I'm Tim Dennis. I've spent 26 years in the UC system building research data infrastructure that keeps running after the grant ends, after the staff turns over, after the priorities shift.
I run the UCLA Library Data Science Center. This is where I write about what that work actually takes.
Recent writing
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GIS Librarians at US R1 Universities
A survey of dedicated GIS librarian positions at all 187 Carnegie R1 universities, and a look at UCLA, the only UC campus to cut the role. Originally published as a standalone report.
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UCLA Research Data Infrastructure: an evidence base for One IT
The public evidence package I built for UCLA's 2026 One IT Research Working Group, carrying the Research Data Working Group's 2021-2024 findings into the campus review. Originally published as a standalone site.
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Teaching bibliometrics with OpenAlex, and finding out my OpenAlex record isn't mine
Building an optional Library Carpentry episode on the OpenAlex API turned into a real lesson in author disambiguation when my own ORCID pointed at someone else's decades of research.
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Fall 2026 UC Carpentries: organizing, teaching, promoting
A two-week online Carpentries series across UC campuses this September: Software Carpentry, Library Carpentry, and a Sharing Research Software session. I built the site, ran instructor sign-up and outreach, and I'm teaching.
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What I don't let an AI agent decide
A tool for building Carpentries workshop websites with any AI coding agent. The interesting design choice wasn't the automation. It was where the agent's judgment stops and a hard rule takes over.
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Library Leadership Is Stewarding the Wrong Thing
Ask what a library leader is supposed to protect and the answers you get are a building, a budget, and a collection. Those are means, not the mission. The job is stewarding the conditions under which knowledge gets made.