A library perspective

This article is important because it shows some thinking along the lines of librarian use of large data sets; and since I am working with the digital library community, it is good thoughts to be aware of.

A note on librarian thinking

I know many librarians, and I like to work with them. However, when it comes to thinking, they are different—they love to organize information so that people can find it later. The funny thing about a library is that for everyone to be able to find anything, that means that the organization has generally had to choose an organization which makes little sense to many non-librarians. So, when we interact with the library sciences we must understand the "need" to organize and retrieve the world's knowledge for safe keeping. Other than that, librarians are just like you and me… :)

Cummins, C. (2006). Below the surface: New tools—and savvy librarians—are turning the ILS into a gold mine for making more informed decisions. Library Journal, 131(1), 12-14.

The focus is on how the new library system tools are making data-driven decisions (D3) easier for librarians and management. However, along with these tools there needs to be a greater understanding of data sources and the interpretation of results.

As a researcher, I can see where this article could have benefited from a framework of D3 and how questions turn into answers. I see the Knowledge Discovery from Data/Databases (KDD) framework throughout this article, but I think the nOOb would have a hard time grokking the steps from data to answers.

There is one very nice quote about the utility and practical solutions provided by library DM. Speaking of how nice it is to analyze search strings (both successful and unsuccessful), "It's really like an ongoing, automatic version of usability testing" (p. 14).

Much of this article isn't what some would consider data mining. However, the KDD ideas of questions, data collection and selection, analysis, interpretation, and communication are all present.