Sessions
Thursday January 26, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EST | 1:00-2:30 PM CST | 12:00-1:30 PM MST | 11:00-12:30 PM PST
Imagine you’re the librarian asked to help a researcher find and use data for their project. What are your next steps to ensure no data quality problems surface? Join data librarians from Princeton (Bobray Bordelon), Stanford (Ron Nakao), and Yale (Barbara Esty) for an introduction to building competencies for understanding and evaluating data quality. Documentation is a fundamental complement to usable data. Without good documentation, data has little, if any, value. The trio will describe the data-focused reference interview, discuss different sources of data, review examples of data documentation, and offer strategies for handling incomplete or inaccurate documentation. This session will prime attendees to the challenges librarians encounter with data quality issues and provide adaptable techniques for identifying and addressing these challenges.
Thursday February 23, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EST | 1:00-2:30 PM CST | 12:00-1:30 PM MST | 11:00-12:30 PM PST
How do governmental bodies and academic researchers ensure the data they produce and work with has the quality needed for meaningful results? Can we prepare students and the public to understand the data and statistics they will use to make decisions? How does a decentralized government produce the data we need? Can a researcher take advantage of data from different sectors? John Abowd (Associate Director for Research & Methodology and Chief Scientist at the United States Census Bureau), Professor Janet Currie (Co-director of Princeton University’s Center for Health & Wellbeing and Co-director - NBER Program on Families & Children); and Katherine Wallman (former Chief Statistician of the United States) will share their insights and the challenges faced.
Thursday March 30, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EDT | 1:00-2:30 PM CDT | 12:00-1:30 PM MDT | 11:00-12:30 PM PDT
Can we ensure that researchers and the public make informed decisions when using governmental data? Can data from different sources and agencies be used to build a more complete picture? James Church (University of California, Berkeley) will guide us into the world of international data. Bill Sermons (National Director of Research and Evaluation for Catholic Charities USA; Carnegie Mellon University) will discuss how a nonprofit makes use and sense of the data. Jill Blaemers will explain the challenges Sage DataPlanet faces in evaluating and making governmental data usable.
Thursday April 27, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EDT | 1:00-2:30 PM CDT | 12:00-1:30 PM MDT | 11:00-12:30 PM PDT
How do we decide which commercial sources to acquire? How can we inform our researchers of challenges with the data? Todd Hines (Stanford University) and Grace Liu (West Chester University) will share their expert findings on the world of expensive financial data. Patrick McLaughlin will discuss how the USDA uses commercial data to help inform government decisions. Stephanie Tulley will explain how she helps her researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland who play a key role in monetary policy and help monitor regional economic conditions.
Thursday May 25, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EDT | 1:00-2:30 PM CDT | 12:00-1:30 PM MDT | 11:00-12:30 PM PDT
Will data produced today be available in the future? Can the data be replicated? Kathleen Weldon will explain the steps the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research takes to normalize and preserve data that measures the pulse of the public and the challenges with nontraditional public opinion data. Lars Vilhuber will discuss what many view as the gold standard for replicability – the American Economic Association. Kira Lillard (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City) will share her findings on the state of preservation in top journals.
Thursday June 29, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EDT | 1:00-2:30 PM CDT | 12:00-1:30 PM MDT | 11:00-12:30 PM PDT
What data skills and knowledge do employers expect when recruiting? How can we help our students and researchers acquire those skills? How does artificial intelligence (AI) impact data quality, and can technological advancements alone solve data quality issues? A panel from academia and industry – Jack Goetz (Meta Platforms), David Rothschild (Microsoft) and Rujuta Umarji (ICPSR) – will lead a lively discussion.
Thursday July 27, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM EDT | 1:00-2:30 PM CDT | 12:00-1:30 PM MDT | 11:00-12:30 PM PDT
In the final session, experts will share what we can do to cultivate citizens who understand and use data wisely. Professor Julia Bauder (Grinnell College), Lynette Hoelter (ICPSR), and Dylan Ruediger (Ithaka S+R’s Libraries) will provide practical advice and tools we can utilize and offer what they see for the future.