Wrangling Library Data: Analytics, Dashboards, and Spreadsheets

Keynote Speaker: Tabatha Farney - tfarney@uccs.edu

Session Time: 9:00 - 9:45 a.m. CST

Keynote Session Title: Being a True Analytics Advocate

Session Description: Data is everywhere in the library world. No matter what team or department you are in, you have access to numerous data points on a regular basis. Analyzing data for the decision making process is a step in the right direction. To truly leverage the greater potential of that data, be an analytics advocate. Anyone can be an analytics advocate--it all starts by being intentional in the library data tracked and analyzed. These small steps can revolutionize how your library uses data.

Speaker Bio: Tabatha Farney is the Director of Web Services and Emerging Technologies for the Kraemer Family Library at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. She is an avid analytics enthusiast with more than ten years of experience and she enjoys customizing Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and other data tracking services for library-specific websites and search tools. Her recent book, Using Digital Analytics for Smart Assessment, introduces the concept of digital analytics for libraries. Tabatha has presented her analytics research at national conferences and served as an analytics consultant for various library organizations. She is a co-founder and current co-chair of The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA)’s Altmetrics and Digital Analytics Interest Group.

Speaker: Linda Hofschire - Hofschire_L@cde.state.co.us

Session Time: 10:00 - 10:45 a.m. CST

Session Title: Data Visualization for the Rest of Us: A Beginner's Guide

Session Description: You don’t have to be a graphic designer to present your library statistics in a way that effectively communicates value. In this session, you’ll learn quick and easy tips for displaying your statistics so that they tell a powerful story about your library, whether your data visualization aspirations consist of adding a few Excel charts to a board report or designing a complex infographic for your website.

Speaker Bio: Linda Hofschire is the Director of the Colorado State Library’s Library Research Service (LRS). She has more than 20 years of experience working in social science research and evaluation. At LRS, she manages a variety of research and evaluation projects including outcome-based evaluations of state library programs and a national continuing education event, the Research Institute for Public Libraries (RIPL). She also serves as the chair of ALA’s Committee on Research and Statistics. Hofschire has an MA and PhD in Mass Media from Michigan State University, and an MLIS from the University of Illinois. She is passionate about making data accessible and meaningful to users.

Speaker: Corrine Syster - ccsyster@hacc.edu

Session Time: 10:00 - 10:45 a.m. CST

Session Title: Data without Dollars: From Google Forms to Live Reports

Session Description: Through the use of Google products, you can collect raw data and turn it into a wealth of useful information about how your space is being used and when you are busiest. In this session, you will learn about the process, tools, features, and formulas you need to create an up-to-date user-friendly website with information about how your library is being used and what your staff is doing. You will learn about the challenges faced, the solutions implemented, and how you can collect and report information about your library.

Speaker Bio: Corrine is a librarian at the Harrisburg campuses of the Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, PA. In addition to her instruction and reference duties, she has taken on a leadership role in the collection, interpretation, and sharing of data. What started 5 years ago as a way for her to report her own appointments has turned into a comprehensive collection of reference, instruction, and building usage data for all five campuses.

Speaker: Daniel Jergovic - d.jergovic@northeastern.edu

Session Time: 10:00 - 10:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: The Evolution of Cataloging: Best Practices for Metadata Management and Measuring Metadata Quality

Session Description: Although metadata professionals continue to perform traditional activities such as original cataloging and subject analysis, responsibilities have evolved to include metadata analysis, enhancement, normalization, and quality control. At Northeastern University, the Digital Metadata Unit works collaboratively with library and external partners to provide access to variety of digital resources such as Special Collections and Archives materials, faculty research and university publications, media, and electronic theses and dissertations. The Unit utilizes various tools and resources such as Google Forms and Sheets, scripts and regular expressions, Open Refine, and Marc Edit, to improve and enhance the discovery experience. In terms of quality control, we have implemented rigorous, yet flexible, benchmarks based on RDA standards, Digital Commonwealth Metadata Requirements, and DLF/Aquifer Guidelines. Furthermore, our Digital Repository provides robust versioning, validation, and export/import features which enable us to access multiple versions of a particular metadata record, automatically screen metadata for structural problems and issues, and bulk update thousands of records within a short period of time.

Speaker Bio: Daniel Jergovic is Digital Metadata Supervisor at Northeastern University’s Snell Library in Boston, MA. He works with a team of metadata specialists, as well as with the Library’s Archives & Special Collections and Digital Humanities units. Previously, Daniel held metadata librarian positions at University of South Florida, University of Washington, and San Diego State University. He is a current member of the ALA/ALCTS CaMMS Committee on Cataloging: Description & Access (CC:DA) and has also served on several other national ALCTS committees, including the Nominating Committee, Leadership Development, and Chair of the Recruitment and Mentoring Committee. He received his Bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University and his Master’s degree in Library Science from State University of New York at Albany.

Speaker: Karen Kohn - karen.kohn@temple.edu

Session Time: 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. CST

Session Title: A Multidimensional Review of an Approval Plan

Session Description: Most large libraries rely on approval plans for book purchasing, but the very nature of approval plans – the large number of books that arrive and the breadth of the criteria used to select them – can make it difficult to know if the plan is effectively meeting the library’s goals. In this case, the goals were to purchase items that were expected to be used while ensuring that key publishers were represented in the collection. This presentation will show how the presenter used vendor reports, the ILS, and data visualization software to collect and combine data with the intent of evaluating approval plans based on pricing and number of loans. Reports from the vendor showing what books had been shipped were combined with circulation data from the ILS (Ex Libris’ Alma). The analysis was broken down by subject area and publisher, with the measures under consideration being price, circulation, and number of books received. Visualizations created in Microsoft Power BI made a fine-tuned analysis possible. The presenter will explain the calculations that were made based on the data and how these were used to recommend adjustments to her library’s approval plans.

Speaker Bio: Karen Kohn is Collections Analysis Librarian at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She is the author of Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians, published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2015. She has published articles in College & Research Libraries, Collection Management, and Journal of Documentation and has presented on collection evaluation at the Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serials Acquisitions and the Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge.

Speakers: Amanda Owens - Amanda.owens@tulsalibrary.org and Micah Wulfers - micah.wulfers@tulsalibrary.org

Session Time: 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. CST

Session Title: Building Better Reports

Session Description: Tulsa City County Library has made many system changes in order to gather better data. This presentation will discuss how these changes have benefited our library system, what kind of reporting we use to make decisions, and the outcomes of these decisions.

Speaker Bio: Amanda selects Adult Fiction for the Tulsa City County Library System in Tulsa, OK. She has been working in Collection Management for nine years and previously worked as a branch manager and a youth librarian.

Speaker Bio: Micah is the Bibliographic Services Manager at Tulsa City County Library in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Speaker: Kristen Mastel - meye0539@umn.edu

Session Time: 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. CST

Session Title: Visualizing Contacts and Connections within Extension Using Gelphi

Session Description: While we may know who the key players are that we connect with in departments, a full network analysis of e-mail contacts can locate the intersections between projects and researchers. Using Gelphi and Immersion, I conducted a network analysis of my e-mail in order to determine areas of opportunity and connection with my liaison department of cooperative extension in order to answer the following questions: What patterns did I see? What surprised me? What might I do differently with my network to reach underserved groups? Networking tools are just one technique you can use to possibly uncover additional outreach and engagement opportunities.

Speaker Bio: Kristen Mastel is an Outreach and Instruction Librarian at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. She received her Master's of Library Science from Indiana University, and her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota- Morris. Her research areas of interest include instruction, information literacy, outreach, and instructional design. Kristen is a Past President of the Minnesota Library Association. She also is a Director of the United States Agricultural Information Network.

Speaker: Gregory A. Smith - greg@liberty.edu

Session Time: 1:00 - 1:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: An Old Tool with Enduring Value: Using Excel to Prepare Data for Analysis

Session Description: Microsoft Excel was first released on the Windows platform 30 years ago and has since become widely used. Although new tools for manipulating, analyzing, and visualizing data are constantly emerging, Excel remains a potent tool—and not just because of newer features such as PivotTables, Data Tools, Analysis ToolPak, Sparklines, and the like. Simple functions such as TRIM, MID, SUBSTITUTE, FIND, ROUNDDOWN, and VLOOKUP can be used to manipulate data sets in powerful ways.

This session will apply selected functions to realistic library data sets. Demonstrations will include:

• deriving time-series categories from date and time stamps
• dealing with messy data points such as call numbers and publisher names
• manipulating textual data (removing extraneous punctuation and symbols, eliminating stopwords, identifying misspellings and themes, etc.)

Viewers will gain access to takeaway resources—both handouts and spreadsheets with utilitarian functions.

Speaker Bio: Greg Smith began working in libraries 25 years ago and has held data-intensive positions for more than a decade. In his current role, Director of Management Information Services at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, he oversees the main library's budget and assessment functions. He has published and presented in various venues on library assessment, planning, and budgeting, among other topics.

Speaker: Kristin Whitehair - kwhitehair@saint-lukes.org

Session Time: 1:00 - 1:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Finding Your Meaningful Metrics

Session Description: The goal of this session will be to develop a game plan for data analysis. We have all seen reports and presentations that are overloaded with Excel graph after Excel chart after Excel graph. Your core message can be lost in forest of data. The goal of this session is to help you develop a plan regarding what data is important, and how to report the library's value to stakeholders. The presenter will use the example of her library's recent annual report that identified metrics meaningful to users, developed a plan to obtain and analyze data, and presented the findings in a single page report. Data analysis tools used to develop this report include a time study, pivot tables, and date subtraction Excel formulas.

Speaker Bio: Whitehair is a librarian with over a decade of experience in libraries including academic, medical, and public library systems. With experience communicating quantitative information to diverse audiences, Whitehair enjoys the challenge of data analysis and developing a clear message around findings. Professional service experience includes serving on the following national committees: ALA's Committee on Research and Statistics and the PLA Public Library Data Service committee. Whitehair also holds a Master's of Library & Information Sciences (LSU, 2004) and Master's of Public Administration (KU, 2011).

Speaker: Steve Potter - spotter@mymcpl.org

Session Time: 1:00 - 1:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Hitting the Target: Using Market Segments to More Effectively Produce Library Service

Session Description: There is an old marketing heuristic that if you market to everyone, you are really marketing to no one. Broad messaging and “shotgun” approaches may seem like a good way to get out the message, but it tends to be very ineffective. Learn how Mid-Continent Public Library used Orangeboy to determine service markets, how to communicate with specific user types, and how to more effectively serve those users.

Speaker Bio: Steven V. Potter is the CEO and Library Director of Mid-Continent Public Library. He has been with the Library system since 1988, where he started as a typist after finishing his undergraduate work in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In the years since, Potter has held multiple positions at the MCPL. He was responsible for the system's first website and the project to bring public Internet computers to the Library. He also managed construction of the Midwest Genealogy Center, and developed the Library's innovative "Library-To-Go" automated service locations. Potter is now overseeing the MCPL's shift to providing library access in a digital age. The new Woodneath Library Center opened in June 2013 and gathers many of these innovative efforts in one place. For these reasons, and many more, MCPL was recognized as a recipient of the 2014 National Medal from the Institute for Museum and Library Service. He coauthered, The Purpose Based Library, and was named Public Administrator of the Year by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration in 2015. He has become a leader in the field of local economic development and its impact on public entities. He serves on multiple boards of directors and is an adjunct professor for the University of Missouri. He holds an MLS from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MPA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Speakers: Andrew See - Andrew.see@nau.edu and Mike Taylor - Mike.Taylor@nau.edu

Session Time: 2:00 - 2:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Data Wranglers: Collecting, Storing, and Visualizing Data for Enhanced Understanding of Library Use

Session Description: Expanding on their presentation at the 2017 LITA forum, Andrew See (Head, User Services) and Mike Taylor (Support Systems Analyst, Sr) will present on their efforts to collect hourly real-time occupancy counts throughout the library using the campus WiFi infrastructure and graphically display that data on a data dashboard. Presenters will speak to the advantages and practical uses of visualized data and also about the challenges in gathering data from various sources in terms of determining ownership, need, and negotiating access.

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Speaker Bio: As Head of User Services and Chair of the User Experience group at Northern Arizona University's Cline Library in Flagstaff, AZ, Andrew has a strong focus on collecting and analyzing user data to improve services and inform large-scale decisions.

Speaker Bio: Mike Taylor is the lead for the networks and systems team at the Cline library. He has a strong interest in data gathering to inform the decision-making process and recently completed his Master's in Computer Science.

Speaker: Nicholas Newlin - nnewlin@cabq.gov

Session Time: 2:00 - 2:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Moving from Excel to LibInsight

Session Description: The Public Library of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, serving some 300,000 residents of New Mexico, recently implemented an Internet-based software to track usage data for our 18 library branches. Springshare is a third party vendor behind the popular web-hosting service LibGuides, and for an extra cost provides access to LibInsight for recording and reporting statistics. The Digital Services department was tasked with: moving structure and historical data from Excel sheets to the online format; creating a process in which any staff member can enter records for daily usage of the branch; and enabling branch supervisors and one alternate to modify data and run reports periodically. Usage data includes paging slips, programming, outreach performed, reference and computer questions, volunteer hours worked, and others.

We'll show how we migrated our statistics online and answer questions about the process. We'd love to share our experience with the data, communication, and training required for the move, as well as hear what challenges other libraries anticipate as they gear up for similar projects.

Speaker Bio: Nicholas Newlin has worked with library data for several years in establishing catalogs for elementary libraries, managing offsite collections for the Library of Congress, and advocating for literacy among native Spanish speakers both nationally and abroad. Currently working for Digital Services with the Albuquerque and Bernalillo County Public Library, he earned his MLS from the University of Maryland, College Park and an has an undergraduate degree in Classics.

Speakers: Kari Chrenka, chren1km@cmich.edu and Eric Cronstrom - crons1eg@cmich.edu

Session Time: 2:00 - 2:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Who Does Your Data Work For?

Session Description: The Central Michigan University (CMU) Libraries have fine-tuned their data collection capabilities and have leveraged SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, and Excel to store, combine, and visualize data sets. More important than the tools used, the CMU Libraries has fostered a culture of data-driven decision making that goes beyond charts and graphs. Over time, the Library has created a data portal and has equipped themselves with dynamic ways to obtain on-going feedback from users. This has created a multi-faceted approach to data collection and the CMU Libraries are seeing real-time results. The Library now has the ability to help answer questions that arise in daily meetings and directly influence decision-making processes with context data and information. This knowledge and agility has allowed the Library to better understand the needs and expectations of users, while providing a support for the staff to make informed decisions and strategies. Four initiatives will be discussed that give an overview of how data collection can be leveraged to drive projects and effectively support decision-making processes. With each of these initiatives we will discuss the tools used, the process, and the outcomes:

1. The Library Computer Project: An exploration into if the Library has enough computers to effectively serve the needs and expectations of patrons.
2. The Library Website Project: An analysis of how to best update and modernize the Library website.
3. Printing in the Library: How data and usability testing helped to solve printer and wayfinding issues within the Library.
4. Google Analytics Enhancements: How Google Analytics has been combined with user-specific data dimensions.

Speaker Bio: Kari Chrenka is a Graphic Designer and has been with the Central Michigan University Libraries for 5 years.  She is co-chair of the Libraries’ User Experience Committee and is responsible conducting monthly usability testing sessions. This includes the collection of feedback, finding solutions and collaborating with other areas throughout the Library to implement changes that enhance the experience of users. She received her Master's of Science Degree in Administration in December of 2017, and conducted research on the Library’s computer project as part of her program. During her appointment, her work for the Libraries has been awarded 6  Public Relations and Marketing Awards from the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA), a division of the American Library Association.

Speaker Bio: Eric Cronstrom is a Database Administrator with Central Michigan University Libraries.  He is responsible for building and maintaining the Libraries’ custom applications, data and reporting portal, and system integrations.  Eric has a Master's of Science in Information Systems Management and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science.  In addition to his administrative appointment, Eric also teaches web design, database design, and programming classes in the Information Systems program at CMU.

Speaker: Kristin Briney - briney@uwm.edu

Session Time: 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Data Management Practices in Library Analytics

Session Description: Poor data management practices undermine libraries' commitment to patron privacy despite good ethical intentions. This talk will identify current data handling practices from published library learning analytics articles and suggest four areas of data management for improvement: anonymization procedures; security for data in transit; data retention; and scope of data collection. Examples of potential data mishandling will be presented as well as a description of the corresponding data management best practices and ideas for implementation. The goal is to improve data management practices in library analytics in order to protect patron privacy.

Speaker Bio: Kristin Briney is the Data Services Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she advises researchers on data management plans and data best practices. She has a PhD in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences. Kristin is the author of the book “Data Management for Researchers” and blogs about how to manage research data at www.dataabinitio.com.

Speakers: Clarke Iakovakis - iakovakis@uhcl.edu and Shannon Burke - burkes@uhcl.edu

Session Time: 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. CST

Session Title: Database Usage in Context: Wrangling Vendor, Library, and Institutional Data

Session Description: Librarians have unprecedented access to data about our collections, including usage and holdings data from database vendors and integrated library systems. Our institutions also collect data about our user populations. How can we harness the power of this data to make informed decisions about collection management and library services?

The Neumann Library database at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, reviews, visualizes, and wrangles data into a dynamic, interactive tool for understanding database usage across time. It includes three years of usage data for all library databases, and a variety of usage metrics such as COUNTER, ebook pages viewed, and videos watched. It includes library data—such as source of funding, liaison, and renewal month. And it includes institutional data—such as college, program, semester credit hours, and enrollment.

This webinar will begin by discussing the rationale behind creating a visualization for the analysis of database usage: enabling the library to make better informed purchasing and renewal decisions. We will then describe the process of collecting and creating the multiple datasets that constitute the visualization. Finally, we will detail the process of creating the visualization, including the development of filters and other design decisions.

Speaker Bio: Clarke Iakovakis is the Scholarly Communications Librarian at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, TX. He has worked in both public and academic libraries for about 10 years, in a number of different positions. He is interested in multiple facets of librarianship, higher education, and scholarly communication. He became interested in data analysis a few years ago after taking an online class in R Programming, and he has since worked to learn and integrate data analytics into his practice.

Speaker Bio: Shannon Burke has been a librarian at the University of Houston-Clear Lake since March 2009. She was the Electronic Resources Librarian until July 2014 at which time she became the Discovery Services Librarian. Along with Discovery Services, Shannon manages ebooks and gathers usage data for the library's resources. She has a particular interest in interactive data visualization to aid in evaluation and decision-making. Shannon also has experience working in a public library and is familiar with the data associated with their programs and services.