Love Data Week: Where’s the Data?

Love Data Week is an international event celebrated each year during the week of Valentine’s Day. Throughout Love Data Week, institutions worldwide host data-related events and engage with important issues in data collection, sharing, reuse, and preservation.

This year's Love Data Week theme is Where’s the Data? This theme asks us to consider data’s journey from collection through storage and preservation. 

In celebration of this year’s Love Data Week (#LoveData26), Rutgers University Libraries are offering various workshops in areas such as data analysis, management and sharing, mapping, safeguarding, transcription, visualization, and machine learning.

In addition, James Dickson Carr Library will mount an exhibit titled When Data Speaks: Stories from People, Places, and Time. This exhibit opens on February 9 and will remain in the library for the duration of the spring semester.

Register for our 2026 Love Data Week workshops

Data Science Basics: Keeping Your Data Safe

Monday, February 9, noon to 1 p.m. (Online via Zoom)

In an increasingly digital world, protecting your personal information is more important than ever. This workshop provides a clear, practical introduction to data privacy and security, helping you understand the risks you face online and the steps you can take to safeguard your data. This session focuses on simple, actionable tips you can start using immediately. By the end of the workshop, you’ll be better equipped to recognize security risks and make informed decisions to keep your data safe. Join us to build essential digital safety skills and take control of your online privacy.

Register for Data Science Basics: Keeping Your Data Safe

DMPTool for NIH and NSF Data Management Plans

Tuesday, February 10, noon to 1 p.m. (Online via Zoom)

Create data management and sharing plans that meet funder requirements using DMPTool. Features of this plan writing tool will be demonstrated, with tips for writing plans for NIH and NSF. Information about selecting data repositories will also be presented. There will be time at the end for Q&A; please bring your data management questions!

Register for DMPTool for NIH and NSF Data Management Plans

R Graphics with ggplot2

Wednesday, February 11, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Online via Zoom)

The ggplot2 package from the tidyverse provides extensive and flexible graphical capabilities within a consistent framework. This session introduces the main features of ggplot2. Some prior familiarity with R is assumed (packages, structure, syntax), but the presentation can be followed without this background.   

Register for R Graphics with ggplot2

Finding and Creating Textual Data for Analysis

Thursday, February 12, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (Online via Zoom)

This introductory workshop provides a brief tour through the rights and technical issues associated with the creation of textual data for computational text analysis in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. We will examine some commonly used sources of historic and contemporary textual data, including primary source collections, web APIs, open data collections, and library resources like ProQuest’s TDM Studio and the Gale Digital Scholar Lab. 

Register for Finding and Creating Textual Data for Analysis

Introduction to Policy Map

Friday, February 13, 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (Online via Zoom)

Introduction to the online data and mapping database, Policy Map, which provides access to indicators related to U.S. housing, crime, mortgages, health, jobs, demographics, and education. 

Register for Introduction to Policy Map

Frederick Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon

Friday, February 13, noon to 3 p.m. (In person at Alexander Library and online via Zoom) 

We will gather during this hybrid event to transcribe primary source materials related to Black history. Previous events have focused on the papers of significant figures like Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, and Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Training on the transcription of primary source materials will be provided. Bring a laptop! Participants may come or leave at any time during the event. Refreshments will be available to in-person participants. Learn more about Douglass Day at douglassday.org. 

Register for Frederick Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon

Topics in Machine Learning

Friday, February 13, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (Online via Zoom)

In this session, we will go over the basics of machine learning and data handling. We will learn how to build data sets ready for machine learning algorithms in addition to learning the inner workings of how machine learning models “learn.”

Register for Topics in Machine Learning

View the full Rutgers University Libraries calendar of events.