Data management as a library service is moving into librarians’ professional lives. It has been creeping its way into some libraries and exploding in others. But for most, it is slowly making itself known one way or another. Some libraries have added or dedicated a librarian to be a “data services librarian.” Budgets and staffing limitations for most libraries do not allow for such a specialty. Generally, it is the reference librarian who is starting to experience data inquiries from customers. Librarians who encounter these kinds of questions are beginning to realize that a data question is different from a reference question. Reference questions are the norm; data questions are new. According to this guide, there are two origins for the rise of data questions: the Internet and raised awareness of the need for statistics, especially now in the undergraduate level of education. Students are being asked earlier and earlier in their assignments for statistics to support their claims. Statistical studies were once exclusive to graduate and higher degrees. This guide focuses on data information sources that are online and free. These sources are primarily in English, with mention of a few commercial data sources because of their relevance to a particular subject. The higher purpose of this guide is to aid librarians in the transition from offering an answer to a reference question to providing needed data to create answers, fill in missing information, and clarify research. This work, therefore, helps librarians supply quantitative data to customers. The book’s limitations are that it does not guide the reader to specialized scientific data such as gene sequences nor does it provide qualitative data for chemical structures, which are subjects for very specialized libraries. Each chapter provides a major source of US data, a major source for international data, and a relevant minor source, if applicable. The specific subjects include agriculture and food, crime, earth sciences, economics, education, energy, health and health care, people, politics, public opinion, and transportation. Chapter 19 is the chapter that is specific to health and health care. There is a chapter on spatial data that helps librarians find information on the whole physical world. The educational and transitional features of this guide will be apparent throughout the book. The primary function is to illustrate the difference between data and statistics offered as reference information. Data are raw input from some sort of statistical analysis, for example, a survey, an opinion poll, scientific observation, and/or random information gathering. Random information gathering can be automated teller machine surveillance, traffic monitoring, postings in a paper record, and so on. Statistics are the results of the analysis of the data and generated from data fitting into set criteria. Aggregate data are data produced by some sort of statistical procedure, perhaps generated by a state, a gender study, a population study, and a city, and so on. In seeking data, a customer might ask, “Can you provide me with data about student test scores?” As the reader learns from this guide, there are two ways to answer this customer: (1) does the customer need units of analysis such as test scores in different school districts, or (2) will the customer need socioeconomic backgrounds that affect test scores? The guide also offers information on classification codes of data and the difference between public and private data. Classification codes range from two digits to six digits. The addition of each digit narrows the subject to more specific information on the original subject. Public data will be general such as data on money, political issues, people’s overall opinions, and so on. Private data may cover things like race, religion, and personal preferences. The “General Sources” chapter will aid librarians in forming questions to ask customers and help them narrow their searches for data to support their projects. The book certainly supports librarians adding data to library services. It also realizes that librarians are librarians, and when “all else fails” they will be able to find an article on the customer’s subject. This guide will save librarians time, maybe even years of time, searching for data sources. The book concludes with two very helpful tools in the appendixes. Appendix A explains how to cite data, which is a different process from the Chicago Manual of Style, American Psychological Association, and Modern Language Association. Appendix B contains useful information on survey documentation and analysis software. The move to understand software is a very big move indeed toward data management. This unique guide is an excellent beginning.
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Open Access
Jul 10, 2015
Phillip Nyoni + 1
