By Michelle Quak & A/P Bimlesh Wadhwa

 

In today’s academic world, the collaboration between data librarians and faculty members has become increasingly commonplace. Combining professional expertise and academic insights, such collaborations create a truly unique value proposition for learners. In this article, we share about one such partnership that navigated the entire collaborative process, from designing and conducting workshops, to organizing a student project exhibition hosted within the library.

Our Digital Scholarship Librarian Michelle Quak collaborated with Associate Prof Bimlesh from the School of Computing (SoC) to conduct a hands-on workshop focused on Tableau, as part of the CS5346 Information Visualisation course. The course aims to equip students with comprehensive knowledge of the visualisation principles and related techniques, a highly sought after skill in the era of big data. As part of the course, students are tasked to showcase interactive visualisations, demonstrating their understanding of concepts and application to real-world data challenges. The collaborative workshop was conducted as part of NUS Libraries’ Researcher Unbound series, dovetailing efforts to provide access to skill-based workshops to the wider NUS community.

There was also a brief presentation on Spatial Data Visualisation, leveraging Michelle’s experience with Geographical Information Systems (GIS). This session explored techniques to map and analyse spatial data, helping students understand how data can be presented in a spatial context to derive meaningful conclusions.

Students then created their own visualisation dashboards for their end-semester project, covering a variety of topics from Billboard analysis (figure 1 below), employment market dynamics to crime incident analysis (figure 2 below), showing the interdisciplinary applications of using visual narratives alongside data visualisation.

Together with their project presentation, posters of their visualisations were put up at the Central Library Digital Scholarship Lab showcasing their mastery of data storytelling techniques learnt during their course of study (pictured below).

Impact and Future Directions

The collaboration enhanced the curriculum by bridging theory with hands-on experience, giving students the opportunity to apply their new skills to real data and showcasing their results.

“Organising a poster exhibition for students enhances their educational experience and personal growth. It fosters a deeper understanding of course material, enhanced visual communication skills, and opportunities for peer feedback and reflective practice. It also showcases students’ hard work to the broader community, boosting their confidence and motivation. I believe that such exhibitions create an engaging educational environment that prepares students for professional opportunities,” said Assoc Prof Bimlesh.

This course has paved the way for future SoC and NUS Libraries collaborations, engaging more deeply in various facets of education and programming, fostering a community where educators, librarians, and students can share and find synergies for new collaboration (e.g. student project presentations as part of NUS Libraries’ Researcher Unbound workshops or co-organised symposium workshops). There will also be internship opportunities for SoC students to work on library digital scholarship projects!

As universities adapt to the demands of a digital age, partnerships like these highlight the indispensable roles of librarianship and faculty mentorship in shaping the holistic educational experiences in an increasingly complex, data-driven world.