Special issue on business and financial data: introduction

In September of 2019, editor Celia Ross approached me about serving as the guest editor of a special issue on business and financial data. When we embarked upon this project, we had no way of knowing that months later we would be battling a worldwide pandemic. As the economics, finance, and data librarian at a university without a business school, I have long straddled the world between economics and finance and social science data. This has served as what I viewed as an advantage in that I could draw from both arenas to devise novel solutions to research. This overlap of academic arenas has become increasingly more common. A call for papers on all aspects of business and finance data resulted in a wealth of submissions. While many of the proposals were not able to be accepted, we were faced with so many quality proposals regarding the business data life cycle and the functions librarians serve with business data that the special issue was expanded to double issue.

Statistics have long served as the backbone of business reference. Finding the market share of a company, providing economic indicators, and locating company fundamentals are the “bread and butter” of a business librarian. For many in the field, financial data at the entity level was their first introduction to microdata. It is increasingly common that business and finance librarians are expected to delve beyond summary statistics and understand the structure and methodology of the underlying data found in surveys and administrative data. Statistical/data literacy is now a common need. It is often not enough to be able to use predetermined cross tabulations regarding a demographic group. We are often asked to provide data with more granularity often at the individual level.

From understanding and helping negotiate the license of a business data source to instructing researchers about data content and methodology to preparing students for both academia and the business world, business and finance librarianship continues to evolve in complexity. In the next three issues, the reader will be introduced to fundamental concepts about business research data that provide unique challenges from more traditional social science data. Negotiating a business data license will be investigated. Data literacy will be examined in great detail from many angles in several articles: what is needed for the student and the workforce; what works in instruction; and implications for librarians and data providers. Data literacy topics will be explored using both theoretical models as well as case studies. Articles will also focus on collaborating with faculty to increase awareness and what is actually used. An in-depth look at data sharing policies will be presented. Researchers and librarians will be armed with the knowledge and tools needed to evaluate and find work around for data quality problems through an in-depth literature review and synthetic analysis. In addition, reviews of the Wharton Research Data Service and the ACCRA Cost of Living Index will be provided. While these special issues are not about COVID-19, healthcare economics is a topic for which we receive many inquiries and many free sources will be provided.

Thanks to the many authors of this set of special issues who collectively present the world of business and financial data from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. I also thank the many peer reviewers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure high quality and clarity. Finally, I am enormously grateful to Celia Ross, the editor of Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, for inviting me to helm this passion project and her endless patience in answering questions, providing support, and recognizing the need for a deeper dive into business and financial data.