Data literacy: in search of a name and identity
| Published date | 09 March 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2014-0026 |
| Pages | 401-415 |
| Date | 09 March 2015 |
| Author | Tibor Koltay |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Data literacy: in search of
a name and identity
Tibor Koltay
Department of Information and Library Studies, Szent István University,
Jászberény, Hungary
Abstract
Purpose –The role of data literacy is discussed in the light of such activities as data a quality, data
management, data curation, and data citation. The differing terms and their relationship to the most
important literacies are examined. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –By stressing the importance of data literacy in fulfilling the
mission of the contemporary academic library, the paper centres on information literacy, while
the characteristics of other relevant literacies are also examined. The content of data literacy education
is explained in the context of data-related activities.
Findings –It can be concluded that there is a need for data literacy and it is advantageous to have
a unified terminology. Data literacy can be offered both to researchers, who need to become data
literate science workers and have the goal to educate data management professionals. Several lists of
competencies contain important skills and abilities, many of them indicating the close relationship
between data literacy and information literacy. It is vital to take a critical stance on hopes and fears,
related to the promises of widespread ability of (big) data.
Originality/value –The paper intends to be an add-on to the body of knowledge about information
literacy and other literacies in the light of research data and data literacy.
Keywords Research, Data, Information literacy, Academic libraries
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
The increased interest in data characterizes not only the highly instrumented scientific
and engineering research, but the social sciences and the humanities, as well. The vast
amounts of data allow researchers to ask new questions in new ways, and –in the same
time –also pose a wide range of concerns for access, management, and preservation
(Borgman et al., 2011). Data sharing is also an issue. To make data accessible, we need
to develop appropriate technical and organizational infrastructures for storage and
retrieval. Incentives and policies for researchers to share data are also indispensable
(Kowalczyk and Shankar, 2011) and data literacy, which carries the potential of
motivation, is one of the essential elements of this infrastructure.
Al in all, digital research data is a hot topic today. The professional literature of the
2010s clearly shows a tide in appearance of articles on digital research data issues.
For instance, the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee (ACRL, 2012;
ACRL, 2014) identified data curation (in a wide sense) as one of the top ten trends in
academic libraries for both 2012 and 2014.
This paper describes the importance of data-related issues and activities in detail.
We are also going to discuss, what role research data (including big data) plays today,
then data literacy will be defined and its relationship to information literacy, academic
literacy and other literacies will be explained. The content of data literacy education
will also be analyzed.
Taking the recent tidal wave of interest in data-related issues, when discuss ing data
literacy, we will rely mainly on literature from the 2010s.
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 71 No. 2, 2015
pp. 401-415
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-02-2014-0026
Received 10 February 2014
Revised 21 June 2014
Accepted 2 July 2014
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
401
Data literacy
To continue reading
Request your trial