CFP: Libraries & Data

[Darby Orcutt <Darby_Orcutt@ncsu.edu>]

Colleagues,

Please forgive any duplication, but I suspect that some of you 
may be interested in this potential publishing opportunity. Best,

Darby Orcutt
Senior Collection Manager for Humanities & Social Sciences
North Carolina State University Libraries
Raleigh, NC  27695-7111
darby_orcutt@ncsu.edu <mailto:darby_orcutt@ncsu.edu>

[FYI, I will be away from email for much of November, so please don't
worry if you do not receive confirmation right away of your received
proposal. -Darby]

CFP (edited volume):
Library Data: Empowering Practice and Persuasion

Librarians increasingly have access to vast amounts of data, but 
more important than the data itself is how it is handled, 
interpreted, and used.  This is your opportunity to contribute to 
the critical discussion concerning the theory, uses, and best 
practices concerning numerical evidence in libraries today.

As its working title suggests, this collection proceeds from the 
basic observation that library data serves two primary functions: 
informing decision-making and providing support for communication 
beyond library walls.  Some data analysis projects may support 
both activities, but most (appropriately) primarily address just 
one or the other.  Therefore, the finished work will include 
papers that focus on data-driven practice or data-strengthened 
persuasion, as well as studies that may speak to both.

Some topics to address might include:

*how existing data sets may be used to make a case for funding, 
resource, or other changes

*how "non-library" data (community demographics, economics, etc.) may
relate to library trends

*interesting or non-traditional sources of data and how they may 
be used in library decision-making

*assessing the integrity of electronic data (web site "hits," 
vendor-supplied versus internal data, etc.)

*librarians for planning, assessment, data analysis, etc.: a new 
specialization within the profession?

*critiques of commercially available tools for data analysis

*comparing apples and oranges: data on different scales

*a crash course in statistics for non-statistician librarians

*how you have made a potentially "ho-hum" data presentation data 
engaging and persuasive

Please send inquiries or brief proposals (of approx. 150 words) to:
darby_orcutt@ncsu.edu  (Darby Orcutt, North Carolina State University
Libraries)

Deadline for proposals: November 19, 2007
Deadline for completed chapters: March 31, 2008