How many ways can we teach data literacy?

Abstract

Academic Libraries are ideally positioned to teach data literacy. What is ‘data literacy’ in the first place? Is it the new information literacy? Will the ways we teach information literacy limit imaginative ways to teach data literacy? With those questions in mind, the Library of New York University Shanghai has explored multiple ways to teach data literacy to undergraduate students through university events, ‘for-class’ instruction and workshops, and online casebooks. (1) We initiated the yearlong series of events titled ‘Lying with Data’, inviting faculty across disciplines to each address one core data literacy question that students of data science may elude. (2) We offered workshops and in-class instruction that are up-to-date with the latest technology and that fit with the curriculum. (3) We created online casebooks on various topics in the data lifecycle, tackling user needs at different levels. Essential to our teaching activities are two core values: ‘let the quality speak for itself’, and ‘outreach by teaching’.

Keywords

• data literacy, information literacy, instruction, data services, academic library