Data Services & Digital Humanities

The Instruction & Data Services Librarian, Mary Oberlies, currently offers the following data services to faculty, staff and students through instruction and individual consultation:

• Data Management Plans (DMPs): These are highly personalized plans that must be completed by the researcher. I can orient researchers to the DMPTool, which provides templates for a DMP based on the grant pursuing, and provide instruction on the purpose of a DMP, including what needs to be included and elements that need to be considered to develop a plan. I can also recommend data repositories and provide information about what type of restrictions can be put into place for confidentiality while still meeting open data requirements of federal grants.
• Locating Data Sets: I can assist users with locating open data sets – international and national level – and provide recommendations on reliable data repositories and search engines. I can also provide training on how to do searches for data sets and navigating data repositories, including how to refine their searches to specific file formats, organizations, etc.
• Navigating Subscription Data Set Repositories: We subscribe to several data repositories, including Social Explorer, Statista, Gallup Analytics, SimplyAnalytics, ICPSR, and Sage Data. I can provide training on using these tools.

In addition to these services, I also maintain several research guides as part of our data services. These range in topics from open data repositories to data training courses.

The library liaison for Digital Humanities, Rachel Hogan, just started at William & Mary in July 2023. Over her first year, she plans to slowly define and expand digital humanities support available through the library.