Professional Development Opportunities for Data Librarians and Research Data Management

Posted by jessicakilham on September 30th, 2020 Posted in: Communities of Interest, Data, Scholarly Communication

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Professional development opportunities for data librarians and research data management are a great way to develop skills, network with other professionals, and gain new knowledge about your field. While most events are currently online, many groups that offer online events have offered in-person events and conferences in the past, and will hopefully do so again when they are able.

Here is a round-up of places to watch for announcements and information about professional development opportunities. Not all of these are specifically data-related, but may have topics that are relevant to data librarianship, data management, or data science. Many data librarians are also science librarians, so there is often an overlap in content and programming.

While events are being offered online many organizations are offering free or reduced cost programming, but this is not the case for all. Please check the announcements for specific events for more information.

Professional Organizations

• NER and NNLM  – NER, the other regional NNLM offices, and the NNLM National Training office frequently offer webinars and other events. The training calendar is here.
• ACRL New England RDSIG – The Research Data Special Interest Group of ACRL New England offers events throughout the year. View a list of their events or join their mailing list on their website.
• RDAP – The Research Data Access and Preservation Association (RDAP) hosts an annual conference as well as webinars throughout the year. View webinar information here, or learn about the annual RDAP Summit.
• RDA  – The Research Data Alliance hosts webinars and other educational opportunities throughout the year, along with an annual Plenary. The 2020 Plenary will be virtual this year. For more information:  RDA | Research Data Sharing without barriers
• FORCE11 – The FORCE11 organization focuses on research communications and e-Scholarship. Many of their events have data management related components. They offer an annual conference, a scholarly communication institute, and more.
• DataOne – DataOne offers webinars, training, and self-guided learning materials.

Boot Camps

Boot Camps are regional conferences for science librarians and may have data topics included. Some boot camps may have online events throughout the year, though their main conference is usually during the summer. Some events were either cancelled or virtual in 2020, keep an eye on their postings for information about 2021.

• Southeast Science Boot Camp
• New England Science Boot Camp for Librarians
• True North Science Boot Camp
• STEM Librarians South
• Great Lakes Science Boot Camp for Librarians
• The ACRL Science and Technology section has a LibGuide with information about most of the science bootcamps and other professional development opportunities.

Other Resources

• The  #datalibs hashtag on twitter is very active. People share information about upcoming events, articles, and other topics relevant to data librarianship
• The Datalibs listserv offers announcements, calls for proposals, and opportunities for discussion on related topics. Subscribe here.
• The NER Staying Informed webpage also has more links to organizations, blogs, and other resources.