IASSIST & DCN - Data Curation Workshop

Researchers are required by many federal and private funders and publishers to make the digital data underlying their research openly available for sharing and reuse. However, in order for data to be fully publicly accessible to search, retrieve, and analyze, most data require that specialized curatorial actions be taken to best prepare them for reuse. Supporting researchers with data curation is an important role that information specialists aspire to fill as the workforce transforms to assume greater digital stewardship responsibilities. Information specialists are experts at identifying, selecting, organizing, describing, preserving, and providing access to information materials, print and digital. Yet, the results of a recent ARL SPECKit (http://publications.arl.org/Data-Curation-SPEC-Kit-354/) indicate that staffing and training for data curators is the biggest challenge facing institutions in the next 3-5 years.

To address this need, Social Sciences Librarians at Washington University in St. Louis in collaboration with the Data Curation Network (DCN – https://sites.google.com/site/datacurationnetwork/) held a data curation training workshop on December 11 & 12, 2017. Generously sponsored by IASSIST (http://www.iassistdata.org/), this workshop built upon existing efforts to train library staff and establish a network of expertise for data curation at institutions across the United States, thus promoting and fostering a network of excellence for data.