Data-Related Support in U.S.-Based Health Sciences Libraries: An Analysis of AAHSL Member Sites

Objectives: The purpose of this poster is to study the extent to which AAHSL member libraries have pivoted to provide data services, either broadly speaking or more specifically, through provision of data visualization ("data viz") services or data management services, for their respective constituencies.

Methods: The websites of all U.S.-based AAHSL member libraries were surveyed to determine the level and types of data-related support available. Site specific searches were carried out for the following:

Data visualization
Data services
Data management

We looked for informational support on data visualization, data services, or data management.

The broader organization's website was examined to determine if data support was available outside of the library.

The Carnegie Classification Code for each member library was collected in order to assess the relationship between Carnegie Classification and level of data support within a health sciences library.

Frequencies were run for variables recording the presence or absence of data support elements. Chi-Square tests were run to determine the relationship between clustered Carnegie classifications and the presence or absence of specific elements of data support in Health Sciences Libraries.

Results: AAHSL member library websites had a low frequency of providing explicit information on data services, with only about one third (35%) of libraries reporting data consultation or data management services. Less than one fifth of libraries (19.8%) described having data visualization services.

Informational support related to data was somewhat more prevalent than formalized data services, with almost 40% of libraries providing guidance on data management, almost a third of libraries (36.5%) providing information about data resources, and roughly one quarter of libraries offering informational support related to data visualization.

There was a relationship between Carnegie classification and data-related support.

Conclusions: Published literature indicates a higher level of engagement in data-related services and informational support in health sciences libraries than the authors found in their survey of AAHSL member websites. Even on library websites describing data services, services were often sparsely detailed. While informational support related to data was more commonly found, the informational support was often unclear in its scope, or served as a pathfinder to external resources. Data services appear to be offered outside of health sciences libraries with some frequency, but typically do not include data management support, indicating a gap that health sciences libraries are ideally situated to fill. The higher likelihood of providing services at research/doctoral institutions may result from new data management requirements among funders.