Discovering a Profession: the accidental data librarian
A session at the Edinburgh conference addressed a topic that arose earlier in the year on the IASSIST email discussion list about how people prepare and enter the profession of data librarianship. In general, is there a profession of data librarianship?An interesting question was presented on the IASSIST email discussion list earlier this year asking how one becomes a data librarian. Several people replied by relating personal accounts about their entry into this profession. Out of this discussion came the observation that many were 'accidental' data librarians, that is, they had not pursued a career as a data librarian but by happenstance discovered the profession.
This conversation was continued in a session at the Edinburgh conference: E4. Discovering a Profession: the accidental data librarian. Speaking in this session, Paul Bern (Syracuse University) questioned whether data librarianship qualifies as a real profession. He listed three attributes that W.M. Sullivan in Work and Integrity (2005) uses to characterize a profession:
- a commitment to public service
- public recognition of a degree of autonomy to regulate themselves
- specialized training in a field of codified knowledge.
Paul noted that the first characteristic is one on which we clearly qualify as a profession. Data librarians are known for their dedication to public service. How data librarianship measures up to the next two characteristics, however, is debatable. This blog entry is dedicated to continuing this debate.
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I was feeling pretty agnostic
Well, I guess I should weigh
Joining the fray... My
In response to these
I have a little problem with
Most of the people with whom
This is fine if your job does not require special credentials in data librarianship or if we are willing to maintain our current professional status. The Education Committee of the DLI External Advisory Committee explored the possibility of certifying data librarians in Canada. Many practitioners told us that they would like to have a certificate verifying that they have achieved a specific level of training as data librarians. Our search for professional certification models led us to the Association of Canadian Archivists where we discovered that certification is a very costly endeavour. Canada does not operate its own certification program and appears to rely on the Academy of Certified Archivists, which is located in the United States. The overhead of an operation like the Academy is far more than the resources available to certify Canadian data librarians. As a consequence, the recommendation by the DLI Education Committee was to forego certification and to consider the use of recognition statements for completing workshops.
There is a level of demand at which one could justify a certification programme for data librarians. For now, it appears that such a business plan would need to be international in scope.
I attended the 'Accidental
The part-time nature of many of our jobs makes these last two characteristics formidable obstacles. Of the approximately 60 people attending Session E4, I asked for a show of hands, first, for how many spend 100 percent of their time as a data librarian and, second, for how many have data librarian functions in their job but do not spend 100 percent of their time on these functions. A quick hand count showed around 15 who are full-time data librarians and 35 who do data librarian functions as just part of their job. I can only speculate that the non-respondents in the room do not see themselves as data librarians or as performing data librarian functions.
This non-scientific poll indicates to me that our work as data librarians has been integrated into other jobs. While it is reassuring that data librarian functions are valued and recognized to the extent that they have been incorporated into other jobs, it is the other work responsibilities that are likely recognized as the profession of these people. Consequently, many of us have a professional title that isn't data librarian but which has a specialization in data.
The challenge is to develop a profession around data library functions that are recognized as professional activities until the number of people who are working as data librarians 100 percent of the time reaches sufficient numbers.