Data-Related Support in U.S.-Based Health Sciences Libraries: An Analysis of AAHSL Member Sites

Abstract

Scientific research is increasingly data-intensive, bringing with it new challenges related to the collection, analysis, storage, preservation, accessibility and communication of data. Federal funders, seeking to increase transparency, reproducibility, and impact of scientific research, have implemented requirements for data management and sharing, requirements that libraries are ideally situated to support. The National Library of Medicine’s 2017-2027 Strategic Plan underscored the importance of libraries in supporting these mandates with the inclusion of a goal of building a workforce for data-driven research and health, including ‘upskilling’ librarians to better support data services.

The extent to which Health Sciences Libraries have successfully created services and resources to support data-intensive research is unclear. The purpose of this poster is to study the extent to which AAHSL member libraries have pivoted to provide data services, either broadly speaking or more specifically, through provision of data visualization ("data viz") services or data management services, for their respective constituencies.