Location

All conference sessions will be held at the Stewart Center at Purdue University, 128 Memorial Mall Dr, West Lafayette, IN 47907. The room(s) will be on the second floor in 214 ABCD.

Monday, September 28

Breakfast & Registration

8:00 - 9:00

Welcome, Housekeeping & Icebreaker

9:00 - 10:15
Icebreaker Facilitator: Megan Sapp-Nelson, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Break

10:15 - 10:25

1.0 Short Presentations

10:25 - 11:10
Facilitator: Marianne Stowell Bracke, Wayne State University

1.1 From Identification to Remediation: Applying MaRMAT and Developing Lexicons for Reparative Description

10:25 - 10:35
Brittney Johns
Graduate Student
CUNY at Queens College

Examining the metadata of a collection in an institutional repository of student work from a biological research center. Within the metadata, there are potentially harmful language and description items. It needs further investigation as part of a larger remediation process.

Objective: This project used a reparative assessment tool to identify potentially harmful language and description items in metadata and to further develop a custom lexicon for remediation using reparative description.

Methods:The MaRMAT tool https://www.marmatproject.org was used to create a custom lexicon list by identifying derogatory terms, offensive content, and descriptions from various governmental and non-profit sources, as well as pre-curated lexicon lists. The concept of reparative description was used to create terms related to Indigenous communities.

Results: Based on the results, 185 instances of problematic content were identified, including those that unintentionally spread Indigenous communities’ Traditional Knowledge, locations of endangered species, and other sensitive information.

Conclusion: The custom lexicon list will enable nuanced discussion of content censorship, historical context, and further engagement with the CARE principles. Additionally, the list will help with the contextual and data analysis of the collection. Next steps will be discussed for the remediation process.

Learning Objectives
The audience will be able to:

  • Explain the concept of reparative description.
  • Understand the MaRMAT tool for developing custom lexicons.
  • Consider remediation practices for sensitive information, contexts, and CARE principles.

1.2 Alt-text Is Not Enough

10:35 - 10:45
Jeff Lang
Founder & CEO
FigureTwo

Starting with the wide availability of frontier AI models, accessibility conversations in scholarly communication have converged toward a single fix: add alt-text and call it done. Machine generated alt-text can be a significant improvement, but leaves so much rich information out of reach while STEM researchers, students, and the public are left grappling with figures and data that could benefit from a holistic approach to accessibility.

Drawing on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the compliance pressure created by ADA Title II and the European Accessibility Act (EAA), this session will walk through the accessibility gaps that alt-text alone can’t close, and why closing them improves usability for nearly everyone in the room, not just those who identify as disabled. Accessibility is the foundation of a truly open scientific record.

The talk will also draw a direct parallel to the FAIR data movement. FAIR succeeded because campuses built infrastructure — library services, repositories, mentorship — around making data machine-accessible. Accessibility for human readers could benefit from this approach. I’ll make the case that data librarians are uniquely positioned to close that gap, since many already sit at the intersection of data services, instruction, and publishing support.

1.3 The Zambia Health Data Project: Embedding Data Literacy in a Global Health Study Abroad Course

10:45 - 10:55
Jane Campbell
Social Sciences and Data Literacy Librarian
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University

Students in an embedded study abroad course utilized the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit from the World Health Organization to visualize various health indicators as part of their quest to better understand Zambian health and education systems before a service learning trip to Livingstone, Zambia in May 2026. In this presentation, Jane Campbell will discuss the development and context of the Zambia Health Data Project, instruction and implementation of the project, and student outcomes. Attendees will be invited to think of ways they could adapt the assignment to other courses and disciplines, including in study abroad contexts, as well as ways to scale up the assignment to more advanced levels of study.

Learning objective: Attendees will identify ways to incorporate data literacy projects in their own instruction contexts

Questions for presenters

10:55 - 11:10

Break

11:10 - 11:20

2.0 Short Presentations

11:20 - 12:15
Facilitator: Isaac Wink, University of Kentucky

2.1 Data Purchasing in Research Intensive Universities: Mechanisms, Maturity, and Change from 2023 to 2026

11:20 - 11:30
Leonela Guerra Frutos
Graduate Research Assistant in Data Management
University of Illinois Chicago
Abigail Goben
Associate Chief Research Information Officer - Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research; Professor & Data Management Librarian - University Library
University of Illinois Chicago

Licensed datasets are increasingly essential for computational, quantitative, and interdisciplinary research, yet institutional support for purchasing these resources remains inconsistent across academic environments. This presentation shares findings from a longitudinal study examining how research intensive universities supported data purchasing in 2023 and how those mechanisms evolved by 2026. The analysis focuses on four primary support models: request a purchase workflows, grant or award programs, special collection acquisition pathways, and institution level procurement policies.

Using a structured environmental scan, university library websites, service pages, and procurement policies were reviewed across two time points. Mechanisms were classified using standardized criteria and assigned maturity scores ranging from unclassified to fully institutionalized procurement policy. Quantitative analysis was used to compare support status, mechanism transitions, maturity trajectories, and limitations associated with each mechanism.

Results show modest growth in institutional support between 2023 and 2026, with request based mechanisms emerging as the most expanded model. However, maturity trajectories varied substantially across institutions, with some advancing toward more formalized governance structures and others regressing. Limitations remained prevalent across most mechanism types, suggesting persistent structural barriers for researchers seeking access to licensed datasets. Such structural limitations can exacerbate existing inequities in access to datasets. These findings highlight opportunities for libraries to strengthen data purchasing workflows, improve transparency, and reduce friction for researchers navigating dataset acquisition.

By the end of this session, attendees will have a concise overview of national trends, a maturity framework for evaluating local data-purchasing infrastructure, and practical insights to improve support models within data services and research support units.

2.2 Stewards of Data: A Practical Framework and Toolkit for Undergraduate Research

11:30 - 11:40
Wei Zakharov
Associate Professor of Purdue Libraries & School of Information Studies
Purdue University
Senay Purzer
Professor of Engineering Education
Purdue University
Carla B Zoltowski
Associate Professor of Engineering Practice
Purdue University
Niki Foster
Graduate Student
Purdue University

Undergraduate researchers increasingly collect, analyze, share, and reuse complex data, yet many receive limited explicit guidance on responsible data management and ethical decision-making. This presentation introduces “Stewards of Data: A Practical Handbook for Undergraduate Research in Engineering and Applied Sciences”, a new resource designed for librarians, research mentors, instructors, and undergraduate research programs. The open access book positions researchers not only as creators of knowledge but also as stewards responsible for the care, integrity, and future usability of research data. It presents an interdisciplinary data stewardship framework that integrates data principles, ethical principles, and design reasoning. The framework encourages researchers to consider disciplinary foundations, lessons from experience, competing trade-offs, and the future consequences of decisions made throughout the data life cycle.

The presentation will highlight practical components that librarians can adapt for consultations, workshops, research-programming, and collaborations with faculty mentors and undergraduate research programs. These include a data stewardship rubric, mentoring and reflection questions, data management planning checklist, data quality checking, file-naming and organization activities, metadata, documentation guidance, and realistic undergraduate research scenarios. Attendees will leave with an overview of the framework and examples of how the book’s modular tools can support research data instruction and consulting without requiring a full semester-long course. The presentation will also invite discussion about how data librarians can help embed ethical data stewardship into undergraduate research experiences.

2.3 An AI-Assisted Workflow For Supporting Graduate Researchers With Data Discovery

11:40 - 11:50
June Kim
Reference and Instruction Librarian
National University

Graduate researchers at my institution have sporadically requested assistance with finding datasets through reference chat, email communications and research consultations. The underlying challenge with these requests is often more complex than locating a data source. Researchers tend to start with overly broad concepts (i.e. health disparities, political corruption, etc.) that do not directly translate into measurable variables, or have overly specific research topics with too many variables that are difficult to find matching datasets for.

This gap between research questions and available data can create barriers for researchers who are unfamiliar with appropriate search strategies. This presentation describes a workflow for incorporating generative AI into dataset discovery. Developed in response to patterns observed in research requests, this workflow helps researchers move from research questions to operationalized concepts, potential variables, and more effective dataset searches. AI is used as a brainstorming and translation tool to help identify possible constructs, terminology, and measures, while librarian expertise remains essential for evaluating dataset documentation, assessing relevance, and determining whether a data source is appropriate for a research question. I will also share an overview of the AI Dataset Discovery webinar I created, which was carried out as part of the Library’s AI Toolkit Series, and featured a collaboration with an Academic Coach who provided information on how to access and clean data as part of the search workflow.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will be made aware of common barriers graduate researchers face when searching for datasets.
  • Participants will be able to use AI to operationalize variables and find datasets.
  • Participants will recognize opportunities for non-data librarians to serve as intermediaries between researchers, datasets, and external organizations.

2.4 The Big Ten Geospatial Information Network Data Citation Tool

11:50 - 12:00
Amanda Tickner
Librarian II
Michigan State University
Innocensia Achieng Owuor
Clinical Assistant Professor
Purdue University

The Big Ten Geospatial Information Network (BTAA-GIN) is a collaboration of library-affiliated, geospatially oriented staff from Big Ten universities which has been active since 2015. The mission of the organization is: to support geospatial research, foster connections among library professionals, and advance open-source tools and practices for discovering and preserving spatial data. The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Data Citation working group is a subgroup of the BTAA-GIN that focuses on creating educational materials and research related to the citation of geospatial data, building on prior work done on this topic by the project and others. Geospatial data is often not being cited at all, or properly in research publications. Geospatial data has some unique properties which can make decisions regarding how to cite it difficult. This short presentation will demonstrate a web tool we created to assist in Geospatial data citation and discuss the reasons why we created it, briefly discuss geospatial data types, as well as some of the process and considerations of making the tool. Participants in the conference will then be informed about the Geospatial data citation tool and will learn about geospatial data and data citation.

Questions for Presenters

12:00 - 12:15

Lunch & Birds of a Feather

12:15-1:15

3.0 Short Presentations

1:15 - 2:00
Facilitator: Ethan Fridmanski, Indiana University Bloomington

3.1 International Data Librarianship: Takeaways From A Fulbright France Experience

1:15 - 1:25
Karen Nourse
Research & Data Librarian
Middle Tennessee State University

International librarianship can be an excellent opportunity to network and learn from other practitioners while experiencing a different culture. I completed a semester-long fellowship at a large, research-intensive French university during Spring 2026. This short talk will highlight my experiences in working with a range of open science practitioners, what I learned, and what I have taken from the experience to help me rethink my work and processes as a solo data librarian.

3.2 Care to Share? Researchers’ Motivations and Reservations about Data Sharing

1:25 - 1:35
Sara Hansen
Research Data Curation Specialist
Purdue University
Kelly Denny
Research Data Management Specialist
Purdue University
Reid Boehm
Research Data Systems Manager
Purdue University

University researchers fall on a spectrum from frequent public sharing of high-quality research data to no public research data sharing of any kind. Research data professionals may intuit many reasons why researchers do or do not share their data publicly, and we may use our intuition to modify our services and approaches to promote greater sharing. Through a campus-wide survey of researchers, we are utilizing quantitative methods to understand researchers’ motivations to share and impediments to sharing both generally and within the campus repository. This project asks:

  • What motivates researchers to share data or prevents them from sharing data, and, of those reasons, which are the most significant?
  • What aspects of a researcher’s position type, career stage, and demographic characteristics influence whether and why they do or do not engage in data sharing? (For example, are researchers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups more or less likely to share data than members of majority groups? Do they have different fears about data sharing?)
  • Based on the survey findings, what strategies could reduce barriers to sharing data and utilizing research data services?

The survey also addresses responsibilities for preparing and sharing research data. Early career professionals are disproportionately responsible for data preparation work, yet they are also more vulnerable to potential negative outcomes (e.g., unbalanced credit, judgement about mistakes), than established faculty. The study design accounts for career stage and responsibilities to explore how early career researchers specifically can be further supported.

We will share preliminary results from our first round of recruitment and encourage participants to speculate on how these results may translate to their own institutions.

3.3 Gone for Good: Completing the Data Life Cycle with Thorough Data Destruction Guidance

1:35 - 1:45
Abigail Goben
Associate Chief Research Information Officer - Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research; Professor & Data Management Librarian - University Library
University of Illinois Chicago

Data destruction is understood as one explicit step in the research data life cycle; however, there is a noticeable lack of institutional guidance for researchers. Through analysis of R1 institutions, in this project we are identifying the current guidance landscape and using these materials to create a data destruction attestation checklist to be used with data use agreements and more general destruction guidance recommendations. Though seemingly overlooked, data destruction is critical for researchers to have clear guidance to complete, especially as it pertains to secure and thorough disposal of research data regarding sensitive populations.

Out of 187 R1 institutions, less than one quarter were found to have any readily accessible and explicit research data destruction guidance. A majority of those that provided any research data destruction guidance offered a general statement deferring to the institution’s general data destruction policy and/or to the PI for discretion of data destruction. 15 institutions provided additional unique guidance, though no one had a comprehensive guidance document. Simultaneously, driven by increased demands for documented destruction included in data use agreements, we have drafted a destruction attestation tool which could be institutionally customized to prompt researchers to consult with the appropriate campuses offices to ensure data is properly destroyed when necessary. This presentation will present the best practices identified from the review of R1 institutions and introduce the draft attestation tool.

While data destruction is recognized as a critical task researchers will need to undertake, institutional guidance is lacking or incomplete at most research-intensive institutions. Improved recommendations, guidance, support materials, and policy for data destruction is needed. By identifying destruction best practices drawn from the current landscape and documenting requirements coming through data use agreements, we can better support researchers in ensuring that data successfully completes this lifestyle stage.

Questions for presenters

1:45 - 2:00

Break

2:00 - 2:10

4.0 Interactive Presentations

2:10 - 4:00

4.1 “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in the Repository: AI-Generated Scholarly Objects, Metadata, Rights, and Deposit Decisions

2:10 - 2:55
Kate Blalack
Digital Repository Librarian and Associate Faculty
University of Notre Dame

As generative AI tools become part of everyday research workflows, repositories may increasingly receive AI-generated or AI-assisted research objects and supporting materials: dataset documentation, README files, abstracts, summaries, transcripts, visualizations, teaching or public scholarship outputs, and media objects such as NotebookLM-style podcasts. These materials raise practical questions for repository and data services staff. Who should be listed as the creator? Should the AI tool be named in the metadata? What rights statement or license is appropriate? What if the output was generated from copyrighted, licensed, or restricted source materials? How should repositories document human review, editing, or selection?

This interactive session uses a NotebookLM-style podcast as an opening case study, then broadens to other AI-assisted materials that may accompany or become part of research data deposits. Participants will work through deposit scenarios involving AI-generated audio, AI-assisted dataset documentation, and derivative research objects. Together, we will consider what repository staff can reasonably ask at intake, what metadata can document, when publication should pause, and when questions should be referred to copyright, scholarly communications, research data, or legal partners.

Rather than offering legal advice or a one-size-fits-all policy, this session invites participants to develop practical, localizable workflows for AI-assisted research object deposits. Attendees will leave with starter intake questions and a “publish, pause, refer, or revise” framework for repository decision-making.

Learning objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to identify authorship, rights, metadata, and disclosure questions raised by AI-generated or AI-assisted research object deposits; distinguish between human creators, AI tools, depositors, contributors, and source-material rights holders; and apply a practical decision framework to common AI-assisted deposit scenarios.

Questions for presenter

2:55 - 3:05

4.2 “We Have Collections as Data at Home”: An Introduction to Bringing CAD to Your Institution

3:05 - 3:50
Daria Orlowska
Data Librarian and Associate Professor
Western Michigan University

Collections as Data (CAD) is an initiative to improve the discoverability and accessibility of collections by transforming them into computationally-ready datasets. It also serves to build connections between data service librarians and archival units and provide experiential learning opportunities to students seeking first-hand experience with primary materials or career aspirations in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM). If done correctly, CAD collaborations can lead to not only dataset publications, but also build data literacy teaching materials and strengthen connections with teaching faculty and the regional community. While rewarding, CAD are time-consuming projects that are often daunting to get started. In this interactive presentation, the presenter will draw on their own experiences of running several of these projects with different students and modalities to share with participants what approaches worked the best, how the experiences were set up, what it took to get outputs over the finish line, and how these experiences can be enhanced with professional development opportunities. Afterwards, attendees will reflect on the feasibility of running a CAD project themselves through a worksheet, and then break out into small groups that contain at least one student and/or early career (<1 year) attendee at each table to support different perspectives. These groups will discuss their reflections and engage in conversation around topics such as: approaching collaboration with non-data colleagues; creating a supportive and rewarding experience for student interns; project priorities and scoping for sustainability; pursuing outputs beyond dataset deposit. The remaining time will be used for sharing our conversation as a large group and discussing next steps.

Questions for presenter

3:50 - 4:00

Break

4:00 - 4:15

5.0 Lessons Learned / Failures Lightning Talks

4:15 - 5:00
Facilitators: Sandi L. Bates, University of North Dakota / Roger Justus, Miami University

Announcements

5:00 - 5:10

Reception

5:15 - 7:00
Purdue Memorial Union - Ever True Stage (1st Floor)

Tuesday, September 29

Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00

Welcoming Remarks

9:00 - 9:10
Nicole Kong, Dean, Purdue Libraries

6.0 Keynote

9:10 - 10:10

When Data Takes Shape: Physical Formats as Research, Evidence, and Knowledge

Sarah Huber
Associate Professor of Library Science, Knowledge Lab Director
Purdue University, Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies

As research expands beyond traditional papers, datasets, and digital media, information is increasingly taking physical form. While discussions of data physicalization often focus on transforming digital data into tangible visualizations, emerging work across the arts, humanities, design, and STEM suggests a broader shift: physical objects are not only representing data—they are becoming research evidence, research outputs, and, increasingly, methods of inquiry themselves.

Drawing on ideas from Creative Formats Across Media and Disciplines and the concept of format literacy, this keynote proposes a framework for understanding physical data across three dimensions: physical representations of data, physical objects as data, and physical making as knowledge production. Through examples from research, teaching, and library makerspaces, participants will consider how these evolving formats challenge existing assumptions about scholarship, preservation, accessibility, metadata, and research communication.

The session concludes with a collaborative activity exploring what libraries, researchers, and educators may need to rethink as knowledge increasingly takes material form.

Speaker bio: Sarah Huber, MLIS, is an Associate Professor of Library Science and Director of the Purdue Libraries makerspace, the Knowledge Lab. Her teaching and research examine how information formats shape learning and scholarly communication, with an emphasis on visual literacy and multimodal work. In the Knowledge Lab, she supports experimentation beyond traditional academic formats, including zines, podcasts, and other creative approaches.

Break

10:10 - 10:20

7.0 Interactive Presentations

10:20 - 12:10

7.1 Building the bridge while we cross it, together

10:20 - 11:05
Jordan Hemingway
Data Services Librarian
University of Wyoming

Reaching researchers with helpful DMSP guidance is not only about holding an awareness of funder requirements and good principles of research data management. It also depends on knowing how research support flows or stalls locally. Who helps researchers develop proposals? Where do questions or misunderstandings tend to arise? And who knows the answers when those answers are not documented anywhere? How much interpretation is, or should be, involved in all of this?

This session will be a facilitated conversation about how data librarians can build relationships and reciprocal knowledge sharing with research offices, sponsored programs staff, and others involved in grant support. I am especially interested in how we do this when we are early in our careers, new to an institution, working through major organizational change, or trying to build partnerships without knowing whether we have adequate positional authority.

There is probably no single best way to make these connections. The presenter will share a cluster of approaches they have fallen into with their local proposal development office following the NSF’s new research.gov webform for DMSPs, and how some of the early seeds they planted seem to be taking root. Participants will share approaches that have worked, efforts that have stalled, and questions they are still navigating when it comes to providing guidance and feedback on DMSPs and forging cross-campus connections to help catalyze this work.

Together, we will build a practical menu of strategies that reflect different roles, institutions, capacities, and levels of access. Participants should leave with at least one realistic next step for making their DMSP support more locally grounded and responsive.

Learning objectives:
Participants will…

  • Identify potential partners and sources of local knowledge that can strengthen DMSP support.
  • Compare approaches to initiating and sustaining reciprocal knowledge sharing with research offices.
  • Choose a realistic next step for making their DMSP guidance more locally informed and responsive.

Questions for presenter

11:05 - 11:15

7.2 Teaching Reproducibility with LEGO® Structures: Our Transition from Firehose to Baking Show

11:15 - 12:00
Lisa Abler
Science & Engineering Librarian
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Heather Shimon
Science & Engineering Librarian
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Raise your whisk if you have given the traditional firehose-style research data management talk in which you cover recommendations for every phase of the research process to an interested but overwhelmed audience. Even when well-received, this format can leave listeners struggling to identify a starting point or envision successful implementation. By reshaping Pullman and Zilinski’s research data management activity using Mega Bloks® and adding a pinch of the hilarious Nailed It! baking show, we transformed our talk into a delicious activity that lowers cognitive load, adds levity, and creates a space where reproducible practices seem possible. Through hands-on learning, participants experience the challenges and payoffs of good and not-as-good data documentation from a perspective outside of their usual research context, situating them for discussion of further reproducible practices. Students engage in peer-to-peer learning, while use of LEGO® structures generalizes the experience for everyone and makes the concepts more accessible. Ultimately, learners and instructors alike have fun. With this activity, we’ve Nailed It!

We’d like to share our modified activity with you and invite you to play! For this presentation, we will facilitate our activity for MDLS attendees and discuss it together. Learning objectives include: identifying practices that motivate research reproducibility through interactive learning and adapting this activity for use at participants’ home institutions.

Questions for presenters

12:00 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 1:00

Tours / Extended Lunch

1:00 - 1:45
We will be offering the following tours of Purdue spaces. Attendance is limited for each space, so you will have to select the tour you would like to participate in when you sign in for the symposium.

Purdue University Archives and Special Collections - Libraries

The Purdue University Archives and Special Collections preserves and provides access to the historical records, manuscripts, rare materials, and distinctive collections that document Purdue University’s history, research, and impact. Through stewardship of these resources, the Archives supports teaching, scholarship, and the discovery of new perspectives on the past.

Featured collections include:

Knowledge Lab - Purdue Libraries

The Purdue Libraries Knowledge Lab is a collaborative space dedicated to multimodal scholarship, where students and faculty explore how ideas can be created, communicated, and shared through a variety of formats and media. Through access to creative technologies, making tools, and hands-on learning opportunities, the Knowledge Lab supports experimentation, collaboration, and innovative approaches to teaching, learning, and research.

Featured technologies and services include:

  • Dye-sublimation printing for custom apparel and promotional items
  • Risograph printing
  • Sticker and vinyl printing
  • Cricut Maker cutting machines
  • Heat presses for apparel and fabrication projects
  • Podcast and audio recording facilities
  • Sewing, embroidery, knitting, and textile-making equipment
  • Bookbinding tools and zine production
  • Rapid prototyping materials and basic electronics for creative experimentation

Purdue Envision Center

The Purdue Envision Center partners with researchers, educators, and industry collaborators to develop innovative ways to visualize, communicate, and interact with complex ideas and data. By combining advanced computer graphics, immersive technologies, multimodal interaction, and high-performance computing, the Center helps transform research concepts into engaging and accessible experiences.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about technologies and services including:

  • Scientific and research visualization
  • Computer graphics and 3D modeling
  • Virtual and immersive environments
  • Motion capture technologies
  • Auditory, haptic, and multimodal interaction
  • Collaborative projects that support research, education, and public engagement

Break

1:45 - 2:00

8.0 Panel

2:10 - 3:10

Many Campuses, One Data Community: Building Collaborative Data Services Across Libraries and Research Centers

Corey Barber
Data Services Librarian
Mikala Narlock
Head of Research Data Services
Brittney Thomas
Assistant Director for Research & Data Education
Emily Meanwell
Director of Social Sciences Research Commons and Associate Professor
Logan Schuerman
Program Manager
Indiana University (Bloomington, Indianapolis, and School of Medicine)

Data librarians are increasingly expected to support DMSPs, data sharing requirements, storage planning, compliance, and researcher training, often with limited staffing and distributed expertise. This panel examines how a multi-campus university system developed a collaborative model connecting Libraries, IT, and the Office of Research to deliver coordinated research data services across diverse research environments. Panelists will discuss how librarians and research support professionals coordinate expertise, share resources, and align services across the research lifecycle. Following brief remarks, attendees will engage in facilitated discussion about collaboration challenges at their own institutions, sharing approaches, identifying barriers, and developing strategies adaptable to different organizational contexts.

Panelists will discuss how the Libraries, Office of Research, and IT collaboratively developed a centralized service center to provide standardized guidance across all university schools and campuses on data storage, sharing, compliance, and best practices while maintaining clear roles and minimizing duplication of effort. Panelists will share examples of cross-campus consultation workflows, referral practices, and communication strategies. The discussion will also consider how shared service models can promote more equitable access to research data support across campuses, disciplines, and researcher communities with varying levels of local resources.

Attendees will gain insight into how collaborations are structured, sustained, and built on trust and shared ownership. The panel will also address challenges, including differing campus cultures, disciplinary needs, and capacity constraints, and how partners have navigated them.

Attendees will leave able to:

  • Identify potential partners and complementary roles in research data support;
  • Evaluate referral and consultation models for supporting DMSPs; and
  • Apply practical strategies for building sustainable cross-unit collaborations in decentralized environments.

This session will be valuable for librarians and research support professionals seeking scalable approaches to strengthening research data services through collaboration rather than siloed efforts.

Break

3:10 - 3:20

9.0 Unconference Session

3:20 - 5:00
Facilitator: Summer Mengarelli, University of Notre Dame

Announcements

5:00 - 5:10

Dine-Arounds

Tentatively 6:00 - 8:00

Wednesday, September 30

Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00

Speed Networking

9:00 - 9:20

Join us for a 20-minute speed networking session. This will serve as a final networking call so that people can exchange professional information with each other before the end of the symposium. You may bring a handful of business cards to exchange but do not feel obligated to do so. Prepare to share your email, LinkedIn, BlueSky, professional website, or anything else to secure those data lib connections!

10.0 Interactive Presentation

9:20 - 10:15

A People’s History of MDLS

9:20 - 10:05
Dani Kirsch
Research Data Services Librarian
Oklahoma State University
Summer Mengarelli
Data Services Librarian
University of Notre Dame
Nicole Scholtz
Librarian for Geospatial and Numeric Data
University of Michigan

The annual Midwest Data Librarian Symposium sees participation from both new and returning attendees, including a small number of individuals who have been actively involved with MDLS since its inaugural symposium. As the profession of data librarianship grows, we believe strongly in bridging the gap between established data librarians and those who are new(er) to the profession. This interest has led us to pursue development of a shared history and diverse perspectives on MDLS as both a community and an annual symposium. This will help us–and the community as a whole–identify the symposium’s strengths and accomplishments, as well as opportunities for growth and improvement.

As an initial phase of this project, in Summer 2026 we elicited survey reflections from past MDLS attendees, with future plans to conduct oral history interviews with community-nominated individuals. This interactive presentation will first report initial findings from those surveys, including what the research team identifies as recurrent themes or potentially actionable insights for future MDLS sessions. Presenters will then moderate a discussion of those findings as well as participants’ reflections on current and past MDLS experiences; this interactive component will include mechanisms for anonymous reflection, table discussions, and participatory visualizations. In particular, we want to locate participants’ impression of MDLS–whether they are first-time attendees or seasoned veterans–along two axes: how well the symposium performs as a space for professional development, and how it feels to attend. We intend to foster a safe and honest conversation around the affective and professional impact of MDLS and begin to extend our work on its historical context to a shared future for the symposium.

Questions for Presenters

10:05 - 10:15

Break

10:15 - 10:30

11.0 Closing Reflection: Zine-Making Session

10:30 - 11:30
Facilitator: Kelly Denny, Purdue University

Lunch & Future of MDLS Community Meeting

11:30 - 1:00
Kelly Denny, Purdue University, co-chair, site host
Jennifer Moore, Washington University (WashU), MDLS 2027 site host

Wrap-Up & Goodbye

1:00 - 1:10