Chapter 4: Balancing Research Data Management and Open Scholarship: How Can Libraries in the Global South Traverse the Rise of Data-Opolies?

While emerging technologies under the banner of artificial intelligence (AI) have revolutionised how research is conducted for the better, but on the other hand it has created ethical problems regarding data protection, privacy, confidentiality, data sovereignty, and integrity, among others. The Janus faced nature of AI presents challenges and opportunities for good and worse. Such a scenario calls for a fundamental rethink regarding how researchers in the academic landscape of Library and Information Science (LIS) ensure that data stewardship ethos find expression in the data value chain. This chapter aims to explore how data stewardship can leverage librarians in the era of emerging technologies. Using an interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative research approach, the chapter seeks to unpack how the data stewardship can be useful in the LIS praxis.