-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 16:42:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Meagan Duever <[log in to unmask]>
To: Air Photo Maps, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>
I have one of those new library data-related positions, and it covers
everything everyone has said so far. I work with geospatial and
numeric/tabular data (including ICPSR), and the software programs that
process them (ArcGIS, SPSS, SAS, R, etc). I'm the go-to for all things
data and don't discriminate between GIS and non-GIS users. But it's
helpful to have the background in GIS. There are a lot of similarities
between people seeking geospatial data and those that don't need the
spatial component. For me it's new sources to learn... and the
possibility that you can be asked for actual numbers on any topic, not
just shapefiles. I'm also part of the team on campus wading through
data management.
Meagan Duever
Data Services Librarian
Kansas State University Libraries
124 Hale Library
Manhattan, KS 66506
Ph: 785-532-7447
----- Original Message -----
From: "Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee"
<[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 2:31:19 PM
Subject: Re: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 15:27:27 -0500
From: Redmond, Edward James <[log in to unmask]>
To: 'Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship'
<[log in to unmask]>
My head hurts.
Ed
-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Angie Cope, American
Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 3:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 14:35:27 -0500
From: Grabach, Kenneth A. Mr. <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>
If I might add a little, since the most recent job posting is from my
institution.
The surmises and discussion of the numerical data are spot on. I think
geospatial data is something more or less familiar to uses of this
forum. But also, GIS work involves analysis of numerical data put into
geographical contexts. In addition to the boundary shape files and
other layers that form a map, a geodatabase uses numerical data,
sometimes in tabular form, sometimes laid out spatially, allowing for
visualization not only of the mapping data, but of the data actually
being analyzed (say demographic factors, or agricultural or natural
vegetation, etc.)
Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Maps Librarian Phone: 513-529-1726
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio 45056 USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Angie Cope, American
Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 12:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 09:11:50 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
From: Jon Jablonski <[log in to unmask]>
To: Air Photo Maps, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>
I think (and I remember seeing a list of 'preferred skills' somewhere)
they are talking about someone to manage tabular data that is best
analyzed using quantitative methods. Libraries are looking for people
who know how to find and evaluate data on repositories like ICPSR (heck:
some libraries are looking to START repositories like ICPSR), can
walk advanced undergraduates and grad students through the process of
opening and exploring those datasets using software like R, SPSS, stata,
and a host of others.
Physical and natural sciences have a lot of that sort of thing too, and
librarians are actively working in those domains as well (digitizing
herbaria, curating genomics data), but often that work happens,
respectively, in museums (musea?) and government agencies rather than in
academic libraries.
IMHO: there is a lot of overlap between spatial and other sorts of data
that people (read: administrators) are starting to see as useful to have
in libraries. If you don't have a paper map collection to support a
full time map librarian, having a spatial/numeric person makes a lot of
sense. Add on collecting for earth and social sciences and you've got a
really versatile subject specialist/data curator/bibliographer/call me
whatever you want.
Jon Jablonski
Map & Imagery Laboratory
UC Santa Barbara
----- "Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Numeric/Spatial Data Services Librarian - Miami University -
> Oxford, OH
> Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:25:50 -0600
> From: Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Organization: American Geographical Society Library
> To: Maps-L <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Anyone want to talk about the word "Numeric" used in 2 recent job
> announcements? What, exactly, does that mean? All I can think of is
> the alternatives - visual, textual - Or opposites being: connotative
> or qualitative.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Angie
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