Bringing Open Data Home Through Libraries
Think about how to find information on quality daycare; or how to convince city council to support a new park; or a small business who would benefit from using local transportation data. What do these scenarios have in common?
- Open data can help answer their questions.
- Libraries can help provide them with the training they need to do so.
Local, state and federal governments are releasing data – the public’s data – in new ways. They’re making it open, accessible and reusable. Organizations with large budgets and individuals with advanced technical skills will know how to find and use this information to their advantage. They’re creating new tools and advocating for their causes. But what about everyone else?
Last year, two states – California and Washington – received a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to address this issue.
By empowering librarians with the knowledge to find and use this data, and creating tools for libraries to teach everyone in their community to find and use this data, we hope to build the foundation for communities in which everyone – not just a select few who are already knowledgeable and skilled – shares in the benefit and promise of open data.
Our team of librarians and open data advocates has now created a curriculum that libraries can use to help their communities find, use and improve open data. Collins Library is one of the first libraries to pilot the curriculum. Ben Tucker and Eli Gandour-Rood will be presenting a series of workshops on Open Data this April. Please contact Ben: btucker@pugetsound.edu for further information.
Need Information? Don’t forget the Collins Memorial Library – Library Guides
Questions? Contact your liaison librarian
Comments: Contact Jane Carlin, library director
Remember – Your best search engine is a librarian!