Project MUSE®: Library Trends - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Library Trends.daily12026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 54 (2005) through current issueLatest Articles: Library TrendsTWOProject MUSE®Library Trends1559-06820024-2594Latest articles in Library Trends. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Introduction to Data Literacy: Navigating the Shift from Hype to Reality
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983004
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The concept of “data” has long served as the foundation for research and scientific inquiry: meticulously recorded, rigorously analyzed, and transformed into reliable knowledge. But for the longest time, the way we work with data—how we collect it, use it, and share it—was often slow, costly, and complex. Fast-forward to today, data is now created, analyzed, and disseminated at an unprecedented pace. Driven by exponential growth in computational power, we now operate in an era of data abundance. This era has catalyzed the emergence of Big Data and aligns with a modern conception of data science that caters to the allure of productivity and growth (Manyika et al. 2011), sometimes at the expense of quality or ethical
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallIntroduction to Data Literacy: Navigating the Shift from Hype to Reality2026-02-13text/htmlen-USIntroduction to Data Literacy: Navigating the Shift from Hype to Reality2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®206432026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Teaching Data Literacy in a Distrustful Environment: The Role of Critical Data Studies
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983005
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American public opinion polls show a sustained and substantial loss of faith in the institutions that were historically trusted to establish and convey knowledge. Institutions including government agencies, higher education, some not-for-profit organizations, and the media produce and disseminate broadly accepted knowledge in many ways, but data is often deployed to support these knowledge claims. Unsurprisingly, then, the loss of faith in these institutions is also manifesting as a lack of faith in the data that they create and disseminate.This loss of faith in knowledge-creating institutions has been occurring for many years and affects a broad range of organizations. Some examples of the loss of faith in
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallTeaching Data Literacy in a Distrustful Environment: The Role of Critical Data Studies2026-02-13text/htmlen-USTeaching Data Literacy in a Distrustful Environment: The Role of Critical Data Studies2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®610252026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Empowering Immigrant Library Users Through Personal Data Literacy Programming in Public Libraries
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983006
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Personal data literacy is increasingly important for people to make informed decisions in today’s data-driven world (Nwagwu 2024). This is especially true as policy changes in the United States and the use of data by law enforcement put immigrants in a more vulnerable position. As discussed later in this article, some personal data are gathered through murky methods without clear informed consent. Those data are often exploited by systems of surveillance capitalism that result in potentially harmful consequences for immigrant populations.We begin by highlighting the importance of personal data literacy by describing known cases of surveillance and data misuse and situate the increased risk of personal data breach
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallEmpowering Immigrant Library Users Through Personal Data Literacy Programming in Public Libraries2026-02-13text/htmlen-USEmpowering Immigrant Library Users Through Personal Data Literacy Programming in Public Libraries2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®1536442026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13A Concept Analysis of Community Data Literacy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983007
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Data literacy is long recognized by school and academic librarians as an essential component of information literacy (Schield 2005). Yet the public library has little presence in any conversation about data literacy education initiatives. Though there is recognition for the role of data literacy in information literacy, the formalization of information activities as literacy skills is not often recognized in the public library realm (Widdowson and Smart 2016). When public libraries do support data literacy education initiatives, they are typically targeted toward specific domains or audiences, such as workforce data literacy or census data literacy (American Library Association, n.d.a). This is problematic because
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallA Concept Analysis of Community Data Literacy2026-02-13text/htmlen-USA Concept Analysis of Community Data Literacy2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®1277802026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13The Value of Data Literacy: Insights from Community College Students
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983008
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As data plays an increasingly important role in our professional and personal lives, data literacy, or the ability to “access, interpret, critically assess, manage, handle and ethically use data” (Calzada Prado and Marzal 2013, 126), has become a critical skill. The importance of developing data literacy has been emphasized across all levels of education, from K–12 to the university level. Many higher education institutions have responded by offering specialized data-related programs and courses and integrating data literacy into existing information literacy instruction. Community colleges are leaders in expanding access to data literacy instruction. At a time in which two-year college enrollment is increasing
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallThe Value of Data Literacy: Insights from Community College Students2026-02-13text/htmlen-USThe Value of Data Literacy: Insights from Community College Students2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®1618452026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Fostering Data Literacy by Bridging Interdisciplinary Divides: Three Perspectives on Data Literacy Support at the University Level
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983009
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Data literacy transcends disciplinary boundaries, yet many academic libraries continue to face challenges in providing inclusive and interdisciplinary support that meets the basic needs of a data-literate student. This challenge is compounded by institutional tendencies to maintain science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)–focused data support, rather than expanding to include the humanities and social sciences, despite advances in digital humanities (e.g., D’Ignazio and Bhargava 2018; Locke 2017). Buzzwords such as “Open Science” and “Big Data” often draw significant attention but can inadvertently alienate individuals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, outside of those who have embraced
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallFostering Data Literacy by Bridging Interdisciplinary Divides: Three Perspectives on Data Literacy Support at the University Level2026-02-13text/htmlen-USFostering Data Literacy by Bridging Interdisciplinary Divides: Three Perspectives on Data Literacy Support at the University Level2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®975152026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Not Another Boot Camp: Toward an Inclusive Computational Pedagogy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983010
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Across disciplines, students and researchers are increasingly expected to engage in data-driven inquiry, prompting academic libraries to play a more active role in developing foundational skills in programming, data analysis, and computational reasoning. These competencies are relevant not only to research workflows but also to professional development, civic engagement, and critical information literacy. Yet the opportunity to gain such competencies remains unequally distributed even among students and researchers at the same university. Implicit bias, structural impediments, and the prevalence of pedagogies traditionally designed for one particular kind of learner sustain the underrepresentation of women and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallNot Another Boot Camp: Toward an Inclusive Computational Pedagogy2026-02-13text/htmlen-USNot Another Boot Camp: Toward an Inclusive Computational Pedagogy2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®1462292026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Data Curation as Data Literacy Education: Grad’s Declassified Data Survival Guide
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983011
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Understanding and communicating about one’s own data is a process inherent to research and thus a critical intervention opportunity for librarians to provide data literacy education. The research process can include pauses in work, both planned and unplanned, that can result in temporarily shelving projects. Remembering what data is where, what the data contains, and what related research code does can be a challenge if these research objects are not properly stored, documented, and described. This problem is compounded for graduate students, who are tasked with learning how to conduct research while taking classes, navigating potentially complex relationships within their lab, and balancing other time commitments
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallData Curation as Data Literacy Education: Grad’s Declassified Data Survival Guide2026-02-13text/htmlen-USData Curation as Data Literacy Education: Grad’s Declassified Data Survival Guide2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®945142026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Fostering Civic Data Literacy in Libraries: The Civic Switchboard Project
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983012
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The Civic Switchboard project, based at the University of Pittsburgh, works to advance libraries’ critical role as “civic data intermediaries,” or organizations that help individuals find, understand, and use open civic data. Since 2017, Civic Switchboard has focused on developing library workers’ civic data literacy, encouraging them to serve as local data intermediaries in their communities and, in turn, grow patrons’ civic data literacy. This article will introduce the Civic Switchboard project’s practical, theoretical, and communal approaches to civic data literacy.Civic data, as used by the Civic Switchboard project, describes a broad range of information related to community life and the decision-making and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallFostering Civic Data Literacy in Libraries: The Civic Switchboard Project2026-02-13text/htmlen-USFostering Civic Data Literacy in Libraries: The Civic Switchboard Project2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®787372026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Navigating Food Insecurity, Many Data Points at a Time: A Case Study of Georgia State University Library’s Public Interest Data Literacy Learning Lab Course
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983013
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Data skills are vital for college and career success. Across sectors, employers increasingly use data to drive decision-making, track performance, and evaluate effectiveness. Thus, data literacy, or the ability to gather, analyze, understand, interpret, and communicate data effectively (Burress et al. 2021; Gummer and Mandinach 2015; Calzada Prado and Marzal 2013), is an important characteristic of career-ready undergraduate students (College to Career 2019; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018; Pothier and Condon 2023; Ruediger et al. 2022). High data literacy levels enable students to consume data critically, make evidence-based decisions, and understand their roles as both creators and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallNavigating Food Insecurity, Many Data Points at a Time: A Case Study of Georgia State University Library’s Public Interest Data Literacy Learning Lab Course2026-02-13text/htmlen-USNavigating Food Insecurity, Many Data Points at a Time: A Case Study of Georgia State University Library’s Public Interest Data Literacy Learning Lab Course2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®2208772026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13Evolving Landscape of Data Education in Library and Information Science Programs: A Content Analysis of American Library Association–Accredited Curricula
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983014
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From moving large datasets to scraping the web, data skills are becoming increasingly relevant to the work of librarians as they address evolving patron needs. An Association of College and Research Libraries report by Tenopir, Birch, and Allard (2012) describes the emerging landscape of research data services (RDS) in U.S. and Canadian libraries, showing that while most libraries did not offer such services at that time, many had plans to do so. Similarly, a 2013 study of research data management services in libraries in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom found that about 40 percent of respondents were planning to grow their efforts to include creating new services related to data management
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/334/image/coversmallEvolving Landscape of Data Education in Library and Information Science Programs: A Content Analysis of American Library Association–Accredited Curricula2026-02-13text/htmlen-USEvolving Landscape of Data Education in Library and Information Science Programs: A Content Analysis of American Library Association–Accredited Curricula2026-02-132026TWOProject MUSE®1044372026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-13