Many library and information science scholars, as well as those in adjacent fields, publish research that would be useful to help public, academic, special, and school librarians do their jobs even better. But few practicing librarians have the time to find papers that would be relevant, let alone read them. LJ’s column Research Briefs will summarize in plain language some key takeaways of recent research, and point to the full paper for those who want to know more. If you are a scholar or journal editor and would like your paper to be considered for inclusion, please email Lisa Peet at lpeet@mediasourceinc.com.

Image from p. 843 of Early geophysical papers of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (1947). Courtesy of Internet Archive Book Images

The Civic Data Education Series is an educational program for library workers to better support their civic data literacy and participation in their civic data ecosystems. Following the development of this program, Jane Thaler (Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas), Eleanor Mattern, and Marcia Rapchak (both of University of Pittsburgh) shared their instructional design process and first round of evaluation in the proceedings of the 2022 Association of Library and Information Science in Education Annual Conference with a paper titled “Building Capacity for Library Participation in Open Civic Data Work with the Civic Data Education Series.” The modules concern civic data, which is publicly available information about communities. The Civic Data Education Series was developed to be integrated into Library and Information Sciences (LIS) coursework and for library professional development. The intended outcome is to prepare library professionals to better support patrons and address their information needs.

This series was created in response to growing initiatives surrounding civic data and an expanding community of practice around civic data use in libraries. Despite these needs, many professionals within the library field do not feel equipped to support patrons in their civic data needs. Thaler, Mattern, and Rapchak conducted a survey in 2020–21 and found that the majority of their sample of 91 library workers reported that civic data literacy competencies would be valuable to their patrons. Though many of the respondents indicated they would like to learn more civic data literacy skills, they lacked the opportunity to upskill. The Civic Data Education Series was developed to close the gap and better educate library workers engaging with civic data. Participants complete self-paced modules containing recorded instructional content, activities, and guiding questions focused on learning outcomes.

After the Critical Data Education Series was created, Thaler, Mattern, and Rapchak sought to bring critical instructional design practices and the ADDIE model (analysis, design, develop, implement) to their analysis. This means that they wanted to consider the feedback of learners to improve their modules. After study participants reviewed the modules, they were asked to complete a Qualtrics questionnaire that requested feedback on the clarity, format, and application of the content in each module. Each module was evaluated by two reviewers.

Following the feedback, Thaler, Mattern, and Rapchak identified some key findings to improve the Civic Data Education Series. Reviewers provided specific feedback on how to clarify specific language within the content, how to make updates to the format, and the necessity of providing consistent resources for further reading. The instructional platform—Camtasia—provides flexible editing options, which will be important for updating language best practices and providing additional resources when available.