28 October 2022
Nilani Ganeshwaran, Senior Software Developer (Management), Research and Digital Horizon, The University of Manchester Library.
What is Library Carpentry and why should it be embraced?
Library and information professionals can become more efficient in their work by automating boring and repetitive tasks. Doing so would also reduce the chance of human error, and free up their time, so that they can focus on improving their services to end users. Furthermore, the data sets they create would be more sustainable and reusable, leading to more efficient analysis.
The longer-term benefits are potentially transformative - if we do not act to equip our library and information-related communities with competence in digital skills, we will not be in a position to support the dramatically changing library landscape and provide cutting-edge services such as digital scholarship.
What has my journey with Library Carpentry been so far?
I am the Senior Software Developer and Manager of the Digital Development Team at the University of Manchester Library. As part of my job, I work very closely with a range of librarians, which has made me realise that digital skills can play a key role in enhancing their work. This attracted me to Library Carpentry, and I became a certified instructor in 2018. Since then, I have been actively organising and teaching at Carpentry workshops at national and international levels. This year, I received a Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) fellowship, titled ‘To better integrate Library Carpentry into working practice in UK libraries’.
How do I plan to deliver my SSI Fellowship?
I would like to complete my fellowship with Northern libraries, and then share the outcomes with other UK libraries via SSI’s platforms. Completing my fellowship with involve:
1. Running regular Library Carpentry workshops to train more library professionals, and to make Library Carpentry workshops a regular thing, rather than one-off sessions.
2. Arranging post-workshop sessions to clear participants’ doubts and help with unexpected issues.
3. Establishing an ongoing support network, a collaboration space in which participants can learn from other library professionals and share their experiences.
I believe that this approach will help boost librarians' confidence in using digital skills. More importantly, it will help them to learn where and how they can apply their learning to their working practice, and keep Library Carpentry on their agenda.
What is the first step in the next phase of my Carpentry journey?
By partnering with N8 and Lancaster University Library, myself and other Library Carpentry instructors at the University of Manchester Library will be hosting our very first post-pandemic in person workshop at the Lancaster University Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab on 9th November.
This will be a full-day workshop, aimed at library staff, Post Graduate Research Students, and researchers who regularly work with spreadsheet data. We’ll be covering the following two topics:
1. Tidy data for librarians
In this lesson, participants will learn about good practices for the use of spreadsheets for organising data; this includes how to format data in spreadsheets, how to handle data, and how to keep data entry clean.
2. OpenRefine
OpenRefine is an application for data clean-up and transformation to other formats, an activity commonly known as ‘data wrangling’. It is similar to spreadsheet applications, and can handle spreadsheet file formats, but it behaves more like a database. Participants will learn about how OpenRefine can simplify your work with messy spreadsheet data: cleaning it; transforming it from one format to another; and extending using web services and external data.
This workshop will be different from our previous Carpentry workshops in several ways:
- We’ve asked participants to bring data which they are currently working with. We’ve allocated time for them to explore their data with the techniques and tools that they’ll be learning about, which we believe will boost their confidence levels and help put their learning into practice.
- They’ll get time for discussion, especially around identifying use cases or possible areas, where they can start applying their learning straightaway.
- There will be a post-workshop session, which participants can use to clear their doubts; this workshop will mark the beginning of their ongoing support network.
Why are we moving back to in-person workshops ?
Carpentry workshops were always face-to-face before the first lockdown; they were great opportunities for people working in library-related roles to meet in one place and learn together. Instructors were also more easily able to give extra support and resolve technical issues where participants needed it.; indeed, we usually had 2-3 helpers for each workshop in addition to instructors to provide this support.
Most importantly, the informal discussions which happened during breaks were great for networking; it was an opportunity for staff working in a similar roles to meet and discuss common issues.
Even throughout the pandemic, workshops continued online. While online workshops had greater flexibility for both organisers and participants than in-person workshops, there were limitations, the most significant one being (as mentioned earlier) the heightened barriers to directly helping participants. Some participants also reported that it was difficult to manage Zoom, course materials, and the tool, all on one screen. For these reasons, I strongly feel that it’s time to move back to in-person workshops.
What plans do the University of Manchester Library’s Carpentry instructors have for next years?
We have a range of aims for the near future: most importantly, we would like to deliver more in-person workshops in spring 2023, and we would like to have an established, active support network for workshop participants.
Follow Nilani on Twitter: @uom_nilani