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

2018 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Federer
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Reading Program ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Data Services ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Medical Library ◽  
Job Postings ◽  
Library Skills ◽  
And Training

Objectives: Many 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.Methods: 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.Results: Respondents 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.Discussion: The 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. This article has been approved for the Medical Library Association’s Independent Reading Program.

scholarly journals Data Librarians’ Skills and Competencies Are Heterogeneous and Cluster into Those for Generalists and Specialists

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-79
Author(s):  
Scott Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Electronic Mail ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Data Services ◽  
Electronic Survey ◽  
Unknown Number ◽  
Medical Library ◽  
Information Professionals ◽  
Library Skills

A Review of: Federer, L. (2018). Defining data librarianship: A survey of competencies, skills, and training. Journal of the Medical Library Association 106(3), 294–303. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.306 Abstract Objective – To better define the skills, knowledge, and competencies necessary to data librarianship. Design – Electronic survey. Setting – Unknown number of research institutions in English-speaking countries with a focus on North America. Subjects – Unknown number of information professionals who follow data-related interest group electronic mail lists or discussions on Twitter. Methods – Author distributed an electronic survey via electronic mail lists and Twitter to information professionals, particularly those in biomedicine and the sciences, who self-determined that they spend a significant portion of their work providing data services. The survey asked respondents to rate the importance of various skills and expertise that had been selected from a review of the literature. In addition to other quantitative analysis, author performed cluster analysis on the final dataset to detect subgroups of similar respondents. Main Results – 82 valid responses were received. Most respondents supported more than one academic discipline and spent at least half of their time on data-related work. Competencies in the “Personal Attributes” category (such as interpersonal, written, and presentation skills) were rated as most important, while those in the “Library Skills” category were rated as least important. A cluster analysis detected two groups that could best be described as subject specialists and data generalists. Subject specialists focus on a smaller number of disciplines and view a smaller number of tasks as important to their work compared to data generalists. In addition, data generalists are more likely to report spending most of their time on data-related work. Conclusion – Data librarianship is a heterogeneous profession with many skillsets at play depending on the work environment, but the existence of two overarching subgroups – subject specialists and data generalists – deserves further study and may have implications for a number of stakeholders. Hiring institutions may consider the breadth of their user population’s needs before recruitment. Educational institutions as well as other on-the-job training opportunities may do well to focus more on “soft skills” as this is deemed more important by data librarians.

scholarly journals Why You Need Soft and Non-Technical Skills for Successful Data Librarianship

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Data Management ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Data Services ◽  
Research Data Management

There are many courses available to teach research data management to librarians and researchers. While these courses can help with technical skills, like programming or statistics, and practical knowledge of data life cycles or data sharing policies, there are “soft skills” and non-technical skills that are needed to successfully start and run data services. While there are many important characteristics of a good data librarian, reference skills, relationship building, collaboration, listening, and facilitation are some of the most important. Giving consideration to these skills will help any data librarian with their multifaceted job.

Academic librarians and research data services: preparation and attitudes

IFLA Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Tenopir ◽  
Robert J. Sandusky ◽  
Suzie Allard ◽  
Ben Birch
Keyword(s):  
Research Data ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Data Services

تشخيص الخصائص الشخصية للمهارات الناعمة دراسة استطلاعية لآراء عينة من القيادات الادارية في دائرة صحة ديالى

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
ناجي محمود ◽  
عدنان جاسم
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
Statistical Treatment ◽  
Main Tool ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Administrative Leaders ◽  
Health Organization

Contemporary organizations have directed their attention and focus on the role of the skills that their administrative leaders have in order to apply them to the areas of the organization and in a way that serves its objectives, represents the goal of the study to diagnose the personal characteristics of the soft skills in the researched health organization. Hence, the study problem arises with the main question which is: Do the respondents of the study sample regarding soft skills differ according to the personal or demographic characteristics of the researched organization? For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study and answering its questions, the descriptive analytical approach was used, and the study adopted the questionnaire as a main tool for collecting data. The study was taken from the Diyala Health Department as a community, as (180) questionnaires were distributed to the administrative leaders working in Diyala Health Department, and (160) questionnaires were retrieved from them, and after data collection and statistical treatment, the study reached a number of conclusions, the most important of which are. There is agreement between the opinions of the sample members about soft skills with a high degree of evaluation from the point of view of the administrative leaders in the Diyala Health Department. One of the most prominent recommendations was to improve and develop communication processes between workers in the researched health organization.

scholarly journals Reimagining STEM Education and Training with e-REAL. 3D and Holographic Visualization, Immersive and Interactive Learning for an Effective Flipped Classroom

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Fernando Salvetti ◽  
Barbara Bertagni
Keyword(s):  
Continuing Education ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Workplace Learning ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Medical Simulation ◽  
Font Size ◽  
And Training

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"> </p><p><span lang="EN-US"><strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">While the 19th and the 20th centuries were, in education, mainly about standardization, the 21st century is about visualization, interaction, customization, gamification and flipped teaching. What today we know about learning from cognitive psychology is that people learn by practicing, with feedback to tell them what they're doing right and wrong and how to get better. For STEM education, that means they need to practice thinking like a scientist in the field. So e-REAL is a cornerstone: developed as workplace learning system in a number of fields (from medical simulation to soft skills development within the continuing education), it’s an ideal solution to root a practical – but not simplicistic - approach for STEM education.</span></strong></span></p>

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