Salim's Proposal: Madison Public Libraries

I propose to do a large-scale Madison Public Libraries project comparing the Madison Public Library-Central with its other branches. The object of this exercise, at least in theory is see if I can come up with a map or two that can further MPL’s objective of getting funding. Conversely, I could come up with a map that might argue against the expansion/new building for the MPL central library. Based on some data I collected during a project in the Public Libraries class last semester, I will pick and choose variables that can forward or retract from showing that MPL needs a new building. At this point I am considering a base map in Madison that shows all the libraries which could be proportional symbols—that increase on decrease based on the data or year.

The map will intersect between MPL-Central and its branches, and compare 1998 to 2004 data. I will try and test out the Sequoya anomaly and get to the bottom of what that means.

Some of the variables/data fields I will use are:

Holdings
Circulation
Expenditures
Visits
Staff
Program attendance

I think this is a realistic project and moves away from what I really would like to do—look at geo coded addresses and link them with circulation records at the street level, i.e. If we can get a hold of this data, there might be away to incorporate it into the above maps.

So in summary—two maps both on a very large scale, one that shows arguments for MPL-Central’s new building and another that argues against it. Once the GIS is done, I do plan to, time permitting, import it into adobe illustrator to increase its aesthetic appeal given that this map might be printed and shown in analog format. This represents a beginning to what we can do with the data—one could use this as a starting point to locate a new library based on population projections in Madison, update this data each year (and therefore the map) and look at how the dynamics of library users are changing.