The Data Librarian’s Handbook. Robin Rice and John Southall. London: Facet, 2016.

The Data Librarian’s Handbook begins with an exploration of the need for data librarianship over time, and the evolution that the role has experienced. Highlights of that history include exploring the differences between initial approaches to data curation and preservation by nations, funding agencies, and proprietors of the data. Training and other forms of engagement with data are also highlighted. As the text continues, the very nature of how data is viewed, studied, and aggregated is reviewed and challenged to provide context for the variations in data requests or even data needs. The authors highlight the fact that many consultations reveal a need for data, which was unanticipated and considered inconsistent with their discipline. Questions of ownership, disposition of data, management of data, the need to describe data so it may be shared and best understood, and types of data are also explored. Then the work of the data librarian is explored in earnest. From promotion of data literacy (basic statistical literacy to data visualization to data identification to data creation) to data promotion and access to research data management, the role of the data librarian is established and then analyzed. Other topics explored in this text include the ins and outs of data repositories; an exploration and discussion of sensitive data and how to ensure they are best monitored and curated; the impact that a discipline’s history may have on their reception of innovation in the area of data curation; and finally, it explores open access and its impact on data policy.

This book is easy to understand and well written. The authors give context for all of the items they decided to include in the book and it would be very easy to see how a practitioner may utilize this book to gain familiarity with these topics. At the end of each chapter, the reader is provided key points and reflective questions. As a point of personal preference, I wish either the key points or the reflective questions had been placed at the beginning of the chapter. Sandwiching the chapter between the takeaway and the reflective question would give the reader a guidepost for how to proceed through the chapter and allow the reader to also consider their own questions in addition to the ones provided.

The authors also recommend a list of resources throughout each chapter; I believe a list either at the end of the chapter or at the end of the book would also be helpful for those who have the physical book. This provides the reader the chance to review these links without having to flip back through the chapter to locate them.

The authors attempt to incorporate sources from the Unitd States, Australia, and Canada, but most sources are from the United Kingdom, where the authors are located. This practice may have been due to their location or to a significant portion of resources filtering through the United Kingdom.

The literature in this field is growing, and I believe this growth is timely as continuously more academic libraries are engaging in data librarianship and, as the authors were right to point out, it is more evident in the role of librarians. This text is a superb addition to the literature and raises questions we should consider whether or not we serve as data librarians.—Kenya Flash (kenya.flash@yale.edu), Librarian for Political Science, Global Affairs, and Government Information, Yale University