Searches as data: archiving and sharing search strategies using an institutional data repository.

Background: By defining search strategies and related database exports as code/scripts and data, librarians and information professionals can expand the mandate of research data management (RDM) infrastructure to include this work. This new initiative aimed to create a space in McGill University's institutional data repository for our librarians to deposit and share their search strategies for knowledge syntheses (KS). Case Presentation: The authors, a health sciences librarian and an RDM specialist, created a repository collection of librarian-authored knowledge synthesis (KS) searches in McGill University's Borealis Dataverse collection. We developed and hosted a half-day "Dataverse-a-thon" where we worked with a team of health sciences librarians to develop a standardized KS data management plan (DMP), search reporting documentation, Dataverse software training, and howto guidance for the repository. Conclusion: In addition to better documentation and tracking of KS searches at our institution, the KS Dataverse collection enables sharing of searches among colleagues with discoverable metadata fields for searching within deposited searches. While the initial creation of the DMP and documentation took about six hours, the subsequent deposit of search strategies into the institutional data repository requires minimal effort (e.g., 5-10 minutes on average per deposit). The Dataverse collection also empowers librarians to retain intellectual ownership over search strategies as valuable stand-alone research outputs and raise the visibility of their labor. Overall, institutional data repositories provide specific benefits in facilitating compliance both with PRISMA-S guidance and with RDM best practices.

Love Data Week in the time of COVID-19: A content analysis of Love Data Week 2021 events.

A primary role for data-focused librarians is building community through traditional and novel modes of in-person outreach, including consultations, training, and themed events such as Love Data Week. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic rendered in-person events impossible. However, Love Data Week 2021 persisted in an online format, allowing data-focused librarians a unique chance to initiate outreach to geographically dispersed constituents. In this study, the authors investigate the nature and context of Love Data Week 2021 events to gain insight into current research data services trends, as impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The authors collected qualitative information about 242 Love Data Week 2021 events across 37 organizations and coded the information using manual content analysis. This paper reports on descriptive results from the content analysis, including the dominant topics across events (software or digital tools, research data management, and service or product awareness) and the primary mode of events (workshops). The authors discuss implications for future research on Love Data Week and themed weeks in general as successful modes of outreach, community-building, and as venues for tracking emerging trends in the context of research data services.