Originally posted on the DataBC site on 12 September, 2012
Public libraries are community platforms. They connect people to information and technology and respond to the needs of community.
Increasingly the community needs access to digital forms of information. This includes machine-readable data, the qualitative and quantitative information that many individuals, governments and businesses rely upon to make good decisions, and which can be easily shared digitally.
Fortunately many organizations and institutions that collect data have come to recognize the value of making their data available for use by the wider community. Governments around the world are proactively releasing the data they collect as open data – free to use, repurpose, and distribute, Since July 2011, the Province of BC has published over 3000 open datasets under the B.C. Open Government License.
Open data presents an opportunity for librarians to meet the changing needs of their communities.
To explore this opportunity, librarians from across B.C. will attend the Open Data Learning Summit on Friday, September 21 at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver. During the one-day summit, librarians will learn about open data, and explore how they can take a leadership role in curating open data for their communities. It will include how-to presentations, moderated panels on best practices, storytelling, other uses of open data and open data leadership for librarians. The event will provoke new ways of thinking about how libraries can support their community to become users of users open data.
Libraries and open data are a natural fit. As provincial and institutional partners, libraries were the original home of open data. Libraries are philosophically aligned with basic principles of open access, free access to publicly paid-for information, and connecting people with the information they need to live as an informed citizenry. And libraries still matter today – in fact, they continue to ensure that data really is open, for everyone. Libraries have a leadership role in helping British Columbians access and use open data.
What does library leadership in open data look like?
First, libraries can be guides to find data that is available. Interested in health or socio-economic issues for your community? Libraries can curate websites, datasets and connections with researchers who are also interested in the same issues.
Second, libraries can provide programming to support open data literacy and facilitate the use of open data in their communities. Many community members may not understand the value of data, or have the skills to use it. Librarians can bridge this gap by teaching data literacy. This fits in with their existing roles to support learning, connect people with information and develop communities.
Third, libraries can lead by example by making their own data available in an open format. Who knows what clever apps and creative visualizations may be developed by people with ready access to library collection and usage data? Releasing this information would model transparency and accountability, draw attention to the wealth of resources in libraries, and show how these resources are used.
Public libraries are the creation space, the community gathering space, the place to go to meet information needs. They have a unique and critical community development role. “Libraries serve a vital and important mission in today’s society, and in tomorrow’s society,” says David Lankes, Syracuse University iSchool professor. “That mission that has driven libraries for the past 3,000 years is in service of a better tomorrow. That mission is hope through knowledge and the empowerment of the individual.”
Today, more than ever, in our high-tech, wired world, information is power.
And that’s why open data is so important. It’s the fundamental concept of openness that drives the work of libraries and empowers individuals.
Librarians have an opportunity to be professional leaders of the open data movement – the folks who can help citizens find meaning in this wealth of information. Libraries are naturally interested in the relationship among people, information and technology, so the open data movement provides a natural leadership area for libraries.
The Open Data Learning Summit is a vital step in the evolution and transformation of libraries in service to communities.
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