Defining data librarianship: a survey of competencies, skills, and training

Abstract

ObjectivesMany librarians are taking on new roles in research data services. However, the emerging field of data librarianship, including specific roles and competencies, has not been clearly established. This study aims to better define data librarianship by exploring the skills and knowledge that data librarians utilize and the training that they need to succeed.MethodsLibrarians who do data-related work were surveyed about their work and educational backgrounds and asked to rate the relevance of a set of data-related skills and knowledge to their work.ResultsRespondents considered a broad range of skills and knowledge important to their work, especially “soft skills” and personal characteristics, like communication skills and the ability to develop relationships with researchers. Traditional library skills like cataloging and collection development were considered less important. A cluster analysis of the responses revealed two types of data librarians: data generalists, who tend to provide data services across a variety of fields, and subject specialists, who tend to provide more specialized services to a distinct discipline.DiscussionThe findings of this study suggest that data librarians provide a broad range of services to their users and, therefore, need a variety of skills and expertise. Libraries hiring a data librarian may wish to consider whether their communities will be best served by a data generalist or a subject specialist and write their job postings accordingly. These findings also have implications for library schools, which could consider adjusting their curricula to better prepare their students for data librarian roles.

Supporting Research Data Management and Open Science in Academic Libraries: a Data Librarian’s View

“…Yet in another study by Lisa Federer, librarians who do data-related work were surveyed about their work and educational backgrounds and asked to rate the relevance of a set of data-related skills and knowledge to their work. 7 The surprise here was that this although traditional library skills were not rated highly by this group, 'soft skills' were rated very highly: -"Personal Attributes" were the most highly rated category overall (70 % respondents ranked Very important +). -"Library Skills" were the lowest rated category (40 %).…”

The Medical Library Association Data Services Competency: a framework for data science and open science skills development

“…Librarians do not necessarily need advanced degrees in a field of science to be able to provide data services to users in that discipline, a finding that has been empirically demonstrated [6] and anecdotally observed among members of the working group and review group for this competency. However, while deep subject matter expertise is not required, an understanding of the methods and practices of science can help librarians provide more meaningful guidance to their users.…”

Gestión de datos de investigación y bibliotecas: preservando los nuevos bienes científicos

“…• Conocimiento de tecnologías de la información y familiaridad con lenguajes de programación para datos (p.ej. R y Python) (Bradley-Ridout, 2018;Federer, 2018;Kennan, 2016).…”

“…• Conocimiento de GDI (Federer, 2018;Kennan, 2016;Rice y Southall, 2016;Snipes, 2018;Tenopir et al, 2014;Xia y Wang, 2014).…”