Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 1:00pm–4:00pm
All courses will take place on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Pittsburgh, PA. Courses are not available virtually.
To register, see MLA ’25 Registration
What if, instead of only assisting researchers with previously collected data and in complying with NIH and other funder sharing requirements, you were able to help researchers create clean and tidy datasets from the beginning? What if, instead of assisting researchers in trying to retroactively fix errors and add metadata, you could assist them in optimizing data collection and management from the beginning of their research? If you could, you would have a rare skill among data librarians! You would be able to add new value to your library’s data services and support high quality data collection and study rigor and reproducibility.
Jocelyn Swick-Jemison, a veteran information literacy instructor, the architect of her library’s data services, and a former data manager for large clinical trials, will show you how to help researchers start their data collection off on a solid foundation.
You’l learn to work with a study protocol to guide researchers in identifying the data points that need to be collected, create variables for the data points, and set up the variables in a database or spreadsheet. You’ll also learn how to create data validation rules, write documentation for data collection, cleaning, and clarification, and capture a study population’s diversity when collecting demographic data.
This is a hands-on workshop. You’ll work with a sample protocol to set-up an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets for data collection and work with tools for collecting, cleaning, and validating data. You’ll leave with skills and knowledge that add significant value to the research process and with new confidence, enthusiasm, and pride in your work as a data librarian.
This course is an approved elective for Level II of the Data Services Specialization.
Important Note: You’ll need to bring a laptop computer with Wi-Fi capability to participate in the course.
Audience
Medical librarians and other information professionals who support research data management.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Determine the primary and secondary data points relevant to your study objectives
- Create a spreadsheet table to collect study data
- Define data standards and understand when they are used
- Identify and implement data validation rules
- Develop steps for identifying and correcting errors in the data
- Establish protocols for resolving data discrepancies
MLA CE: 3
Instructor
Jocelyn Swick-Jemison, MLS is a Data Services Librarian at the University of Buffalo (UB). With a background in computer science, Jocelyn spent 13 years as a data manager for large clinical trials at a non-profit research foundation before becoming a librarian. She teaches information literacy courses to UB undergraduates and on Coursera. She is in the process of building out the data services offered by UB libraries and the data literacy curriculum for the general university population.
Course Includes
- 4 Lessons
- Course Certificate