Data librarianship in South African academic and research libraries: a survey

Purpose The purpose of this study was to establish the current skills base of librarians working in research data management services in academic and research libraries in South Africa. The purpose was also to determine the relevance of courses and programmes that are currently being offered by library and information studies programmes in response to the needs of research data management services and make recommendations on curriculum improvement. Design/methodology/approach About 13 institutions which were considered early adopters of research data management services were identified as participants in an online survey. In addition, a review of Web pages of existing library and information studies schools was carried to establish courses that would support research data management services. Data collected through the two approaches were analysed and presented quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings The findings reveal an environment in a developmental stage, with limited skilled personnel to run research data management services. The findings also show an absence of specific data librarianship courses within existing library and information studies programmes and a very limited scope for the full range of data management courses within professional development programmes. Originality/value The paper provides information on approaches to further develop existing curriculum and contribute to the data management needs and support governments, funders and publishers' requirements for the discoverability and re-use of research data across research domains.