Interview with Donna Bourne‑Tyson, University Librarian at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia

From the Interview (via Dal News):

An emerging area of librarianship that interests Donna is digital literacy, including data literacy and algorithmic literacy, and the use of information in the age of artificial intelligence.

“This is a completely new frontier. While it’s been predicted for several decades now, the data deluge and the potential for big data and various algorithms to be used to analyze and then reshape society is coming quickly. It’s both exhilarating and slightly terrifying, and it’s more important than ever for students and lifelong learners to be effective users, scholars, and stewards of information. Libraries will be there to help people be engaged and responsible digital citizens in this new reality.”

Now that Donna has spent her career as a librarian, she wouldn’t have it any other way. “But in a parallel universe, I am bottle-feeding orphaned baby elephants in the nursery at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, working as an environmental activist, or possibly being a crazy cat lady.”

Read the Complete Interview (1100 words)

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Data Files, Interviews, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Profiles