From literacy to acumen: Opportunities for librarians in undergraduate data science education

With the rapid growth in data access and availability, there has been a growing need across sectors for expertise in turning data into actionable knowledge. Data science has emerged as a discipline to address this need and data science programs are increasingly common in institutions of higher education. In early 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will present a report to "set forth a vision for the emerging discipline of data science at the undergraduate level". A recently released interim report highlights the need for a curriculum that teaches "data acumen", or the ability to "make good judgements and decisions with data". Given the infancy of this discipline, and current efforts to shape its future, librarians have an opportunity to work with educators to enrich the data science curriculum to realize the National Academies' vision. I will map existing information literacy and data information literacy frameworks to the forthcoming framework of the National Academies for data science education. I will identify areas of synergy and potential new competencies that will be needed to support this cross-domain discipline. I will also examine curricula in undergraduate data science programs to consider current challenges and opportunities for librarian engagement