Library and Information Studies

“Data literate students understand the different types of data and how to find reliable data, consider the source of the data as well as its purpose, determine if it is appropriate for a given context, and use data effectively for research and writing.” - Burress, Mann, Montgomery & Walton, 2021

Use the resources on this page to learn more about data literacy for librarians.

Several institutions have compiled data literacy resources in guides.

• Georgia State University Library Research Data Services
  • Data Ready Series – Fundamental Tools & Concepts
• Rutgers University Libraries Data Literacy
• University of South Florida Libraries Data Literacy Teaching Toolkit

"Data storytelling means any presentation of data using narrative strategies in story form" and can be particularly powerful in demonstrating library value (Introducing the Data Storytelling Toolkit for Libraries Slides).

• Data Storytelling for Libraries Toolkit (looks like it is still in progress)
• Data storytelling 101 webinar (Prof. Kate McDowell sponsored by OCLC WebJunction)

The Research Institute for Public Libraries (RIPL)

• 12 Months to Better Library Data webinar series
• Data Competencies (supported by ALA, PLA, RIPL)

University of Washington 

• Center for an Informed Public

Data Literacy for Librarians (economic data literacy)

• The Data Literacy for Librarians “program focuses on seven foundational data literacy competencies” that uses the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), for hands-on learning, which is an “online database of economic time series data, maintained by the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis”. Librarians can receive a digital micro-credential.
• Keeping Up With… Micro-Credentials and Economic Data Literacy

The Carpentries

• The Carpentries (https://carpentries.org/) “teach foundational coding and data science stills to researchers worldwide”. There are three “modules”: Data Carpentry, Library Carpentries, and Software Carpentry. The lesson curricula is available for anyone to view.

Census Data Literacy

• The Public Library Association (PLA), part of ALA, launched the Census Data Literacy project in 2021. The 6 webinars are free and on-demand.

Network of the National Library of Medicine hosts numerous trainings and archives webinars on their YouTube channel such as:

• Making Sense of Numbers
• Health Statistics on the Web
• Various other digital, data, health literacy topics

Data Literacy Project (Analytics)

• The Data Literacy Project was “launched by the global data analytics leader Qlik, the Data Literacy Project includes founding partners Accenture, Cognizant, Experian, Pluralsight, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and Data to the People – along with academic thought leaders.” (There are some data literacy tutorials that are free and some that are not)

Instruction

• The Southeast Data Librarian Symposium (under Past Symposiums) have several instruction related posters, talks, etc.