Inspire, Advocate, Communicate: Library Data Storytelling
November 20, 2024, 1:00-2:30 Eastern/12:00-1:30 Central/11:00-12:30 Mountain/10:00-11:30 Pacific
This session will be recorded, and the recording, slides, and any resources shared will be available on this webpage within two business days of the webinar.
What can you tell about your library data as a story? Learn how to bring data stories to life for library advocacy of all types, from sustaining the library to transforming its work. Participants will learn about ongoing research identifying classic library stories told to persuade decision-makers as part of the Data Storytelling Toolkit for Libraries project (IMLS). You will gain a better understanding of data storytelling uses for public libraries, and tools to reach different kinds of audiences such as governing boards, executives, and the public and to adapt narrative structures to communicate information and emotion at the same time.
Join storytelling expert Kate McDowell for a lively interactive session to make data work as evidence for your compelling library data stories.
This session is part of the 12 Months to Better Library Data Webinar Series, made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation.
Instructor:
Dr. Kate McDowell
Associate Professor, University of Illinois
Dr. Kate McDowell focuses on storytelling as information research, social justice storytelling, and how the history of library storytelling can enhance contemporary data storytelling. Her writing appears in Library Quarterly, College and Research Libraries, and JASIST, where her article Storytelling wisdom: Story, information, and DIKW theorizes storytelling as a fundamental information form. She leads the nationally-funded Data Storytelling Toolkit for Librarians project to equip libraries with narrative tools for data-informed advocacy. McDowell is an associate professor at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA), where her storytelling teaching was internationally celebrated with the ASIS&T Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award in 2022.