Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Why Librarians Can Make Valuable Contributions Working with Big Data

In the NNLM Big Data in Healthcare: Exploring Emerging Roles course, we asked participants, as they progressed through the course to consider the following questions: Do you think health sciences librarians should get involved with big data in healthcare? Where should librarians get involved, if you think they should? If you think they should not, explain why. You may also combine a “should/should not” approach if you would like to argue both sides. NNLM will feature responses from different participants over the coming weeks. Written by: Heidi Beke-Harrigan, MLS, Health Sciences Librarian, Member Services Coordinator, OhioNET There has been an explosion of conversation around the topic of big data. The potential for mining large sets of data in endless, customized combinations could revolutionize healthcare, patient outcomes and evidence-based medicine. At the same time, as with systematic reviews, effective data projects benefit from a collaborative environment and a team approach. One individual is not likely to possess the skills to formulate the right questions, write queries, extract the data, provide analysis and manage data storage/retrieval. Data without context is lifeless. Misused it can be exploited, misinterpreted and manipulated. Deriving meaning from data depends on someone’s ability to mine what’s there and make real connections to people’s lives. That’s where librarians excel. Our work has always been about cultivating connections, enabling acces...
Source: The Cornflower - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Data Science Big Data Source Type: news