This past spring I heard some chatter from data librarian folks about . These folks indicated they were unsure as to what's going on within the organization, why they should want to know, and how they might interact with the RDA and its working/interest groups.

We all know librarians have an important role to play in preparing and curating information (and data) for its wider use, and thus an important role in the activities of RDA. And many folks in libraries know this; the this chatter suggested that

As one working in a research library in research data and co-chair of an RDA working group, I set to organize a webinar about RDA for others in libraries. Thanks to Lynn Yarmey and several great colleagues we hosted this webinar on June 22nd!

We titled it "Intro to The Research Data Alliance: How Data Librarians can Get Involved" an international group of folks interested in "research data sharing without barriers" made up of researchers, librarians, funders, and more, across multiple disciplines, facilitating and discussing research, e.g. a space that facilitates work and discussions on research data sharing, andan organization with low barriers to your effective participation and leadership in interest and working groups.

Roughly 40 webinar attendees heard from the following folks on the RDA and their experiences therein:

• Lynn Yarmey, Director of RDA/US Community Development
• Chris Erdmann, Library Carpentry Community and Development Director
• Amy Nurnberger, Program Head for Data Management Services at MIT (involved in many RDA working/interest groups)
• Andi Ogier, co-Chair RDA Libraries for Research Data Interest Group and Director, Data Services, Virginia Tech University Libraries

Thanks to their preparation and excellent stories we had an active and interesting discussion following the presentations.

This webinar was recorded and is available here. You will first need to register to access this recording if you haven't already done so. The slides, including additional material on how data librarians can find further information, are available here for viewing.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of my libraries colleagues getting more involved in RDA in the coming months!

The Recording is also available on the Research Data Alliance Youtube here

Jonathan Petters
co-Chair WDS/RDA Assessment of Data Fitness for Use WG
Data Management Consultant and Curation Services Coordinator
Data Services, University Libraries
Virginia Tech