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Data librarianship at ACEP: a new outlook on data

August 24, 2023

This article is part of a series highlighting ACEP’s 2023 cohort of eighteen undergraduate interns. To read about other projects and learn more about the program, please visit the .

University of Alaska Fairbanks students Adrian Burke and Sarah Andreanoff joined ACEP’s rapidly growing data team this summer to serve as data librarians under data governance lead Vanessa Raymond.

The interns helped to manage and maintain the ACEP data inventory, a catalog of the research datasets at ACEP. This involved refining the intake and organization process for metadata entry, spreading awareness to ACEP researchers about the data inventory, and holding a data hackathon during which interns worked with researchers to register data from over 30 research projects in the inventory.

They also explored data management, ethics, and governance in order to spread awareness and facilitate best data practices among ACEP research teams.

“Working as a data librarian, I’ve learned all about how important it is to properly manage and document your datasets. Inaccessible and hard-to-understand datasets do not get reused as much and don’t have the impact they could, if they were just properly managed and accessible,” Andreanoff said.

Hailing from Maui, Hawaiʻi, Burke is transferring to ������ from Rochester Institute of Technology this year to study computer engineering. Burke’s experience with Teaching Through Technology energy education and a personal passion for game design enabled him to develop several additional projects to spread understanding of data management and microgrids. These projects included a lesson on data management for high school students, an accompanying card game in which players uncover and restructure data sets in order to build a data inventory, and prototyping a video game that simulates community-based microgrid development.

Andreanoff is from Kenai and recently moved to Fairbanks to study geology at ������. Along with working as a data librarian and helping Burke develop the educational card game, Andreanoff is a licensed unmanned aerial vehicle pilot and has experience working with mapping terrain using drones. She worked on the , which involved traveling to Galena, Alaska to help Alaska-based start-up as they used drones to map the energy infrastructure and expanded an inventory of the 600 power poles in the community.

“This summer changed the way I think about information,” said Andreanoff. “I have learned to apply data management best practices not only to scientific data, but also to project documentation and programming which is something that will benefit me in my education and career.”

Data management, data ethics, and data governance play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of research, safeguarding individuals' rights, and making well-informed decisions that benefit Alaskans and their environment. These practices are indispensable in building a sustainable and responsible approach to research and decision-making in the state of Alaska.

This internship is funded by the and the ACEP data collection and management through the program and the program. View on ACEP’s YouTube Channel the final presentations for this project by and by . For more information on this project, please contact Vanessa Raymond at vlraymond@alaska.edu.