By Karen Carmody-McIntosh

Starting a new research project can be intimidating and even overwhelming. That’s why the Libraries offers a data management boot camp for graduate students and new researchers. For two days in August, a group of librarians, researchers, and University grad students gathered for workshops and presentations focused on everything from access to version control.

Libraries experts covered major topics like confidentiality, copyright, metadata standards, data sharing, and preservation. A panel discussion featured grad student researchers who had taken a prior session of the workshop. They offered tips about workflow, note taking, backing up data, and more.

“Teaching graduate students good research management practices has the potential to change the culture of their whole team,” said Carolyn Bishoff, Physics, Astronomy, and Earth Sciences Librarian. “They are new to their program now, but eventually they will be training, mentoring, and advising the next round of students. We designed the boot camp to introduce them to experts and resources that they can call on throughout their career.”

Stories of research setbacks — shared by panelists and librarians alike — helped this year’s participants get a sense that difficulties can be part of the process: But they don’t have to derail an entire project.

At the end of the session, boot camp participants came away with tips, tools, and new connections to their librarians — all of which can make their research process a little bit easier to handle.

—Photos by Karen Carmody-McIntosh