A New Training Program: Biomedical and Health Research Data Management for Librarians

Posted by Shirley Zhao on September 20th, 2017 Posted in: Blog, News
Tags: Data Science, RDM

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The National Library of Medicine recently awarded NTO an administrative supplement for Biomedical and Health Research Data Management Training for Librarians. The aim of this project is to improve the competency of information professionals in the area of biomedical and health sciences data management through a rigorous educational experience. In addition to supporting researchers who need to meet the data management plan requirements of funding agencies, these information professionals will be able to support reproducible research, drive discoveries through reusing data or identifying linkages between disparate data sources, and derive new roles as the field progresses. Participants will also be ready to take next steps to support data science, which includes data analysis and data visualization.

Why do we need this?

While there are many resources available to learn about data management principles and services, there is a need for a comprehensive training program for information professionals that brings together the best of these resources and enhances them with meaningful, practical activities focused on biomedical and health research data. The training program will build on existing resources and transform the learning experience from a largely self-directed, isolated endeavor to an organized program supported by experienced peer mentors and culminating with a capstone project to demonstrate improved skills and knowledge.

Who is working on this project?

Shirley Zhao, MSLIS, MS is the Data Science Librarian at Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library and is the training development specialist for this program. Shirley brings deep experience in developing and teaching workshops to support data science researchers. She recently developed and taught a course in research reproducibility for a data science for health sciences summer school program at the University of Utah. Components of this course encompassed best practices in data management, storage, preservation and dissemination, which will inform the development of this program. Shirley was previously the Physical Sciences Librarian at Dartmouth College and holds a BA (mathematics major, chemistry minor) from Smith College, a MSLIS from Long Island University, and a MS (mathematics) from New York University. More information about Shirley can be found on her website: https://shirl0207.wordpress.com/. Follow her on Twitter @zhao_shirley or email her directly at shirley.zhao@utah.edu.

Stay tuned for more details and to find out how to apply for this new training experience.