Reflecting on past practice and research to innovate

Abstract

Welcome to the first issue of IASSIST Quarterly for 2025, IQ 49(1).

We are excited to welcome two new members to our Editorial Team, Mary Carter, the Finance and Operations Research Librarian at Princeton University, and Jessica (Jess) Hagman, the Social Sciences Research Librarian and an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Mary and Jess have graciously volunteered to serve as our new Managing Editors and will share the responsibility. They have already taken an active role in the production of this issue.

The Editorial Team together with the Editorial Board continue to develop policies for authors, reviewers, and the editorial team. We hope to share these policies with the IASSIST community in the near future.

The current issue, IQ 49(1), presents three excellent papers. All three review services offered by data librarians or issues important to them, and identify opportunities to incorporate innovative approaches to enhance those services for users and researchers.

Author Madison Golden shares the adaptive approach she uses as a research data librarian. The article ”Adaptive Data Governance for Research Data Management” builds on the author’s experience working in data governance at a corporation as well as her more recent experience as a research data librarian in an academic institution. The author introduces four styles of data governance that provide a framework for librarians and data governance specialists alike to prioritize competing needs and guide researchers through the data lifecycle. This approach offers increased flexibility in data management practices, continuous improvement of services and resources, efficiency, and empowerment of researchers and related stakeholders.

In the article ”Literature review on the competencies of data literacy for middle-grade learners” author Semi Yeom reviews the literature related to data literacy guidelines and practices for students in K-12 school settings, focusing on middle-grade learners. The author identifies eight main competencies that are important for data-literate adolescents, and highlights the two competencies that were pointed out by researchers as essential skills for academic success and critical engagement in our increasingly data-driven world.

The article ”Support for Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software in ARL libraries” authored by Paul Rival surveys support for Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) among members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). By visiting institutional websites and LibGuides, the author tries to understand the level of qualitative data analysis expertise and support provided to researchers at these academic institutions. Peer institutions that do not offer such services are encouraged to explore this possibility to better support their researchers.

We hope you enjoy the reading! We are looking forward to seeing many of you in June, at IASSIST 50th anniversary conference, the ”best IASSIST ever” in Bristol, UK.

Ofira Schwartz and Michele Hayslett, March 2025