ECU’s Laupus Library to host Love Data Week

A tradition of information-sharing and conversations about data gathering and use will continue this year during Love Data Week, hosted by Laupus Health Sciences Library.

East Carolina University’s Laupus Library will host Love Data week beginning Deb. 14. (Stock photo)

Love Data Week, an international event that engages researchers in dialogues around issues and methods in data creation, analysis and visualization is Feb. 14-18, 2022. This year, Laupus will host eight presentations dealing with data-related topics, from bibliometrics — data from publications and how it can be used — to grant writing and health disparities research. REDCap training will also be provided during this week. All sessions will be held over WebEx.

Love Data Week provides information that is growing increasingly vital as federal and foundation funders increase their focus on rigor and reproducibility.

“Research across all disciplines involves generating data in many different formats, resulting from many different research methods, yet all researchers have to make a critical series of decisions about data collection, analysis, visualization, storage and sharing that determine the quality and success of their research,” said Kerry Sewell, research librarian for the health sciences and systematic review service coordinator for Laupus Library.

Sewell said Love Data Week helps bridge the gaps between data itself and those critical decisions regarding its use.

“We created this event to give faculty a forum to discuss the challenges they face as they make data-related decisions, highlight tools and experts who support research data needs and let attendees learn more about what other researchers are doing,” she said. “Overall, we aim to create a community around data issues across the disciplines. Only through open dialogues about shared data issues can we build a community to address data challenges and work to ensure that the foundations of research are sound and support the advancement of science.”

The sessions during Love Data Week will also aim to highlight the similarities in research across the different colleges, schools and disciplines in the Division of Health Sciences.

“Research data may look different across study types, but all researchers face similar challenges when making decisions about data,” Sewell said. “We hope that attendees will learn more about how researchers and data experts navigate data-related issues. We also hope the event lets attendees hear more about the research being done across the university.”