AI tools can help the public sector and researchers work with complex datasets, but there’s an urgent need for digital and data skills training across all sectors. It would be a poor outcome for the NDL if we built it but did not provide people with the skills they need to use it. Multiverse recently found that new technology often goes under- utilised in organisations, and data is frequently mistrusted. Their Mapping the Data Skills Gap Intelligence Report 2024 (
https://tinyurl.com/odiDataskills) revealed that while businesses invest substantial amounts in software, they aren’t matching that investment with skills training, leaving employees at a disadvantage.
Keeping up with the pace of technological change is hard, but it’s essential if the NDL is going to be able to reach its potential. Forrester’s 2023 Your data culture is in crisis (
https://tinyurl.com/ odiCulture) report indicated that 41 per cent of employees often mistrust the data available to them for decision-making, and according to Multiverse, as much as a third of the time spent by employees working with data is unproductive, with just under two-thirds reporting that they don’t even have basic Excel skills. In its design and inception, the NDL
must encourage and develop data literacy, ensuring that those building it and using it can get the maximum possible value. There is potential for the National Data
Library – as an essential part of our national data infrastructure – to act as a showcase for responsible data practices while being stewarded and governed in the national interest. It can become a valuable resource for the public and private sectors and the UK’s research community.
Using the country’s considerable expertise in cutting-edge technologies and well- designed data governance models, including those that allow for safe and ethical data sharing, we can make the UK’s NDL a global leader. As our Executive Chair, Sir Nigel Shadbolt has said, “With open minds, we can build platforms, services, and ways of working to realise the social and economic value in health, education, and other public data.” IP
October-November 2024
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
