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Workshops

photo of large white drawing padsCSHL Library teaches workshops on a variety of subjects, and provides hands-on one-on-one and group training sessions, as well as on-demand services. The Library also maintains several LibGuides, which include information on a variety of topics and links to sources of online help & training provided by NLM, Web of Science, Scopus, and others.

Workshops are taught on the first Thursday of every month. You must register in advance by emailing us at: libraryhelp@cshl.edu

CSHL Library teaches workshops on a variety of subjects, and provides hands-on one-on-one and group training sessions, as well as on-demand services. The Library also maintains several LibGuides, which include information on a variety of topics and links to sources of online help & training provided by NLM, Web of Science, Scopus, and others.

Workshops are taught on the first Thursday of every month from 10:30 to 11:30 am in the Szybalski Room of the CSHL Library unless otherwise noted below.

Workshop Schedule

  • Advanced Data Management Strategies for Research Success: January 9th
  • Love Data Week (Theme: Whose Data Is It, Anyway?): February 10th through 14th
  • Data Visualization: March 6th
  • Data Repositories: April 3rd
  • Advanced Use of PubMed, My NCBI, & My Bibliography: May 1st
  • Time Management & Planning: June 5th
  • Enhancing Your Online Scholarly Presence with Expert Profiles: July 10th
  • Academic Presence Day: Updating & Promoting Your Research: August 7th (9 am to noon)
  • GitHub & Version Control: September 4th
  • Publishing & Authorship: October 2nd
  • Open Access Week: October 20th through 24th
  • Zotero: November 6th
  • Basic Coding: December 4th

Workshop Descriptions

Advanced Data Management Strategies for Research Success: Take your data management skills to the next level with this advanced workshop designed for researchers and data professionals. Learn sophisticated strategies for organizing, preserving, and sharing research data effectively. This session will cover advanced techniques in data versioning, metadata standards, and reproducibility practices. Whether you’re handling complex datasets or managing large-scale projects, this workshop will equip you with the skills to elevate your data management practices and drive impactful research outcomes.

Love Data Week: Love Data Week is a global celebration of all things data, featuring talks, workshops, and a data challenge. This week-long event is designed to spark excitement about data and encourage deeper engagement with it. Join us to explore new ways to connect with and think about your data.

Data Visualization: This workshop will explore how to clearly and concisely present your data with particular consideration to use of colors, formatting, layout, and other stylistic choices in figure and table design. From designing your figures in R or Python to using a data-specific application or software, we will discuss resources, such as the Data Visualization Catalogue and Andy Kirk’s Handbook for Data Driven Design, to help you to create engaging figures for your research.

Data Repositories: This workshop will guide you through selecting the right repository for your data by exploring key factors such as subject-specific versus general repositories. You will also learn how to ensure compliance with funder and publisher requirements by understanding data-sharing mandates, embargo periods, and licensing agreements to maximize the accessibility and impact of your research.

Advanced Use of PubMed, My NCBI, & My Bibliography: The workshop will concentrate on how to use key tools in the My NCBI platform with particular emphasis on the My Bibliography. Maintaining an up-to-date and tidy My Bibliography is essential, particularly for researchers with NIH grants. This hands-on workshop open to the entire CSHL community will cover a wide variety of skills for creating and maintaining the My Bibliography to allow for seamless integration with other tools like SciENcv and eRA Commons.

Time Management and Planning: This workshop will explore diverse strategies, such as time-blocking and menu-planning, and tools, such as digital, hybrid, and paper-based planning systems, to help you create a tailored system to manage your life.

Enhancing Your Online Scholarly Presence with Expert Profiles: This workshop is for CSHL Faculty and Postdoctoral Researchers to help create and update your profile using the Elements System. Sci Admins are also encouraged to attend if you help maintain faculty profiles. Attendees will learn how to update their information, import publications, and promote their online presence using their profile.

Academic Presence Day: Need to update your CV, Faculty Profile, or other records of your academic accomplishments? Drop into the CSHL Library between 9 am and noon to take some time to update your records while enjoying coffee and cookies. Members of the CSHL Library will be available to provide support for setting up and updating components of your digital academic presence such as the My Bibliography, ORCID Profile, CSHL Faculty Profile, and more.

GitHub and Version Control: GitHub is a versioning software that helps keep track of your code, so that if you make a mistake and the code does not work anymore, you can go back to a version that does. This workshop is for those who have never used GitHub before but would like to understand how to use it for their own research. We will explain how to download the client, create a repository, and go back to a previous version of the code.

Publishing & Authorship: This workshop will help you navigate the complex landscape of publication authorship, detailing important topics such as copyright law, open and public access policies, and author order. It is integral to how students and faculty can use, distribute, and reuse materials in their own academic work. We support faculty and students in understanding copyright and how it relates to their work to carry out research, publish academic work, and communicate the products of research.

Open Access Week: The CSHL Library & Archives presents daily events to celebrate International Open Access Week and to promote the open sharing of scholarly research and resources throughout the world. Theme and events to be announced closer to October.

Zotero: This session will provide an overview of the basic and advanced features and functionality of the reference management tool Zotero. Open to all members of the CSHL community who are using this tool or for those who are curious about switching over.

Basic coding: This workshop is for those who have no programming experience, but would like to start programming for their research. Basic coding concepts such as class type, data handling, and function creation will be discussed.

CSHL Library teaches workshops on a variety of subjects, and provides hands-on one-on-one and group training sessions, as well as on-demand services. The Library also maintains several LibGuides, which include information on a variety of topics and links to sources of online help & training provided by NLM, Web of Science, Scopus, and others.

The previous workshops were taught on the first Thursday of every month from 10:30 to 11:30 am in the Szybalski Room of the CSHL Library unless otherwise noted below.

Previous Workshop Schedule (2024)

Love Data Workshop: February 14th
Data Management: March 7th
Data Visualization: April 4th
Data Sharing: May 2nd
Advanced Use of PubMed: June 6th
Writing Strategies: July 11th; TIME CHANGE: 2:00 pm
GitHub and Version Control: August 1st
Time Management and Planning: September 5th
Reference Management & Tools for Citing Sources: October 3rd
Basic Coding: November 7th
Scientific Publications: Open Access & Author Copyright: December 5th TIME CHANGE: 11:00 am

Workshop Descriptions

Data Management: For this workshop, we will introduce concrete examples of how to better manage and organize your data. You will gain practical insights and hands-on experience to optimize your data workflow and elevate your proficiency in data management.

Data Visualization: This workshop will explore how to clearly and concisely present your data with particular consideration to use of colors, formatting, layout, and other stylistic choices in figure and table design. From designing your figures in R or Python to using a data-specific application or software, we will discuss resources, such as the Data Visualization Catalogue and Andy Kirk’s Handbook for Data Driven Design, to help you to create engaging figures for your research.

Data Sharing: The White House has announced that by 2025 any government funded research must maximize the sharing of its data. Attendees will learn how to identify which repositories work best for their type of data, how to comply with data standards of the repository, and how to best organize the data for easy sharing.

Advanced Use of PubMed: The PubMed interface has recently changed, giving users more options on how to search for research publications. The workshop will concentrate on how to use the advanced search, MeSH terms, and other features to extract the necessary information needed for your research project.

Writing Strategies: An interactive workshop to help you plan and complete a major writing project like a publication or dissertation chapters. We will discuss different techniques, such as outlining and mind-mapping, for planning your writing project and strategies for making the most of limited writing time and motivation.

GitHub and Version Control: GitHub is a versioning software that helps keep track of your code, so that if you make a mistake and the code does not work anymore, you can go back to a version that does. This workshop is for those who have never used GitHub before but would like to understand how to use it for their own research. We will explain how to download the client, create a repository, and go back to a previous version of the code.

Time Management and Planning: This workshop will explore diverse strategies, such as time-blocking and menu-planning, and tools, such as digital, hybrid, and paper-based planning systems, to help you create a tailored system to manage your life.

Reference Management & Tools for Citing Sources: This session provides an overview of citation styles and reference management tools like Zotero, EndNote, and Mendeley. Join us for a focused, interactive discussion aimed at enhancing your ability to organize your research literature and credit sources in your scholarly work. 

Basic coding: This workshop is for those who have no programming experience, but would like to start programming for their research. Basic coding concepts such as class type, data handling, and function creation will be discussed.

Scientific Publications: Open Access & Author Copyright: This workshop is designed to provide faculty and students valuable insights into navigating the open access publishing landscape,  understanding your rights as an author, and negotiating your APC with a publisher. Join us to explore key topics, including:

  • Strategies for publishing in open-access journals.
  • Understanding copyright and retaining author rights.
  • Practical tips to maximize the impact of your research.

Simplifying Article Retrieval with the Web Tool Kopernio (LibGuide)

Kopernio is a browser extension that makes finding PDFs of articles faster and easier. Although it is relatively new, it is already widely used and rapidly growing in popularity due to its simplicity and helpfulness. We can teach you how to install and use it.

NIH Public Access Compliance (LibGuide)

Our Informationists are available to teach you how comply with NIH’s Public Access Policies. Learn when and why you should deposit your manuscripts into PubMed Central, and how to use the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

How to Use DMPTools (LibGuide)

We are available to explain how to simplify writing a data management plan by utilizing CSHL’s customized DMPTools interface.

Contact libraryhelp@cshl.edu to schedule a session

Editing for non-native English Speakers

Our Informationist are on hand to help non-native English speakers edit their manuscripts, grants, and professional correspondence into fluent English. Contact libraryhelp@cshl.edu for more information or to schedule service.

Consultation Services for Aspects of Research Data Management

Informationist are available for all of your Research Data Management needs. Contact libraryhelp@cshl.edu to schedule.

Linux and Bash Shell

Learn the basis of interacting with the Linux command line and how to put together a series of commands.

Basics of 3D Printing

Just enough to enable you to download models and print them on the library’s 3D printer.

Photos, metadata and Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)

How to organize and maintain a collection of images.

Professional Desktop Publishing

Put together books and brochures using Affinity Publisher.

Scientific Databases and Reference Management Software: Advanced Techniques

Geared towards early Graduate Students
The informationists at the Library can help you get the most out of digital scientific support software. Whether it is teaching you the advanced search tricks or generating alerts in Scientific databases such as PubMed and Scopus, or reference management and specialty bibliography generation with software such as Endnote, Mendeley, Papers, Zotero, etc., the Library can help. Also, EndNote and Papers are robustly locally installed at CSHL, and may be purchased at a discount.

Data Management Plans

  • Writing Data Management Plans
    With the ever-increasing grant-funding mandates for writing data management plans and data sharing policies, we (science informationists) at the Library aim to demonstrate how to write a data management plan, and the importance of constructing a well-thought-out plan.
  • Best Data Management Practices
    Ever been asked by your PI to find a data file and it takes you longer than 5 minutes to find it? This introductory session will give you tips and tricks on the best practices for data organization (file naming, versioning, storage, etc.) so you won’t be left frantically searching for something.
  • Presenting and Distributing Active Data
    Want to meet publisher and grant-funded mandates for depositing data? Want to get more recognition by getting your data cited? Join us as we discuss how to get the most out of data repositories.

Improving Visibility As A Researcher

Geared towards Post-docs and Graduate Students
A good publication record is extremely important for your advancement as a researcher, however in today’s world it is not the only record you may need to cultivate. Your social media presence can have an immense impact on your ability to network with colleagues, find junior faculty positions, and even get tenure. The informationists on the Library’s staff can help you explore strategies to carefully curate your social media presence, and build the kind of visibility that can enrich your scientific career. And learn about how our Institutional Repository can be an integral part of your presence.

Communicating Science

Geared towards early Graduate Students
Looking to spice up your presentations with some historical heft? The informationists and archivists on the Library staff can work with you to identify original materials in our vast archives to help add flavor and gravitas to your talks. From original photographs and historical data to handwritten correspondence between scientific luminaries, we can bring the help weight of history to your presentations.

Check the Library website to learn the schedule, or contact libraryhelp@cshl.edu

Introduction to Python

Start down the path of developing programs that enables your computer to work for you.

An Adobe Illustrator Alternative

Dump the yearly Adobe subscription and replace it with a powerful illustration tool (Affinity Designer).

Digitizing your Photographs

Learn how the archives digitizes and preserves photographic images.

If you would like to request a specific training topic or have any questions about the training services the Library provides, please contact the Library at 516-367-6872, email libraryhelp@cshl.edu.