Definition
A data interview is a process that involves a librarian interviewing a researcher to draw out information that needs to be considered in order to construct a data curation profile or data management plan. Librarians unfamiliar with this term can liken the data interview to the traditional reference interview, with a data-intensive focus. Questions asked during a data interview are focused on the story, purpose, and life span of the data. The goal of the interview is to acquire as much information as possible from the researcher so that the librarian can begin to implement a data management plan, or other data curation activities such as preservation and future access to the data.
Further Resources
Carlson JR. (2011). Demystifying the Data Interview : Developing a Foundation for Reference Librarians to Talk with Researchers about their Data. Libraries Research(link is external).
Creamer A, Morales M, Kafel D, Crespo J, Martin E. (2012). An Assessment of Needed Competencies to Promote the Data Curation and Management Librarianship of Health Sciences and Science and Technology Librarians in New England(link is external). Journal of eScience Librarianship, 1(1):18–26.
Kafel D. (2012). Activities of Regional Consortia in Planning e- Science Continuing Education Programs for Librarians in New England(link is external).
Read KB, Surkis A, Larson C, McCrillis A, Graff A, Nicholson J, Xu J. (2015) Starting the data conversation: informing data services at an academic health sciences library. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 103(3): 131-5.
Witt M, Carlson J. Conducting a data interview(link is external). Libraries Research Publications.