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State Data Coordinator Conference- Day One
By admin | December 12, 2012
Hello from Nashville!
I’m at the annual State Data Coordinator Conference. For those of you who fill out the Annual Report each year, most of the questions on the survey are determined by this group of Coordinators along with members of the Census and IMLS. The Data Coordinator from each state attends, as well as representatives from Puerto Rico and Guam (!) Over the course of three days, we discuss adding new questions and amending or deleting others. For instance, in the next round of Annual Reports, none of the states will separate out the number of local agreements (databases) and cooperative agreements (databases). Other changes include specific language (instead of “borrowers” we will begin to refer to our cardholders as “users”), or clarification of definitions.
The process of adding and deleting elements is full of heated debate before being put to a vote. Often, discussions last all year as different Coordinators administer their surveys. When they have issues or questions, the other Coordinators can weigh in or suggest changes to be discussed at the next conference. Tomorrow, we will spent most of the day discussing these changes. The members of IMLS and the Census also comment, as they work with all our data as a whole. After the Coordinators collect all of the information, we submit it to the Census to be included in the national data picture. The Census is currently working on a few new tools to navigate and use data that I hope to share with you tomorrow, as well.
Stay tuned for news from Day Two!
~Lauren
Topics: Future of Libraries, IMLS, News & Information | Comments Off on State Data Coordinator Conference- Day One
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