After watching the hit television show What We Do in the Shadows and working on a presentation on file naming conventions, I found myself wondering… am I an energy vampire or a data librarian? Or are the two things synonymous? Do data librarians drain energy from students, faculty, and other librarians when we talk about data? Are the blank stares we sometimes receive from students a symptom of the students’ life forces being drained by two energy vampires, or do they simply point to how unexciting and soul-crushing data instruction can be? In this lightning talk we will report findings from a survey of data librarians summarizing what they do, how they support patrons and other librarians, and how they make data interesting (or not). We will then compare and contrast the services these librarians provide with the popularized characteristics of energy vampires and let audience members decide.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of an energy vampire, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szGmZAPsILQ
