Harvard Kennedy School

HKS Library Newsletter

New Year, Same Library 🎉

Happy 2023, everyone! Your HKS librarians can't predict the future and tell you how the year will go, but we can help you get all the research and information resources you'll need to thrive. Same as usual. In this email you'll find:

Library hours before Spring semester ⏰
Data Carpentry workshop 🛠️
New: Book a research appointment with an HKS librarian 💻
January Book Display: Data & Algorithmic Justice 📊

Library hours before Spring semester ⏰

Monday - Friday: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Saturday - Sunday: Closed

Exceptions

Monday, January 16 (MLK Jr. Day): Closed
Thursday, January 19 (Shopping Day): 8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Regular hours will resume on Friday, January 20.

Find our full hours online.

HKS LIBRARY EVENTS

Data Carpentry 🛠️

Tuesday, January 17 & Wednesday, January 18, 2023
9:00AM-4:30PM
Wexner 434

We still have a few open slots left in this workshop!

The Carpentries teaches foundational coding and data science skills to researchers worldwide. Every semester, the HKS Library hosts a two-day, beginner-friendly Carpentries workshop that will give you the foundational knowledge to pursue data-intensive research with confidence.

In our Spring 2023 Data Carpentry workshop, you'll learn:

Spreadsheets - how to enter, format, and organize your data in preparation for analysis
OpenRefine - how to clean and fix errors in your data in preparation for analysis
R - how to start analyzing and visualizing your data

Details & Registration

Library Services Desk at the front of the HKS Library.

New: Book a research appointment with an HKS librarian 💻

Before now, the best way to make a research appointment with one of our librarians was to email us or submit an Ask A Librarian request.

You can still do both of those things, but now you can also book an appointment directly! With our new handy-dandy forms, you can choose your preferred time for an appointment on research and data, data safety, or Zotero and citations.

Eight books from the Data & Algorithmic Justice display in the HKS Library through January 2023.

January Book Display: Data & Algorithmic Justice 📊

Our January book display explores the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and the data and algorithms powering it in contemporary society.

HKS Research & Data Services Librarian James Capobianco is a member of the AI4LAM Reading Group, who generously allowed us to base this display on their ever-growing book list.

The books in this display are divided into four topics:

Power: How do AI and the people controlling it create or exacerbate systems of power, inequality, and socioeconomic control?
Identity: Who bears the brunt of AI's consequences? What identity-based frameworks can help shape AI into a more just tool?
Imperfection: What are the limits to AI's supposedly universal potential? Should quantitative optimization always be our ultimate goal?
Humanity: What are the inherent ways humans shape AI? What human elements are difficult but necessary to harness in creating just AI?

Explore the online display to access ebooks, or visit the display in the HKS Library to check out physical copies.