Library and Information Science Commons^™

Data Services In Academic Libraries – What Strange Beast Is This?, Amanda J. Swygart-Hobaugh M.L.S., Ph.D.

School of Information Student Research Journal

Data services, though a longstanding specialization, is a fast-growing and in-demand niche in the academic librarian job market. That said, it is still somewhat of a mystery to many outside of a small circle in academic librarianship. This essay attempts to remedy this mystification. The author gives an overview of data services librarianship, using examples from her San José State University INFO 220-12 class, “Data Services in Libraries,” to illustrate the core aspects and activities of this specialization in academic libraries. In so doing, she elucidates how this specialization is at once a natural extension of established roles for academic …