(rescheduled) In light of more professional focus on data sharing expectations, some attention has been directed to historic, or legacy, data - leading to questions about how to best preserve and make this data accessible. Historic data in a variety of formats can be found in labs, archives, and offices. Even though not all data can be preserved for all time, this lack of cohesive understanding of what might be lost is unsettling. This becomes more timely as retirements increase from researchers who worked before sharing machine-readable data was commonplace. Researchers have used historic data in a variety of ways, including to repeat a survey or experiment, combine previously collected data into ongoing work, to study changes over time, and to inform future research plans. Librarians possess research data management skills to help researchers manage their historic data, including analog data, and in this workshop participants will learn how to critically review historic datasets (both analog and born-digital), how to create adequate metadata to improve discovery and reuse, and what options are available to preserve it for the long-term.
Registration open April 7, 2025
Contact: education@rdapassociation.org
Attendees will learn how to identify, capture, and preserve federal data that is at risk for deletion or alteration. Hosted by RDAP, attendees of all skill levels are invited to join us in capturing, describing, uploading, and preserving at-risk federal data to contribute to the Data Rescue Project. The instruction portion of the session will be led by Lena Bohman and other members of the Data Rescue Project Team will be available to answer questions and provide assistance.
Please send any questions to Tess Grynoch at president@rdapassociation.org
The DEIA Action Committee is looking forward to engaging with RDAP members and other interested folks at a Town Hall. We would like to share a brief history of the committee, provide updates on our work since the 2022 DEIA Town Hall, and gather feedback from you about what the committee should prioritize in the coming years. We hope this inspires you to share ideas or steps we can take together to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism within the association and beyond.
Registration opens April 14, 2025
Contact: deia@rdapassociation.org
This interactive workshop will help librarians explore how to effectively purchase, license, and manage datasets for teaching and research at their institutions. Libraries are adept at handling a range of resources, such as print monographs, e-books, journals, reports, patents, and media, each with its own set of challenges and requirements for seamless access and use. However, managing data from external vendors introduces a new set of complexities that require a distinct approach from acquisition through long-term management. During the workshop, librarians will learn to assess their current workflows and technical solutions, identify areas for improvement, and streamline processes.
Registration will open April 30, 2025.
Webinar is scheduled to be recorded. RDAP webinar recordings are available to RDAP members through the RDAP Hub.
In this timely webinar, we'll explore the critical intersection of AI and data ethics in academia, a topic of increasing importance as AI tools reshape research practices. We'll address the ethical challenges data librarians and researchers face when using AI for data analysis, literature reviews, and even writing assistance. We'll focus on three critical areas: safeguarding data privacy when using AI tools, ensuring research transparency in AI-enhanced methodologies, and recognizing and mitigating AI biases. This session will equip attendees with essential knowledge to navigate the ethical complexities of AI in academic research. By the end, participants will be better prepared to guide researchers, protect sensitive data, and uphold academic integrity in our rapidly evolving, AI-augmented research landscape. (The title and summary of this workshop were written with help from Claude AI)
Registration will open June 10, 2025.
