Date Literacy as Requirement for China’s Library and Information Profession: A Preliminary Research on Recruitment Data

Abstract

The big data era has arrived. Library and information schools should track the emerging trend among employers demanding skills in working with big data. Educators should be able to respond to the demand for talent in this area by educating graduates and undergraduates to meet social needs. The article provides a preliminary outcome of a long-term research project of the School of Information Management at Sun Yat-sen University using content analysis as a method to study recruitment data, from November 2016 to January 2017. The framework of content analysis comes from earlier research on Data Competence Framework (DCF), which is part of the project, and in this period, 358 positions from 147 libraries and related organizations posted online, 66 of which met at least one competence index of the DCF. The study finds that libraries and information institutions, of different types and across various regions, are becoming more and more interested in data literacy as an ability among their future employees.