Using Data to Tell Your Story

Using Data to Tell Your Story Beth Hayden and Joyce Chapman | State Library of North Carolina

Outline • Why data? • Contextualizing your data • Understanding Census data • Data sources • Examples • Q&A

Why data? why data?

Assemble data that • Accurately answers your questions • Adds credibility to your claims • Adds powerful descriptors to your narrative • Identify • Where will data substantiate claims • Where data will reinforce the story as evidence

Knowing what it is that you want to be able to show through your data is critical to knowing what data you need

Data requires context to be meaningful

Data as stepping stones in your story

Tips for context • Never provide numbers in isolation • Try to answer the question "compared to what?" • The state average? • Other libraries that are similar to you in some way? • Trends in the statistic from year to year? • What percentage does the statistic represent? • Where does the statistic "rank" you among peers? • How does the statistic relate to other statistics?

Data without context "43% of children in Robeson county live in poverty." • Compared to what? • Is that typical or atypical? Source: Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (2011)

Data in context "43% of children in Robeson county live in poverty, compared to the N.C. average of 25% and national average of 23%. The rate of children living in poverty is almost twice as high in Robeson county as the U.S. average." Source: Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (2011)

Data without context "North Carolina public libraries have an average of 1.93 librarians per 25,000 capita." • So what?! • Is it high or low? • Is it related to any other meaningful data? Source: Annual Public Library Survey (2010)

Data in context "N.C. public libraries receive 19% less local funding than counterparts across the Southeastern U.S. Due to the lack of adequate funding, N.C. libraries have an average of 45% fewer librarians per capita than the regional average." Source: Annual Public Library Survey (2010)

Community data • Characteristics of the community that your library serves • Child poverty rate, veteran population, number of uninsured people, percentage non English speakers, families with young children, etc. Library data • Data about your library’s services and programs • Circulation counts, program attendance, FTE, revenue and expenditures, public computer usage, reference transactions, etc.

Understanding Census data

How to find data US Census • Why use? • Reliable (since 1790) • Standard • Recognizable • Often Requested

Census Programs DecennialCensus AmericanCommunitySurvey

ACS Topics

Data sources

www.census.gov

linc.state.nc.us

New resource!North Carolina Public Library Data: plstats.nclive.org

Kids Count Data Center http://datacenter. kidscount.org/

Examples Using data to support arguments

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutions via our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand the library needs money for more public computers."

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutions via our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand, the library needs money for more public computers." • Median household income • % of people living in poverty

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutions via our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand, the library needs money for more public computers." • Median household income – compared to surrounding areas or state avg? • % of people living in poverty – trend in poverty rate over past 10 years?

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutions via our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand, the library needs money for more public computers." • Unemployment rate

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutions via our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand, the library needs money for more public computers." • Unemployment rate – where do you rank in unemployment rate among peer libraries?

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutions via our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand, the library needs money for more public computers." • Number of public computers and resources available • Quantities and frequency of classes, etc.

Example #1 "We serve a poor community with high unemployment. The library offers workforce development solutionsvia our public access computers, job search resources, and free classes, but in order to meet demand, the library needs money for more public computers." • Number of computers and resources available – per capita, compared to peer groups? • Quantities / frequency of classes, etc. – longitudinal trends in attendance and offerings? Computer sessions per opening hour? Classes offered compared to other community organizations?

Example #2 • “This type of special collections materials is frequently accessed by users. The papers of X, Y, and Z are among our most requested. The papers of A, B, and C were recently processed and therefore have been accessible for only a couple years. Nonetheless, they have seen growing research interest during that brief time.”

Example #2 • “This type of special collections materials is frequently accessed by users. The papers of X, Y, and Z are among our most requested. The papers of A, B, and C were recently processed and therefore have been accessible for only a couple years. Nonetheless, they have seen growing research interest during that brief time.” • How often? • What frequency compared to other materials? • Trends over time?

Example #2 • “This type of special collections materials is frequently accessed by users [20 requests this year]. The papers of X, Y, and Z are among our most requested [8, 10, and 12 requests in past 5 years]. The papers of A, B, and C were recently processed and therefore have been accessible for only a couple years. Nonetheless, they have seen growing research interest during that brief time [each requested twice so far].” • Problem with special collections: by nature they circulate much less frequently than other materials. Instead of just listing numbers, we have to provide context for readers to help them understand the significance of these numbers.

Example #2 • “This type of special collections materials is frequently accessed by users; of our six types of collection, 30% of all requests are for this type. The papers of X, Y, and Z are among our most requested. When data from the last 5 years is analyzed in aggregate, these collections appear in the top 10 most requested collections each year. The papers of A, B, and C were recently processed and therefore have been accessible for only a couple years. Nonetheless, they have seen growing research interest during that brief time. A, B, and C have already been requested more times than 40% of our existing collection.”

Example #3 “We really need a new library facility because the current library is difficult for elderly people to navigate and it’s too small.”

Example #3 “We really need a new library facility because the current library is difficult for elderly people to navigate and it’s too small.” • Elderly people can’t use: prove it! • Too small for what? By what standards?

Example #3 “We really need a new library facility because the current library is difficult for elderly people to navigate and it’s too small.” • Difficult for elderly people to navigate • Conduct an annual user survey and ask questions about ease of access, as well as the age of respondents • Track complaints to public services staff • How many elderly or disabled people are there in the community?

Example #3 “We really need a new library facility because the current library is difficult for elderly people to navigate and it’s too small.” • It’s too small • How many square feet of facility are available per capita? • How does this compare to peer libraries? • Track complaints about space/size from surveys and day-to-day interactions

Example #3 “We really need a new library facility because the current library is difficult for elderly people to navigate and it’s too small.” • Difficult for elderly people to navigate • Elderly patrons represent 15% of the population but 25% of our patrons. They check out 30% of our materials. Elderly patrons consistently complain about accessibility on our annual surveys: last year 75% of elderly respondents said handicapped parking was inadequate and 90% said they could not reach the second floor due to the lack of an elevator.”

Example #3 “We really need a new library facility because the current library is difficult for elderly people to navigate and it’s too small.” • It’s too small • Our library has 20% less space per capita than the NC average, and 35% less space per capita than our peer libraries. • Complaints about space have ranked as the top complaint on our annual patron survey for the past 3 years running.

Contact Us • Joyce Chapman • Consultant for Communications and Data Analysis • joyce.chapman@ncdcr.gov • 919.807.7421 • Elizabeth Hayden • Demographics and Reference Librarian • elizabeth.hayden@ncdcr.gov • 919.807.7467

Using Data to Tell Your Story