Library partnerships to support data analytics engineering programs

Abstract

In the last decade, the number of graduate programs in Data Analytics has grown exponentially. Academic libraries have had to, or will need to, determine how to support the growing student population in this new area of academia, as well as acquire new resources and develop new services and tools for analytics students. Data Analytics and Data Science programs are particularly challenging to support because they are trans-disciplinary-incorporating areas such as statistics, computer science and business. At George Mason University (Mason) the Data Analytics Engineering (DAEN) program is a master's degree program in the Volgenau School of Engineering. This program started in 2014 and enrolls students in 10 different concentrations including business analytics, cyber security analytics, financial engineering, predictive analytics and more. This paper discusses how the Engineering Librarian collaborated with the Mason Libraries' Digital Scholarship Center (DiSC) to identify and develop ways to help meet the needs of this unique group of students.