Hello! I’m Amy and I’m thrilled to join the Data Curation Network as the new Special Programs Manager, where I’ll divide my time between community management in the DCN and supporting the RADS Initiative. I’m a professional Dungeons and Dragons Game Master (I’ve been hired to GM birthday parties and teach/facilitate games for local middle school students), so given this, I thought I’d introduce myself to the Data Curation Network a little differently:
Name: Amy Ferguson
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
PLAYER CLASS: Playing as a level 6 multi-class librarian with 9 levels of academic research in immunology and infectious disease (aka the circle of spores)
STATS:
- Strength:+1 (I prefer gaming and art to outdoor activities)
- Dexterity: -1 (coordination is not my strong suit)
- Constitution: +4 (toughness gained from living with chronic illness and a medical disability)
- Intelligence: +3 (see background)
- Wisdom: +5 (I use my unique experience to bring novel approaches to problems)
- Charisma: +2 (normally this would be a +1 modifier but I get an extra +1 from having a very cute doggo who loves everyone she meets; see below)
BACKGROUND:
I majored in Biology in my undergraduate education at the University of Puget Sound with the goal of eventually conducting academic research on pulmonary disease and related infections/co-morbidities. To do this I spent time as a research assistant and graduate student at multiple universities before deciding to take a step back from academia in 2019 and shifting my focus instead to librarianship. I received my MLIS in 2022 from the University of Washington and have been working in public libraries since 2019.
PROFICIENCIES:
One of the benefits of “multi-classing” as both a public librarian and academic researcher is that I have a fairly wide skill set, or “proficiencies,” I bring to my current position. While I’ve enjoyed working with youth in a public library setting I’ve been looking for a better way to bring together both sides of my background into one job, which is what initially drew me to the Special Programs Manager position at the Data Curation Network. The Special Programs Manager gets to do many of the things that I love to do: build community, work with data and conduct research, and offer education opportunities. I’m excited to learn more about data librarianship and get to know our network members!
CLASS FEATURES:
As both a scientist and librarian, I am interested in the data life cycle – particularly in data management planning and sharing. During my MLIS work and as a byproduct of my public librarian work, I’m interested in public access to, and accessibility of, research and data. I’m also interested in outreach and fostering data repositories and environments that are more inclusive to all types of data backgrounds. I live with a medical disability, so that has given me an awareness of potential gaps in accessibility throughout our library spaces. I try to always think about who might be excluded from the spaces where I work and what I might be able to do to give those folks a seat at the table too.
Obligatory pet photos:
