Globally, governments and civic organization are publishing data about our communities as open civic data, or data that is freely available for access and reuse. There are important roles for libraries!

The Civic Switchboard project builds on experiences we've had in Pittsburgh, where the University of Pittsburgh Library System, the public libraries, and the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center work together. Our partnership demonstrated to us that libraries and library workers are well positioned to serve as civic data intermediaries -- organizations and people who help others to find, understand, and use open civic data.

Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, our Civic Switchboard project focuses on building the capacity of libraries to serve as civic data intermediaries.

Through this project, we:

• Held workshops that brought together library workers and civic data intermediaries in their communities to map their civic data ecosystems and identify opportunities for collaboration. Read recaps of the Atlanta and Las Vegas workshops.

• Provided stipends and support for libraries as they engaged in civic data work in their communities. Read about the projects we funded in 2019 and in 2020.

• Developed a guide to support libraries and partners as they serve data users, further democratize data, and support equitable access to information.

• Created a Civic Data Education Series, a collection of learning materials to build civic data literacy skills among library workers

This project involves many wonderful collaborators in Pittsburgh and at libraries and library science programs throughout the United States -- it's been a joy!