In my article, One Year In: What I Learned in My First Year of Librarianship and What I Wish I Would Have Done Differently, I discuss the importance of keeping up to date on “what’s hot” in librarianship. For me, the hottest subject as a new clinical librarian turned out to be research data management (RDM), a topic I knew nothing about. Since embarking on this new career path just over a year ago, I’ve learned a lot about the importance of taking initiative and how to be successful in my career and when helping my patrons. Of course, each institution will differ and one must work within the boundaries and with the resources they have, but from my experience, there were three things I did that helped me learn as a professional and begin to grow the RDM services offered to our patrons: (1) get involved, (2) seek out continuing education, and (3) develop teaching materials. 

Get Involved 

Learning about what is going on at your institution is an easy and essential place to start. Does your institution have an RDM policy, or a group that’s working on one? If there is an existing policy, get to studying! Most of the questions I have fielded from researchers at my institution have been regarding our specific requirements on data management and sharing and how those tasks align with those of the grant awarding office. If you cannot find an existing policy, ask around and see if there is a group currently working on one, and inquire about getting involved. When I began taking on the RDM responsibilities, I was brought into a task force at my institution that was doing just that. I learned a lot from those who were already members, and realized I had more to contribute than I originally thought. If there is no existing policy and no group working on such a policy, see what it would take to get one together. When we began the journey at my institution, we reached out to another university that had just successfully completed a project very similar to what we were setting out to do. They graciously shared the work they had done, and, with permission, we were able to make that document work for our institution and the needs of our researchers without having to start from scratch.  

Another way to get involved is through professional organizations like the Medical Library Association (MLA). In joining a caucus, participating in group discussions, volunteering for projects, or even simply joining a listserv and following discussions as they happen, you can learn so much. Recently, I worked with a group that put together a toolkit to help researchers and librarians navigate the upcoming 2023 National Institute of Health (NIH) Data Management and Sharing Policy. As a new librarian and someone who is new to the world of data, working on a project outside the scope of my regular job duties gave me so much professionally. I learned how projects come together and need to be managed, I was introduced to data vernacular and best practices from current professionals, and I learned from their experiences what might be important to researchers at my own institution. Additionally, I have been able to take what I learned throughout the process and apply it to my current position, which has left me feeling more confident in my abilities as a clinical librarian and in my unexpected role as data management liaison. 

Seek Out Continuing Education 

Seeking and sorting through available learning opportunities can be daunting, but they really do pay off in the end. For example, I completed the MLA Data Services Specialization certificate program and gained a considerable amount of knowledge. The best thing about the program was that I could customize it to my needs. I don’t work with data visualization, but I did need to learn more about REDCap, and the program gave me the flexibility to pick and choose courses that would be beneficial to me. 

As librarians, we know there is no shortage of information out there, and that holds true for information on RDM. The NIH and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have webinars and courses available that are focused on the librarian’s role in RDM. If you don’t have time (or funding) to devote to paid courses and costly webinars, there is no shortage of articles, videos, and LibGuides that are beyond helpful for novice RDM scholars. It may take a bit of digging, bookmarking, and circling back around, but the payoff is well worth it. 

Develop Teaching Materials 

This has probably been the most helpful project I’ve taken on. In developing my own RDM LibGuide, I sought direction from already published guides. Not only did this help me learn more about services and guidance that other institutions were offering, but I was also directed to helpful resources that I then added to my personal toolkit. In addition to LibGuides, synthesizing information into a handout for researchers, putting together foundational RDM knowledge workshops for your librarian colleagues, or even incorporating RDM basics into library orientations are all ways you can support your research community while enhancing your own knowledge. 

What Next? 

When I began my career as a clinical librarian and then began taking on more research data management responsibilities, I assumed that eventually I would be able to pass the RDM torch to someone else and go back to my role as clinical librarian. As time goes on, I realize this is not going to happen, nor do I want it to. I’ve invested a good deal of time and resources into learning about this area of librarianship, and the more I learn, the more I see how valuable my new skillset is. In the short term, my goal is to educate and empower my colleagues with the information I’ve learned so we all have a basic skill set with which to assist our patrons. Looking further into the future, I do foresee a need for my institution to onboard a data management librarian with a skill set beyond what I possess. Until that day, I will continue to learn as much as I can about this ever-evolving area of librarianship, teach what I learn, and reach out to my network when I inevitably get stuck. 

DCT Featured Article – February 14, 2023