Breakout: Know Your Community: Using Demographic Data to Inform Planning
National census data is important to understanding demographic trends at various levels (e.g., national, state, regional, town) for library planning. This session will review Census and ACS data, as well as other national data sets and emerging market segmentation tools that help provide context for library services. Attendees will complete exercises using the Census and ACS data (American Fact Finder) and the IMLS public library peer tool to reinforce learnings. In addition, a sample case study will be provided to demonstrate the use of the various demographic data sets to respond to a need, including a sample of the Gale Analytics on Demand market segmentation custom report that employs census tract and other locator points (e.g., zip code) to search against library circulation data, census demographics, and community marketing data to develop patron profiles. Attendees should come with street address and zip code detail for their libraries and service area information if available.