Data Literacy in Public Libraries in Croatia: An Empirical Study

The importance of data literacy in a data-driven world is ever-increasing. There are many definitions for the term data literacy, suggesting different approaches to the topic relevant to many professions, including librarians in public libraries. This paper presents the results of a research study on data literacy in public libraries in Croatia. The results of a questionnaire consisting of 14 closed questions confirmed the increased awareness of the importance of data literacy in 82 Croatian public libraries. The results also showed that librarians in public libraries in Croatia are well acquainted with the knowledge and skills needed to work with data. Their opinions about the role of data literacy in library management and daily library operations were also positive. However, not a single library in the research study employed a data librarian, an expert whose job would be to plan and implement new services based on data management.