Data Analytics Fellowship for Medical Librarians: Developing Data Literacy Competencies for Public Health

This project is a 6-week cohort training and development program, providing a guided pathway for public health information professionals to acquire data literacy skills, particularly those supporting data science and analytics using common methodology applied toward public health efforts. Program participants may originate from any library type, as long as they will be improving public health using the skills they will learn through the program. This cohort of information professionals will attend an in-person two-day data immersion camp to develop competencies with common data tools e.g., ArcGIS and Tableau and programming languages e.g., R and Git. Following this training, members of the cohort will engage with continued online instruction that covers sources of public health data and statistics, intermediate and advanced use of data tools and their applied use in public health research, and best practices in presenting data effectively. Throughout the program, the cohort will work collaboratively with mentors professionals currently engaged in the work the participants are learning to complete a major component of an individually selected research project. Participants will be mentored to publish their findings in an official presentation, article, blog, or other professional distribution/publication.