LIS 5493: Data Stewardship

Description, Analysis, & Reflection

Description 

The course description for LIS 5493: Data Stewardship states 

Data is being produced at an unprecedented rate, in fact, data exists in many forms and within many contexts; it is being used to shape and reshape the world. Whether it is produced by people using a social media site, customers of a bank through online transactions, a company tracking customer purchases, a library capturing the circulation records of users, or by academic faculty engaged in research, information professionals play a vital role as ethical data stewards by organizing, curating, preserving, storing, proving access to, and repurposing data for varying purposes. Of additional concern is the ethical capture and use of data in its many forms and in various contexts; what are the ethical issues and considerations surrounding its capture, organization, use, and re-use? Understanding the complex issues associated with ethical data stewardship is increasingly important in today’s data-saturated world (Lamba, 2025). 

The course’s objectives we designed to provide students with the opportunity to 

1. To acquire a comprehensive understanding of the principles, methodologies, and practices fundamental to data stewardship within the data life cycle; 

2. To thoughtfully choose and apply the appropriate tools or systems for each stage of the data life cycle; and 

3. To become familiar with issues, trends, and key concerns in data stewardship related to technology application, user-centered design of data systems, and ethics of data use (Lamba, 2025). 

While the learning objectives stated that students will be able to 

1. Realize the human, social, and policy issues inherent in data stewardship 

2. Understand the role(s) of the data steward within various contexts and institutional settings 

3. Describe the many forms of data and how it is produced in our everyday activities 

4. Understand the stages of the data life cycle (capturing, organizing, ingesting, cleaning, storing, retrieving, transforming and re-using) 

5. Analyze the specific data-related needs of each stage of the data life cycle 

6. Evaluate, select, and apply appropriate software and skills associated with each stage 

7. Facilitate discussion about the complex issues of ethics surrounding capturing, organizing, using, and re-using data (Lamba, 2025). 

My artifact for LIS 5493: Data Stewardship is Application Exercise (AE#2): Data Organization and Description.   For this assignment we were to “review data files from a research study and identify problems with how the data are structured. You will also develop your own spreadsheet for how you think the data should be structured” (Lamba, 2025). 

Analysis 

My biggest takeaway from this course is that I want nothing to do with computer coding (beyond some extremely basic HTML stuff).  It was an interesting experience, and I certainly learned a lot about data and how it is handled.  The course also provided a look into the world of academic research that I had never seen before.  Not to sound like a broken record, but this world is not for me.  I am thankful that there are those out there that love and are good at this kind of thing, but I think I will stay where I can do the most good and that is working at a customer service desk at a public library. 

Reflection 

May I be completely honest?  This class was not at all what I expected and I’m not positive that I will be successful in it by the time it is all said and done.  As I mentioned in LIS 5213: Social Informatics, I ended up in this course almost by happenstance.  The course description in the schedule sounded interesting enough, so I figured why not?  As the name of the course implies, it is all about data (unfortunately not Mr. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation).  Now, even though I have used computers and been online for over 30 years and spent well over a decade working in various technical support jobs, I am not a techy kind of guy.  I’m not tech dumb by any stretch, but I’m not an expert either.  Going into this class and after reading the course description, the course objectives, and the learning objectives in the syllabus, I did not realize how deep into the computer coding weeds things would get and didn’t until halfway through the semester.  In the class we are using programs like R, RStudio, and GitHub to do some complicated stuff.  Each assignment has instructions, but at times they are vague and/or seem to skip steps.  It constantly feels like I am missing large chunks of information and context or am trying to read a language that I do not know.  To be fair, to someone with coding experience, this all could make perfect sense, but it doesn’t for me.  Thankfully, Dr. Lamba is very helpful and supportive, but I am still worried about how things will turn out.  Had I known what this class was going to entail from the beginning, I would have taken something else.    

Personal Learning Goals 

Data Stewardship tied directly into Objective 1 of Goal 3:  Increase reference and user services skills – Develop new research and evaluation skills and techniques through the final project of researching and developing a data management plan. 

MLIS Program-level Student Learning Outcomes 

This course advanced me towards SLO 2 Intellectual Skill through the study of how data is collected and used; SLO 3 Professional and Scholarly Communication from the discussion posts and course assignments; and SLO 4 Technology because of the exposure to data management programs and services.  

ALA Competencies 

This course helped with competency 4. Technological Knowledge and Skills through its examination of data, the data life cycle, and various programs/services used in data management. 

Lamba, M. (2025, January 22). Application Exercise (AE#2): Data Organization and Description [Unpublished manuscript]. University of Oklahoma. 

Lamba, M. (2025). LIS 5493: Data stewardship [Syllabus]. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma. 

Artifact:
Application Exercise (AE#2): Data Organization and Description