What is Data Librarian

The chapter documents opportunities and challenges experienced when using big data applications in libraries. The objective of the study was to examine the big data applications that are used in libraries. The big data concept is new, and some librarians are not aware of it while others do not have the knowledge and skills of using big data applications. A structured literature review was done to examine how libraries use big data. The search terms that were used were “big data AND libraries.” The findings revealed that libraries are generating big data. The challenges that are experienced include data accuracy, data confidentiality and security, lack of skills to deal with data reduction and compression, and the unavailability of big data processing systems and technology in libraries. The author recommends the up skilling of librarians so that they are able to deal with the challenges of working with big data applications.