NEC Profile: Sara Gonzales, Data Librarian

Posted by randerson on May 30th, 2023 Posted in: Blog, NEC Profile

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Sara Gonzales nurtures a healthy data ecosystem in her role as a Data Librarian within the National Evaluation Center (NEC) in the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM). Based at Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Gonzales supports continuous improvement and data education for the NNLM and further, her extensive data expertise and roles as a certified Library Carpentries instructor and Open Source community manager helps support others in building their own healthy data networks.

“I began developing data-related classes at Galter Library in a grassroots way, starting with basic best practices in data management and sharing and slowly building a portfolio of classes in introductory data cleaning and wrangling,” Gonzales says. “The feedback I received from attendees helped confirm that foundational data skills were in demand.”

With an MS in Anthropology, a certificate in Museum Studies, and a Master of Library and Information Science with an Archives concentration, Gonzales is well-versed in best practices for data collection and sharing. She’s previously worked in various museum and archive settings, most recently in the special collections department of Chicago’s Adler Planetarium.

Data-focused projects require a strong collaborative foundation. Gonzales nurtures this with a range of efforts, most recently with the “NNLM Personas,” a series of collaboratively produced, evidence-based one-page profiles about NNLM member organizations.

“I’m working with a team to create representative profiles of organizational members of the NNLM. The goal is to provide profiles that anyone in the NNLM can use to plan training, outreach, software development projects, or any other services that will benefit NNLM members.”

Gonzales recognizes that from teamwork blossoms sustainable network growth. Her dedication to supporting the NEC is crucial to the NNLM’s ongoing expansion and commitment to improving public health.

“I was pleased to join the NEC team in order to support the ongoing efforts of the NNLM, which offers so many valuable training opportunities and grants for librarians, library patrons, and community members in a wide array of settings all across the country.”

The collection and sharing of data can be a complex process for data librarians to navigate from both an ethical and technological perspective. Gonzales hopes her continuing work on this subject can weed out some of these intricacies. She is heavily involved in data sharing activities through the Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) for Zenodo, supported by the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy and also serves as the Community Manager of the international InvenioRDM repository software development project.

“The NIH’s Policy on Data Management and Sharing is a very pressing issue for all data-focused librarians at the moment. We are striving to offer data management support, guidance, and options regarding best practices for data sharing that will both enable effective research data sharing, and support the needs and concerns of investigators and research participants.”

As a licensed Library Carpentries instructor, Gonzales acknowledges the balance between teaching and learning. She appreciates this reciprocal relationship in advancing her understanding of evaluation and code.

“I have really enjoyed seeing the growth of our local NEC team, as well as the opportunity to learn from their expertise. The evaluation knowledge I’ve gained from Verónica Hoyo and Erika Martínez has been invaluable, and I am ceaselessly awed by the efforts of Matt Baumann, Eric Newman, and Matt Carson on the code updates to the data warehouse.”

It is clear Gonzales’s developmental work with her NEC team and broader NNLM initiatives has helped the data field — and her colleagues — bloom.

Written by Alex Miranda