To celebrate Love Data Week 2020, we are highlighting some of the people across NYUAD’s campus that provide data services and support.
What is your preferred name? Taylor Hixson
What is your job title? Librarian for Geospatial Data Services
How long have you been at NYUAD? 2 years
Is there a primary community that you work with or for at NYUAD? I work with any person or group that is part of the NYUAD community that is using or thinking about using geospatial data and geographic information systems. There isn’t one specific community that I work with more or less than others. Since starting at NYUAD I have worked with at least one person or team from all of the academic divisions.
How do you assist people at NYUAD working with data? I usually describe my work as helping people get their data into a format that is compatible with geographic information systems. Often times that work is consulting or providing resources to people about how to add geographic or location information to their existing datasets. I also frequently consult with people on steps to take and resources to use for extracting historical location data from physical materials such as texts and old maps.
I try to teach people how to be self-sufficient with their data, so while I don’t necessarily do these things for people in a research assistant capacity, I do provide guidance during the process for people to be able to do these things on their own either by following documentation or skilling up with appropriate training resources.
Can anyone at NYUAD contact you for assistance or collaboration? Yes! In my role in the library, I can work with anyone, and I’m always interested in learning about how people are using geospatial data in their research or work at NYUAD.
If yes, how can people contact you? People can email me at twh2@nyu.edu, schedule an appointment, or visit my NYUAD GIS research guide.