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. Maintaining Momentum

Institutionalizing

PreviousSupport networks and communities of practiceNextSelected Resources

Last updated 5 years ago

You’ve made a case for resources and institutional buy-in, but there are some strategies you may consider for institutionalizing this work as central to your organization.

  • Expand core and ongoing work of organization to include civic data: Consider service areas that can be framed as inclusive of civic data work. For example, public and academic libraries alike have instructional services that help library users to identify and access information resources and build information literacy skills. Defining this service area as inclusive of data literacy and building data resources into discovery sessions can help to embed civic data into your organization’s work. Or perhaps your government documents program can be broadened to focus on local government information, in addition to the federal depository program.

  • Discuss creating operations-funded staff positions, with either full or partial responsibility for civic/open data: Consider your organization's priorities (and check out our) when defining the positions.

  • Rewrite positions to include civic data: If civic data engagement is being led by individuals in your library who do not have the work expressly written in their job positions, consider formalizing and defining positions to include this work. This will help to ensure that civic data work persists, even if there is employee turnover.

  • Advocate for grant funded positions to become to permanent lines in your organization. Make a case for temporary resources to be turned into sustaining ones and use the reference and outreach data you record to do so.

  • Connect to institutions that are long-living and resourced: Within your , there may be players that are deeply entrenched and act as sustained partners. Consider finding them to ensure your work is similarly sustained.

Library Roles section
ecosystem