University of Michigan (The Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research at University of Michigan)

The University of Michigan’s Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and the University of Missouri’s School of Information Science & Learning Technologies (SISLT) will create a novel dataset about library programming and outreach outcomes to augment the Institute of Museum and Library Services Public Library Survey (PLS). The team will extend the reach and significance of the PLS with data collected by the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS) and the Public Library Association (PLA). The team will aggregate, curate, enhance, and map this data to the PLS to identify effective programming and service decisions. Combining ABOS and PLA data and then housing them in a single location will enable library administrators and researchers to examine the results of library outreach and programming decisions on a more granular basis. As subrecipients, ABOS and PLA will provide access to their data amongst other curatorial activities. The University of Missouri SISLT will provide subject matter expertise, lead the advisory committee, supervise creation of a data module, and help create and disseminate graduate course materials.