Fostering Civic Data Literacy in Libraries: The Civic Switchboard Project

abstract: The Civic Switchboard project works to advance libraries’ critical role as “civic data intermediaries,” or organizations that help individuals find, understand, and use open civic data. Since 2017, Civic Switchboard has focused on developing library workers’ civic data literacy, enabling them to serve as local data intermediaries in their communities and, in turn, grow patrons’ civic data literacy. This article introduces the Civic Switchboard project’s practical, theoretical, and communal approaches to civic data literacy. Because we define civic data as data about our communities, we emphasize communities and a local context in our literacy effort. We introduce three theories and methods that have guided our development of online resources, workshops, and a community of practice: adult learning theory, paper-based data literacy methods, and data justice scholarship. In this paper, we address the value of these approaches to civic data literacy and the ways that these approaches are manifested in our work. We contend that such approaches make civic data literacy education local and personal, giving more grounding and meaning to abstract data literacy concepts. We offer recommendations for library-centered civic data literacy programs that emphasize local relevance, reduce technical barriers, build peer learning networks, and integrate justice principles, ultimately enabling libraries to better serve as intermediaries that help community members engage critically with data affecting their lives.