A new hat for librarians: providing REDCap support to establish the library as a central data hub

“…First, training sessions were offered through the library’s existing data series, “Data Day to Day,” to gauge the popularity of REDCap training, while simultaneously reaching a large number of people in the medical center. The data series is designed to provide training on data-related topics to anyone in the medical center in the form of 1.5-hour sessions [ 10 ]. Second, we promoted the library as a REDCap training provider through posting on the library’s Data Services web page and by marketing the service through the library liaison program.…”

The “Data Visualization Clinic”: a library-led critique workshop for data visualization

“…When feasible, liaison librarians mention the clinics in person to their liaison groups during presentations, such as at a search session for a given department. At the medical center, three clinics overlapped with a series of data science–related classes [ 16 ], and promotion for the events was combined, allowing the “Data Visualization Clinic” to “piggy-back” on promotions for those classes. Also clinics are promoted at the medical center on an internal intranet portal’s news section.…”

“…In the realm of health sciences libraries, scholarly literature and library websites describe workshops and classes that have often been of a didactic educational nature or a hands-on instructional workshop. These have varied from both for-credit and not-for-credit introductions to data visualization best practices [ 8 , 13 , 16 ] to skills-based workshops teaching technical tools like R and Cytoscape [ 2 – 5 , 10 – 15 ].…”