Suddenly, I had a whole bunch of data geek links. These involve sources I used, primarily when working as a business librarian. While at it, I figured I’d plug in some local library events.
ITEM: New York State is approaching universal broadband through both access and adoption—and recognizes that affordability is a crucial barrier to adoption.
Late last month, I attended a meeting hosted by the local United Way and other entities, including the Albany Public Library, as part of a “listening tour” to identify shortfalls in broadband access.
You can guess some folks affected- poor communities, rural communities, and the elderly. The day I went to the meeting, I saw this story on CBS News about teens helping seniors learn to use technology. This type of innovative partnership could be replicated across the country.
ITEM: Discovering the American Community Survey – A comprehensive guide to survey information, data access, analysis, and statistics for America’s most extensive survey. If you know the history of the Census, you may realize that the current decennial census asks very few questions. The ACS gathers some of that more detailed data formerly collected from the Census long form.
Also, the new and improved Census Business Builder? Version 5.1 is “A Powerful Tool to Help Guide Your Business Decisions.” I know one of the people who developed this free product.
More tools: These NYS GIS Clearinghouse: Discover free public data, maps, apps, and other resources
Atlas of Urban Areas in New York State
How Can You Help the Internet Archive? This site includes the Wayback Machine, a means to find defunct or changed websites
Local library info
The National Library Week Soiree is on Wednesday, April 26 at 6 pm at the Bach branch of the Albany Public Library, sponsored by the FFAPL:get tickets here.
Book reviews and author talks at the 161 Washington Avenue branch of the APL in the large auditorium Tuesdays at noon.
April 11 | A tribute to the late poet Charles Simic, who published over 60 books, won the Pulitzer Prize, & was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, by Gene Damm of FFAPL.April 18 | Author Talk | Patricia A. Fennell, MSW, LCSW-R, scientist & clinician, discusses her book, Managing Chronic Illness Using the Four-Phase Treatment Approach: A Mental Health Professional’s Guide to Helping Chronically Ill People.April 25 | Book Review | Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions, a graphic autobiography by Steve Martin & Cartoonist Harry Bliss. Reviewer: John Rowen, former president, Friends of APL.
More library stuff
May 2 | Book Review | Milkweed Smithereens by Bernadette Mayer. Reviewer: Bob Sharkey, poet & member of the board, Hudson Valley Writers Guild. (Rescheduled from 14 March, when a snowstorm closed the library.)May 9 | Book Review | Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past , edited by Kevin M. Kruse & Julian E. Zelizer. Reviewer: John McGuire, PhD, attorney.May 16 | Book Review | Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers. Reviewer: Carl Strock, author & prize-winning journalist.May 23 | Author Talk | Israel Tsvaygenbaum, artist, discusses & reads from his memoir, My Secret Memory.May 30 | Book Review | Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond. Reviewer: Anita Thayer, attorney.June 6 | Book Review | The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen Kurczy. Reviewer: David Guistina, “Morning Edition” anchor & senior producer, WAMC.June 13 | Book Review | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Reviewer: Andrea Nicolay, director, APL.June 20 | Special Program | Dave Kibbe, an authority on Broadway musicals, will present From Oklahoma to the Austrian Alps: The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein.June 27 | Book Review | A Conspiracy of Mothers, a novel by Colleen Van Niekerk. Reviewer: Miki Conn, author, poet, artist, storyteller.