From Campus Announcement submitted by Dr. Jean Brumfield, Distance Services Librarian

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced its final Fiscal Year 2024 grant recipients. Awardees of the National Leadership Grants for Museums (NLG-M) will lead projects that address broad needs within the museum field, strengthen the museum profession, and strive to improve museum services for the American public. This year, 18 institutions received NLG-M awards. Prairie View A&M University, as part of a collaborative project with Texas A&M University is included in this year’s awards.

Texas A&M University, with the University of Oklahoma; the University Libraries of Purdue; the University of Nevada, Reno; Texas State University; and Prairie View A&M University, were awarded $465,648, to develop an evidence-based research data management (RDM) core competency learning module and standardized measure for social sciences, focusing on library and information science (LIS) and education. Researchers will use an environmental scan, student survey, faculty interviews, and student focus groups to develop an RDM learning module. The team will deploy the module in graduate-level research methods courses across the partner universities to investigate the training’s effectiveness. Through rigorous statistical analysis, the research team will develop a core competency measure based on the intervention that will be evaluated across the partner institutions. The resulting widely applicable, standardized measure will have far-reaching effects on the social science and LIS research communities, as well as on the quality of academic library RDM services in supporting student success. The proposed project leverages the synergy between LIS and education within social sciences and the expertise and experience of its team members in these areas to address the national need for enhanced RDM practices.

Key Personnel:

Dr. Zhihong Xu (Principal Investigator and Project Director), is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications at TAMU. Dr. Xu worked as a data management librarian at the University Libraries from 2020. Dr. Elizabeth Brumfield (Co-Principal Investigator) holds the position of PVAMU Distance Services Librarian and the Head of the Northwest Houston Center Library. Dr. Brumfield served on the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the ALA Office of Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Advisory Committee. Her insights will be vital in shaping the study’s approach and ensuring its relevance across diverse groups. Teresa Schultz (Co-Principal Investigator) is an associate professor at the libraries of UNR. Dr. Wei Zakharov (Co-Principal Investigator) is an associate professor at Purdue University Libraries. Dr. June Abbas (Co-Principal Investigator) is a Professor and Director of the School of Library and Information Studies, and Co-Director of the Data Scholarship Program at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Xuan Zhou (Co-Principal Investigator), a Data Curation Specialist at TXST Libraries.

The project is further supported by a highly qualified Advisory Board consisting of experts in their respective fields. The members of the board members include Dr. Oi-Man Kwok from TAMU, a quantitative method and psychometric measurement expert; Ms. Sonia Barbosa from Harvard University, a data curation expert; Ms. Abigail Goben from University of Illinois Chicago, a data management expert; Mr. Jason Clark from Montana State University, another data management expert; and Dr. Matt Baker from TAMU, a program assessment expert.

 

By Jean Brumfield, PhD., Distance Services Librarian