S'more Than Just Collaboration: A Creative Space for Connection and Innovation

Devoting time to communication and collaboration with campus stakeholders and partners is a key part of data services at a large R1 university. As the need for data services increases, so do stakeholders. Fostering relationships and keeping up with this network can be complex. A year after releasing our institutional data repository, our team decided to plan an annual “summer camp” style event to promote our services, share our impact, and to ensure communication and collaboration remained key to our success on campus. This year, our institutional data repository reaches its 14th year and pulled off our 11th summer camp collaboration.
The proposed talk presents the history and valuable outcomes of the annual event and how it helps the repository remain in a relevant and integral position within the network of essential campus research and data services. The presentation will touch on event planning, including logistics, guests, the agenda, the history and the experience of the event. It will feature resulting outcomes such as initiatives and projects from recent gatherings. The goal is to share a fun and consistent way to engage with the network of collaborators and find unique activities to foster and expand relationships with a campus support community to prioritize and grow future services and solutions together.

Learning objectives:
1. A half-day, team-led event offers data librarians a valuable platform to showcase their successes and demonstrate their capabilities to current and prospective stakeholders who may not fully understand the scope of their work.
2. A regularly held, collaboration-centered event enables data librarians to share ongoing projects and innovative ideas with campus partners, fostering new connections and strengthening existing networks.
3. An informal gathering can facilitate the data librarian’s awareness and understanding of the work and perspectives of diverse partners, collaborators and stakeholders across the institution.