Countless "Firsts": The Inaugural Year of a Data Science Librarian

Data science has gone from industry buzzword to undergraduate and graduate degree in a short period of time, bringing a host of new opportunities and challenges for universities. How can existing library data services be expanded to support education and research in data science, an intensely data-hungry and interdisciplinary subject? For the University of California San Diego, home of the new Halicioğlu Data Science Institute, the solution was to rebrand its Data Services Librarian position as Data Science Librarian. In this presentation, I’ll talk about my inaugural year in the new Data Science Librarian position, which was also my first year working in a library. One part data services, one part research support, and one part academic liaison, this position has been a deluge of “data firsts” since day 1: collaborating with subject specialists on data requests, balancing training and consultation needs across departments, growing and evolving with the new data science major, and more. With input from students, colleagues, and upper administration, lessons learned in this position have become templates for future interactions and collaborations as the library prepares to meet the increasing data demands of current and future researchers, learners, and educators.