Maastricht University Library’s Data Literacy programme was launched in December 2025, aiming to support students and teachers. The programme is in continuous development, with active involvement from the academic community.

Get in touch with the team to co-develop

Data Literacy framework

To better understand Data Literacy, it is useful to think about it as a set of competences embedded in the data life cycle, as in the image below. Data Literacy can be thought of comprising twelve competences, the Data Literacy framework elaborates the specifics.

 

Image describing the element a student needs to be data literate.
View a text description of the Data Literacy visual

Data Literacy visual description

Circular Data Literacy framework with a data-literate student at the centre. Five interconnected stages surround the student: Prepare, Collect, Analyse, Archive and Disseminate. Prepare covers the basics of Data Literacy and planning; Collect covers collecting, reusing and evaluating data; Analyse covers analysing, evaluating, storage, interpreting and visualising; Archive covers evaluating and preservation; and Disseminate covers publishing and communication. Ethics and integrity, and privacy and security, are shown as overarching considerations throughout the Data Literacy process.

UM rubric

The framework will be supplemented by a rubric aiming to create a shared understanding of what is expected from students at different levels of Data Literacy development.

The rubric will be structured into four levels: (1) Novice, (2) Intermediate, (3) Competent, and (4) Advanced. These levels demonstrate the differentiation of attitudes, knowledge level, and skills between a novice and an advanced student in a specific area of Data Literacy. The rubric is currently under development, if you already have questions or ideas to collaborate, please contact us.

Teaching tools

​The framework and the rubric provide a basic understanding of what Data Literacy entails and the way it relates to one’s (research) work, including being able to assess one’s Data Literacy level.

We have developed online modules relevant for Data Literacy. We are currently developing an inventory with recommended resources for teaching. It will include both existing and newly developed materials. We will keep this page up to date about it.

If you would like to contribute, request specific content or pilot some materials, get in touch with us.

Contact

Interested in collaborating? Get in touch with us with your requests, ideas, feedback, or suggestions.