“Big Data: new roles and opportunities for new librarians” is the next session of the IFLA /ALA 2016 webinar series “New Librarians Global Connection: best practices, models and recommendations”.

“Big data is here. It is coming to your world faster than you expect. Business, the tech world, and higher education are abuzz with discussions and predictions about big data. It is important to understand big data now because it affects libraries directly and tangentially; directly because your library can use big data tools to analyze your big data sets; and tangentially, as the faculty at your school will increasingly incorporate big data into their research” - Keeping Up With... Big Data – ACRL.

"One exabyte of data is the equivalent of more than 4,000 times the information stored in the US Library of Congress"  - Big data-The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity - McKinsey&Company.

For the fifth consecutive year, IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning and IFLA New Professionals Special Interest Group are partnering with the American Library Association (ALA) to present a series of free quarterly webinars on issues of interest to new librarians, library associations and library schools, library-decision makers, and all library workers.

“Big Data: new roles and opportunities for new librarians” is the topic of the upcoming webinar .

Date:  15 June 2016
Time: 2:00 p.m. CDT - 3:00 p.m. EDT- 9:00 p.m. CET. World Clock http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
Webinar length: one hour and 15 minutes.
Where: Link to access the virtual meeting room: on the IFLA site

There is constant buzz about data science, data management, data analysis, data visualizations. How are librarians taking advantage of their skills and learning new ones for this new challenge?

How are new librarians becoming data librarians, or even data scientists?

What Davenport (2012) has called: “The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century“?

What is the edge for the new generation of librarians in the big data world?

These and other focus issues will be discussed in the upcoming webinar.

Glòria Pérez-Salmerón:

IFLA President Elect and President of the Spanish Federation of Archivist, Librarianship, Documentation and Museums Associations (FESABID). 
Theme:  “Clothes don’t make people”: New opportunities for the new librarians

Speakers:

Dr. Martin Hilbert:
Ph.D in Communication, and in Economics and Social Sciences and a faculty position at the University of California
One of his most recent articles is “Big Data for Development: A Review of Promises and Challenges” published in Development Policy Review in January 2016. 
Theme: Big Data: definition, limitations and examples from everyday life

Dr. Michelle Chen:
Assistant Professor at the School of Information at San José State University, and Program Coordinator of SJSU iSchool’s Certificate in Big Data. 
Theme: Data Visualizations Meet Libraries: New Opportunities

Wouter Klapwijk:
Deputy Director (IT and Digital Services) at the Stellenbosch University Library and Information Services department, South Africa. 
Theme:  The Library (Big) Data scientist

The topics for the 2016 webinars were compiled in a worldwide survey during October and November 2015. The most voted topics were: Information Literacy, Public Policies, Partnerships, and Big Data.

The webinars are archived, therefore you can join them, ask questions and participate in conversations with international colleagues live, or you can listen to them later, anywhere at any time. 

Questions and requests for information:

• Maria Violeta Bertolini and Milan Vasiljevic, NPSIG #newlibgc Webinars Coordinators ([email protected])

Source:
Free IFLA/ALA Webinar: “Big Data: new roles and opportunities for new librarians” – June 15th, 2016