As part of the Library Technology Reports series, ALA TechSource (an imprint of the American Library Association) has published “US Census Data: Concepts and Applications for Supporting Research,” written by Frank Donnelly, Brown University GIS and Data Librarian (vol. 58, no. 4, May/June 2022). Library Technology Reports help librarians make informed decisions about technology products and projects.
From the publisher:
“US Census Data: Concepts and Applications for Supporting Research” provides readers with a crash course on the census: learn about the concepts on which the census is organized, the key datasets, accessing data online and through scripts via APIs, and considerations for using GIS, historical data, and microdata. Librarians will gain knowledge they can use for assisting members of their communities with census data and will see how the census can be used for library planning and research.
Donnelly’s summary article of the report, “Crunching the Numbers: What to do with the release of the 2020 Census data,” published June 1, 2022, is available in American Libraries.