DCN Releases 2023 Annual Report

We are thrilled to share our 2023 Annual Report. This document encapsulates a year of education, collaboration, and curation that are the cornerstones of our community. As we reflect on the milestones achieved and challenges overcome, we invite you to join us in celebrating the collective efforts that have shaped our success.

In 2023, curation remained at the center of our community. We collaboratively curated nearly 50 datasets through our shared curation platform, and many members noted that local curation numbers have increased from the previous year.

As with previous years, we also emphasized educational efforts, offering four in-person workshops throughout the year in various locations around the United States. Thanks to the efforts of primer authors, mentors, and peer reviewers, we also published a staggering 13 new data curation primers, hosting two webinars on a selection of them in December 2023. We again hosted three interns in collaboration with the National Center for Data Services (NCDS), and our first semester long, for credit internship with a 2023 summer NCDS intern, Rachel Priesman Marquez. 

While there are many more educational efforts highlighted in the Annual Report, of note is the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grant, “Developing Specialized Data Curation Training to Address Needed Expertise in Focused Areas.” This project kicked off with four instructional cohorts — GIS, Simulation, Code, and Scientific Images — in January 2023, and hosted a pilot workshop in October 2023. The teams will use the feedback from the workshop to complete the first drafts of these specialized curricula, with anticipated publication in 2024.

This year, we also hit many milestones organizationally, including:

• Onboarding 20 (!!) new curators from new and existing member institutions
• Bringing two sustaining members into the community: the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Pennsylvania
• Hosting our first Ambassador institution workshop at the University of New Mexico
• Gathering at Princeton University for our first in-person All Hands Meeting since 2019

The DCN is only possible through the contributions of our curators, committee and board members, supervisors and colleagues, external collaborators, and the University of Minnesota Libraries. 

We invite you to read through the 2023 Annual Report — there is far more than could possibly fit into a single blog post! We invite your thoughts and reactions, too — what do you want to see more of from us in 2024?