Civic Switchboard Guide
  • Introduction
  • About
  • Context and Concepts
    • An incredibly condensed look at the development of open civic data in the United States
    • Ways of thinking about data: Open data, civic data
    • Defining a data intermediary
    • Where do libraries fit in?
    • Selected Resources
  • Engaging Partners
    • Building libraries into civic data partnerships
    • Finding partners in your ecosystem
    • Common barriers to getting started
    • Selected Resources
  • Understanding Your Ecosystem
    • Mapping your Ecosystem
    • Measuring Health and Capacity
    • Understanding Community Data Needs
    • Selected Resources
  • Library Roles
    • Connecting data users
    • Connecting data producers
    • Showing the importance of civic data
    • Developing civic data literacy
    • Advocating for ethical, responsible, and accessible civic data
    • Making civic data more usable
    • Providing expertise on data management
    • Creating civic data
    • Using civic data
    • Publishing civic data
    • Archiving civic data
    • Increasing the library's capacity to do all of the above
    • Selected Resources
  • Maintaining Momentum
    • Finding resources to support civic data work
    • Support networks and communities of practice
    • Institutionalizing
    • Selected Resources
  • Case Studies 2019
    • Alaska State Library, Juneau, AK
    • Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library, Charlotte, NC
    • Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX
    • Pioneer Library System, Ontario County, NY
    • Providence Public Library, Providence, RI
    • Queens Public Library, Queens, NY
    • Robert L. Bogomolny Library at the University of Baltimore, MD
    • Saint Paul Public Library, St. Paul, MN
    • Western New York Library Resources Council, Western NY
  • Case Studies 2020
    • The School of Library and Information Sciences Library at NCCU, Durham, NC
    • The University of Chicago Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship, Chicago, IL
    • Indianapolis Public Library, Indianapolis, IN
    • Spokane Public Library, Spokane, WA
    • St. Joseph County Public Library, South Bend, IN
  • Additional Resources
    • Civic Switchboard Workshop Materials
    • Open Data
    • Data Literacies
    • Partnerships and Community-Building
    • Library Roles in Civic Data Ecosystems
    • Guidelines for Creating Open Educational Resources
    • Archiving and Preservation of Civic and Government Data
    • Glossary
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  1. Library Roles

Developing civic data literacy

PreviousShowing the importance of civic dataNextAdvocating for ethical, responsible, and accessible civic data

Last updated 5 years ago

What's the need?

  • There is an increasing need for people to have data literacy skills for their careers.

  • Many people would like to know how to better find and use civic data and, at the same time, understand its context and limitations.

Why the library?

  • Your library likely has lots of experience teaching information literacy.

  • Your library is in the position to adapt existing services or information literacy curriculum to continue to help people access and make use of civic data.

What you can do:

  • Work with local community organizations to develop data literacy and skills training

  • Tailor an existing data literacy training toolkit to local needs

  • Fold data literacy into workforce development training workshops and programs

  • Expand the roles and skill sets of library staff

Inspiration:

  • Houston, TX: Fondren Library, Rice University

  • Queens, NY: program

  • Providence, RI: program for teens

Resources you can use:

  • Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center:

  • Data Equity for Main Street:

  • MIT Center for Civic Media:

  • Data Pop Alliance:

  • Community Information Now:

  • Allied Media:

  • University of Washington

  • NNIP and Microsoft’s Civic Technology Engagement Group:

Data Literacy Workshops
Queens Public Library's Data Counts
Providence Public Library's Data Navigators
Data 101 Toolkit
Open Data Curriculum
Data Therapy
Beyond Data Literacy: Reinventing Community Engagement and Empowerment in the Age of Data
What’s Needed for a Community to be Good at Using Data?
Opening Data Zine
Open Data Literacy Project
Data and Tech Training Catalog