Breakout: Delving into Public Libraries Survey Data to Inform Strategic Planning
Using data to make strategic planning decisions at your library is easier than you think! This 90-minute session will provide hands-on guidance on how to access federal data tools and guided templates to help organize data to be helpful in strategic planning.
We will show you how to access and analyze freely available data on your library, your library peers, and your community using Public Libraries Survey data and the Library Search and Compare tool, the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey tool, and other data that you may already have available to you.
You will familiarize yourself with these data sources and then work though templates describing a set of case studies that reflect different planning needs.
In this session, you will:
- Identify your library peers across a range of key metrics from the PLS using the Library Search and Compare Tool
- Identify your library’s context and community’s needs using other PLS analysis and Census data
- Identify other administrative data to add additional detail to analysis of federal data