How Can Data Librarians Support Data Communities? - Ithaka S+R

"Data communities provide social and practical incentives for scientists to voluntarily share and reuse data with colleagues. In order for data communities to emerge and grow, they need support. Information professionals, such as data librarians and research computing specialists, can advise data communities on best practices for data sharing and help them create or improve the required infrastructure, such as online repositories and metadata schemas. However, research scientists and information professionals rarely have structured opportunities to meet together, especially across institutional lines, for focused discussions about how they can collaborate to sustain data communities.

To address the need for collaboration among scientists and information professionals to understand, support, and promote the growth of data communities, Ithaka S+R and the Data Curation Network partnered together to host Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science. This NSF-sponsored workshop series provided a forum for scientists from a variety of institutions and fields who are already involved in data communities—or who would like to be part of starting a data community—to collaborate with information professionals who are expert curators in their research area. Over a series of meetings that culminated in a two-day online workshop (Feb 28-March 1, 2022), data communities and information professionals met online to discuss community specific issues as well as broader strategies for moving forward. 

In advance of our final report on the workshop, which will be released later this summer, we’ve invited several participants to reflect on what they’ve learned from the experience. Today’s blog post features an interview with Jordan Wrigley, a data librarian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. ..."