CNI Spring 2017 Membership Meeting

Basic programming and data management skills have become invaluable for creating reproducible research; however, this training is rarely included in graduate curriculum. Major grant-funded projects may be able to hire someone to provide these services, but the majority cannot. Recognizing this need, the University of Oklahoma Libraries has partnered with Software Carpentry, a non-profit foundation that offers two-day, hands-on workshops on basic programming skills designed to help researchers automate and track their research processes. The University Libraries has offered 12 local workshops since 2014 with over 300 faculty, graduate students, and staff from over 30 departments and research groups participating. We offer the workshops multiple times each semester -- one before the semester starts, one during the middle of the semester, and one at the end of the semester. We have found that offering the mid-semester workshop during the week of Thanksgiving or Spring Break increases attendance since participants are more likely to be able to have two full days available. Each workshop is taught by library staff including experts in data management, informatics, and digital scholarship. By having library staff teach and attend the workshops, our team has gained a better understanding of our local researchers’ needs. The sessions also allow researchers to connect and develop relationships with specialists in the library, who can guide them through more advanced data and programming issues. Developing these relationships has helped to position the University Libraries as a nucleus for research on campus. During this briefing, attendees will learn best practices that have resulted from our experiences in planning and implementing such a program.