Save That Data! Unexpected Adventures in Academic Library Programming

Library programming: just what is it that librarians do all day? - Girl with glasses looking over an open book in her hands
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Library Programs a.k.a. Events For You and Me

What exactly is library programming? Well, to answer that question, you might first ask yourself, just what is it that librarians do all day? There’s a myth that librarians just sit around and read books all day, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Librarians tend to be people whoĀ love books, Ā but that doesn’t mean they get paid to read them!

One thing that librarians have to do is organize events. In information scienceĀ parlance this is called “library programming.” It’s one thing to expect there to be programs of some sort at your local public library branch, e.g. craft events, story time for babies and toddlers, orĀ special speaker events, but what about at academic libraries?

Library Programming at UC Davis: What is #DataRescueDavis?

I recently had the privilege of participating in one such libraryĀ program at the UC Davis Peter J. Shields Library. The event, #DataRescueDavis, took place on February 2nd. It is part of the national Data Refuge project thatĀ the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities (PPEH) Lab organized and is part of the End of TermĀ Web Archiving project.

You can read more about the #DataRescueDavis eventĀ in this Sacramento Bee article.Ā  I want to talk about what led up to the event, and how the skills used at the event couldĀ translate later on down the line, duringĀ otherĀ programs at an academic library or similar institution. Continue reading “Save That Data! Unexpected Adventures in Academic Library Programming”