Driving Decisions with Data

How can you ensure your library’s goals and initiatives support households in your community? This past July we sat down with Jason Kucsma, deputy director at Toledo Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library and 2017 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, to provide his thoughts on libraries measuring up. Grab some coffee and listen as Jason discusses … Read more

Introducing the New DemographicsNow

A new look and additional functionality are coming to the popular resource that provides small business owners and researchers with actionable demographic, company and residential data. Beginning this fall, users will experience a new, mobile responsive, easy-to-browse interface for DemograhicsNow and DemographicsNow: Business & People Library Edition. The new DemographicsNow and DemographicsNow: Business & People … Read more

Introducing: The Dashboard

A new tool has been added to Analytics On Demand. It’s called the dashboard. What is the Dashboard? The Analytics On Demand dashboard gives users the ability to transform patron data and drill down into rich visuals. Best of all, once the three apps needed for the dashboard output are acquired by the library, it’s no … Read more

Data-Driven Decision Making Ideally Locates New Library Construction

Posted on May 9, 2016

When Dedham Public Library realized the time had come to replace both its 19th century main library and early 20th century branch, the primary question was, where is the best place to construct a new library to meet the needs of our 21st century patrons?

A professional librarian with more than four decades of experience in public and academic libraries was called upon to help answer the question. Mary Ann Tricarico, BA, MLS, MA, DA, began researching, tabulating and analyzing information to create a strategic planning document to optimally locate the new construction. “All my career I’ve been involved in answering complex questions about communities, patron populations, borrowing patterns and usage data – all hand- calculated and hand-tabulated,” she says, noting that it’s an expensive and time- consuming activity.

Read moreData-Driven Decision Making Ideally Locates New Library Construction

Gale Products Named Finalists for 2016 SIIA CODiE Awards

Posted April 25, 2016

by: Meghan C. Olivier

The 2016 CODiE Awards, presented by the Software & Information Industry Associations (SIIA), have recognized three products from Gale, a part of Cengage Learning:

Read moreGale Products Named Finalists for 2016 SIIA CODiE Awards

We Love Analytics!

Posted on February 19, 2016

We love our work on the Gale Databases team, as we continuously add informative and engaging new content – this includes keeping up with the latest current events (World History In Context, Global Issues In Context), health news (Science In Context, Health and Wellness Resource Center), business developments (Business Insights), and topics being studied in school (Student Resources In Context, Research In Context, Kids InfoBits), to name just a few.

But we also love finding out how the content is actually used in these databases once we load it – and we look at many metrics, including:

  • Top Searches
  • Top Media
  • Most Popular Articles and Journals
  • Number of Users
  • And many others

Read moreWe Love Analytics!

Strategic Planning Takes a Leap Forward with Data Analytics

Analytics On Demand

Posted 12/3/2015

By Jackie Sullivan and Sarah Withers

Mastering data analytics for public library administrators and their board of trustees is a critical success factor for planning and community engagement. The South Carolina State Library wanted to optimize the strategic planning resources that public libraries currently have available including collection strategy, materials investment, outreach, and programming to drive more value to the communities they serve.

Read moreStrategic Planning Takes a Leap Forward with Data Analytics

Understanding (and meeting) Community Needs
with Analytics On Demand

Mussman, Amber-2By Amber Mussman, Community Relations Manager, Cedar Rapids Public Library

Public libraries in the 21st century are regularly faced with the question of relevance. They fight an ongoing battle for funding, loss of staff, and a constant lack of resources. In 2015, with two brand new libraries open and a very new director in place, the Cedar Rapids Public Library realized that in order to continue to be successful we must focus our efforts on meeting our community needs and telling our story.

In order to be able to accurately respond to the needs of our patrons, we needed to have the right tools. Analytics On Demand offers us the ability to use real data to drive our programming, marketing and strategic planning. Through the use of Patron Profiles, we are able to understand how our library is aligned with the community as well as find opportunities for growth.

Read moreUnderstanding (and meeting) Community Needs
with Analytics On Demand

Bringing the Power of Business Analytics to Canadian Libraries

Analytics On Demand Canada

By Tina Creguer

“In God we trust. All others must bring data.”
– W. Edwards Deming, famed statistician, professor, author

Every day, businesses across Canada use sophisticated data analytics to understand, predict, and gain insight into their customers’ behavior. But why should businesses have all the fun? Libraries have goals and missions to accomplish, and they, too need to understand their customers, er, patrons.

Gale now offers powerful new tools for Canadian libraries that will help them gain deep insight into patrons and improve the day-to-day decision-making and strategic planning. By tapping into your library’s existing data and combining it (in a secure environment) with demographic data using Environics’ PRIZM5 lifestyles profiles, Analytics On Demand helps you learn more about patrons, from income and life stages to online behaviors and preferred social media channels.

Read moreBringing the Power of Business Analytics to Canadian Libraries

Gale Sponsors Library Journal’s Lead the Change Professional Academy

Professional Development for Libraries

Library Journal’s Lead the Change, a professional development program for librarians available online and in a series of live events across the country, is launching next month.  As series sponsor, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, is helping to fund the event and making unique tools available to librarians.

Lead the Change offers timely resources and tools to help librarians stay ahead of innovations and changes affecting the library profession.  Library staff at all levels can participate in hands-on live events, access insightful on-demand webcasts, and participate in a new online learning program. 

Read moreGale Sponsors Library Journal’s Lead the Change Professional Academy