WiLS is proud to applaud these graduates of the second cohort of the WiLS Data Classroom:
- Karin Adams, Director of Manitowoc Public Library
- Nancy Baird, Circulation Services Manager at Neenah Public Library
- Karen Hansen, Public Services Manager at Manitowoc Public Library
- Laura McDonald, Marketing Coordinator at Oshkosh Public Library
- Clairellyn Sommersmith, Director of the Winnefox Library System
These cohort members spent the last seven months engaged in library-centric data and research training and recently completed their final showcase to highlight their work. We were so impressed, we wanted to share it with our members, too! Their projects are timely for many library workers; we hope hearing about their work will be as inspiring to you as it was to us.
Karin Adams and Karen Hansen, both from Manitowoc Public Library, focused on understanding real world usage of the children’s area of the library. To that end, they conducted their own novel research study, beginning with a two-week observational period where they gathered data on how patrons utilized the space throughout the day. After gathering the data, they analyzed trends and created a presentation highlighting key findings which included things like the types of activities people were mostly likely to be engaged in (spoiler alert: playing with toys was the clear winner!) to the relationship between programming and youth checkouts.
Clairellyn Sommersmith honed her data visualization and storytelling skills with a project focused on her system and a specific stakeholder group. She spent time taking the various data points that go into calculating county reimbursement rates and creating a visually appealing report outlining each component and walking readers through the process. The result was a very compelling narrative of the process and a new way to present that information to the stakeholder group.
Nancy Baird researched her library’s patrons and circulation, focusing on her data gathering, cleaning, and analysis skills. This involved pulling data from a variety of sources in order to examine where library patrons live, circulation statistics, and experimenting with different visualization options for this data.
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Are you looking for ways to increase your data skills and confidence? Are you unsure what to do with all that data you’ve collected at your organization? Are you looking for strategies to create compelling data-informed stories for different stakeholders? We are currently putting together our third cohort of Data Classroom, and we would love to have you! For more information, visit the Data Classroom website or reach out to Kim Kiesewetter at kim@wils.org.
