RESOURCE: What Do Data Librarians Think of the MLIS? Professionals’ Perceptions of Knowledge Transfer, Trends and Challenges

The Idealis has featured a College & Research Libraries preprint by Camille V. L. Thomas (Texas Tech University) and Richard J. Urban (Cornell Museum of Glass), “What Do Data Librarians Think of the MLIS? Professionals’ Perceptions of Knowledge Transfer, Trends and Challenges.” The article examines the disparities between LIS programs that provide data services training and the skills required of data librarians.

From the abstract:

There are existing studies on data curation programs in library science education and studies on data services in libraries. However, there is not much insight into how educational programs have prepared data professionals for practice. This study asked 105 practicing professionals how well they thought their education prepared them for professional experience. It also asked supervisors about their perceptions of how well employees performed. After analyzing the results, the investigators of this study found that changing the educational model may lead to improvements in future library data services.

Despite the recent growth in data services in libraries, surveyed data professionals felt that their MLIS programs inadequately prepared them on a practical level, but “gave them a solid foundation to then learn on the job.”