Interior library GIS
| Date | 06 September 2011 |
| Pages | 529-549 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378831111174468 |
| Published date | 06 September 2011 |
| Author | Andrew Coyle |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Interior library GIS
Andrew Coyle
Rochester Public Library, Rochester, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose – Geographic information systems (GIS) are used in business and government and have
potentially powerful applications to the library, specifically “interior GIS” mapping of the collection
itself. This paper seeks to argue for the implementation of GIS software in library collection analysis.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper explains GIS history, the technology, design with
spreadsheet and ILS database, statistical advancements, power of the GIS connection, and the
importance of “democratizing” technology for libraries.
Findings – GIS is a powerful tool for any business or organization that keeps inventory and monitors
transactional usage. GIS is going to be implemented in libraries sooner rather than later. The libraries
that implement GIS early will have an intellectual advantage over those coming on-board late. GIS
should be part of collection librarian technology.
Practical implications – Librarians can benefit from visually analyzing the collection and its use
trends. GIS will allow librarians to forecast demand for future allocations, uncover collection strengths
and weaknesses, and monitor statistics in a way that is impossible with current spreadsheets.
Managers will be able to track interlibrary loan trends, branch and neighborhood use volumes and will
be able to match use maps with building layout and design for better functionality and loss prevention.
Social implications – GIS will revolutionize statistical analysis in every field it enters. It is argued in
the paper to be the first modern tool for the twenty-first century librarian, the first piece of technology to
serve the librarian first, with system and user as beneficiary of the product of GIS analysis.
Originality/value – This paper introduces GIS to a new audience and to those familiar with GIS,
applies GIS in a new direction, to the interior space of the library and its items as subject.
Keywords Geographic information systems, Collectiondevelopment, Collections management,
Information technology, Statistics,Technological change, Libraries
Paper type General review
A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the
territory, which accounts for its usefulness. If the map could be ideally correct, it would
include, in a reduced scale, the map of the map, of the map; and so on, endlessly, a fact first
noticed by Royce (Korzybski, 1958).
Introduction
The origin of the idea for applying geographic information systems (GIS) to library
collection analysis came from the much loved and much used but static capabilities of
the spreadsheet. For a small sample a new acquisition spreadsheet and its circulation
data was helpful but not sophisticated enough to be statistically significant in
forecasting, correcting or visualizing real use trends over time. SQL databases can
interact with spreadsheets in a live manner but the analysis and presentation is still
limited to data in columns, rows and graphs. GIS have revolutionized statistical
analysis by mapping complex statistical data in a visual and intuitive way, something
perfectly suited for a data centric and classification rich place like a large library.
Connections between objects and attributes that might not have been thought of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Interior
library GIS
529
Received March 2011
Revised April 2011
Accepted May 2011
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 29 No. 3, 2011
pp. 529-549
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378831111174468
previously can appear in clusters or at distances on a map that when analyzed and
applied can be used to enhance institutional value and resources. This paper argues for
the benefits of using GIS in libraries, specifically, to aid in collection analysis. By
connecting GIS software to the ILS and librarian spreadsheet, collection librarians can
track item use over time and can visually locate what parts of the collection are
moving. A library blueprint with shelf locations is imported into the GIS software,
interacting with the ILS database and the librarian spreadsheet. Implementing GIS will
allow greater statistical analysis of the collection and improve allocations. This paper
focuses on the use of GIS for interior geography, for librarian collection analysis; but
once implemented, GIS can also be used by library managers to improve building
layout and loss prevention and to map the exterior geography of interlibrary loan,
branch use, patron demographics and neighborhood use statistics.
History and implementations in different fields
Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things
(Tobler’s First Law of Geography).
Geographic information systems software is a tool for making maps, analyzing data
and reporting results. A total of 80 percent of all business-organizational data is
location relevant (ESRI, 2010). GIS is both the advancement of geographical technology
and the evolution of statistical analysis.
The first modern GIS system was used in 1962 in Ottawa, by the Canadian
Department of Forestry to map land use and data about soils, farming and wildlife.
The designer of the system was Englishman Roger Tomlinson, who had worked as a
geographer in Africa and was asked by the Canada Land Inventory project to pursue
his idea of using computers to combine maps and statistics. Earlier, Tomlinson had
approached software companies to develop GIS software but was turned down
(Greiner, 2007).
The president of the Royal Geographic Society in the 1870s had figured out a way to
digitize map lines and transmit them by telegraph. But the Canadian Geographic
Information System was the first to database geographic statistics and maps. According
to Tomlinson, “GPS came along and put the teeth into GIS. A map is one thing, but
knowing exactly where you are on a map is another” (Greiner, 2007). In 2007, Tomlinson
stated that he thought GIS would be implemented by just about every modern business,
if the business was not using GIS it was going to be considered old-fashioned.
GIS technology
In the strictest sense, a GIS is a computer system capable of assembling, storing,
manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information, i.e. data identified
according to their locations (United States Geological Survey, 2007).
The geographic component of GIS combines four primary things: location information;
dataset; links (between location and dataset); relative spatial information (the map)
(Briggs, n.d.).
GIS as a whole includes five primary things: user interface; data input; graph and
image or mapping function; visualization and plotting; data storage and retrieval
(Camara, n.d.) (Figure 1).
LHT
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