We are excited to invite chapter proposals for our forthcoming ACRL book, Data culture in academic libraries: A practical guide to building communities, partnerships, and collaborations, with an anticipated publication date of winter 2024. This edited volume aims to help readers foster an institutional culture that favors the curation, creation, and wider use of datasets. We are seeking case studies, empirical research, and alternative ways of knowing representing all types of institutions and focusing on implications for the future of academic libraries as agents for change in facilitating data literacy through community engagement.
As the academic need for data literacy grows, librarians and academic data specialists are increasingly tasked with supporting the research data needs of faculty and students, not just through conventional services such as consultations and workshops, but also by thinking more holistically about the data ecosystem. The shift towards data-related research as a driver of social capital in the academic context reflects a critical opportunity to reassess data literacy training and conceptualize future-oriented pathways rooted in building local scholarly culture around data. As such, academic libraries have taken the role of champions for facilitating data literacy through community building.
Information professionals are experimenting with novel and innovative models of relationship-building to improve data-related services, while incorporating a lens of equity, diversity, anti-racism, and inclusion in programming events or establishing partnerships that highlight critical inquiry of data-related topics. We are looking for multiple perspectives on the development of a data culture at different institutions to build community engagement around topics such as research data management and library-based research data services.
The book is tentatively divided into the following sections:
- Data at all levels: Efforts and initiatives to introduce data practices throughout the academic experience and curriculum from undergraduate students to faculty; data culture as part of strategic planning/priorities; theoretical papers on data culture.
- Data instruction: Innovative ways to teach data retrieval, management, etc., including a focus on novel data pedagogy; collaborations in teaching; user-oriented/participatory learning; peer learning facilitation.
- Data outreach: Events, activities, and initiatives aimed to promote data culture in academic libraries.
- Data communities: Moving beyond one-off data instruction sessions to data-focused communities of practice; building/designing equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist data communities.
- Data partnerships: Efforts and initiatives to establish partnerships with institutional and/or community stakeholders; libraries as agents of change in the research data ecosystem.
To submit a proposal, please visit https://bit.ly/DataCultureCFP and complete the proposal form by January 30, 2023, at 11:59pm ET.
The form will require:
- Author names, job titles, emails, and institutional affiliations
- A working chapter title
- An abstract up to 500 words
- Link to a current CV or list of publications
Timeline:
- January 30, 2023: Chapter proposals due
- March 6, 2023: Authors notified of acceptance of chapter proposals
- July 10, 2023: Chapter drafts due
- Late August 2023: Chapter drafts returned to authors for revisions
Questions? dataculturebook@gmail.com
Best regards,
Marcela Y. Isuster, Coordinator, Digital Scholarship Hub, McGill University
Alisa B. Rod, Research Data Management Specialist, McGill University
