2013 gis, gil and libraries… mapping in the digital age

GIS, GIL and libraries… mapping in the digital age
A ICTLIG, LIASA event – 8 July 2013
Linda Kelly
UCT Libraries, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Linda.Kelly@uct.ac.za
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Creating awareness
&
starting the conversations
Source:http://www.abcteach.com/free/s/solarsystem8pcolor.jpg

How did you navigate to this venue?

Contents
Asking the unanswerable: What is GIS?
GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week
My intro to GIS Librarianship
Data is key: linking RDM with GIS
What is happening at UCT Libraries?
Fun examples
Fun exercise
A sketch map for going forward

Asking the unanswerable:
What is GIS?

What is GIS?
• “This is probably the most asked question posed to those in the
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) field and is probably the hardest to
answer in a succinct and clear manner.”
• http://www.gislounge.com/what-is-gis/
• ESRI video (Environmental Systems Research Institute est. 1969)
• http://www.esri.com/apps/esriclips/flash.cfm?path=71
• UN Environmental Agency
• http://www.epa.gov/region5fields/gis.html
• Wallawo County, Orgegon
• http://www.co.wallowa.or.us/community_development/gis/what_is_gis.html

Source: http://gisforyourbusiness.blogspot.com/

GIS Day
and
Geography Awareness Week

education.nationalgeographic.com/education/collections/geographyawarenessweek/?ar_a=1

2013 dates
GIS Day Geography Awareness Week
Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17-23 Nov 2013
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/collections/geographyawarenessweek/?ar_a=1

Open Access via South African Journal of Geomatics
(http://www.sajg.org.za/index.php/sajg/article/view/77)

Motivation
Fieldwork
• map collection at ASL
• collaborative project between UCT Libraries and
Stanford University Libraries, USA
• profession of a Geographical Information Systems
Librarian (GIS Librarian)
Aim
• an overview of current literature
• what cartographic services are provided by libraries?
Source:Kelly,L.2013:Maps,Librariesandthe“GISLibrarian”:anInformalReviewofInternationalCartographic
Libraries.SouthAfricanJournalofGeomatics,2(2):163-174.

Some definitions of GIS
• “the infrastructure (i.e. hardware, software and personnel), spatial data, and
application used to inventory, manage and analyse [special data].” (Aufmuth
(2006: 341).
• “GISs combine maps with tables of information… [which allows one to] analyze
natural, behavioral, and social science data with visual evidence”. Todd (2008:
15)
• What sets GIS apart from other information systems or databases?: “At the
core of a GIS is a geo-referenced database. Such databases are distinguished
from all other kinds by the fact that all of their records are given a location on
the Earth’s surface, usually in the form of coordinates, such as latitude and
longitude.” Goodchild (2010: 377)
• “…new ways that society views, understands, and employs maps. Maps are now
incorporated into processes where geographic and topical data can be
transformed into information that addresses real world issues and research
questions.” (Weimer and Reehling, 2006:292).

Data & GIS
• Houser 2006
• almost any data can be given a physical location
• Data management NB to survey to create inventory of available data:
• library-owned spatial data
• Federal/government depository items
• commercial data
• such an inventory is ongoing through:
• data requests
• coincidental discovery
• collection development
• monitoring of new resources

Data & GIS (continued)
• factors that impact the acquisition of geospatial data are “user demands,
budgets, license restrictions, availability, data formats, and staffing
resources” (Florance, 2006:226)
• acquiring data is considered a service that is provided to GIS users.
• NB to know:
• what map services are possible
• how are these services are generated
• how do such services and systems work within the larger context of the library and its
tertiary institution.

• Weimer and Reehling (2006)
• Libraries are information centers that can no longer afford
to solely exist as map repositories where librarians
organize, store, and provide services associated with
printed maps and associated cartographic materials.
The Library model

What types of services can a GIS Librarian and the
appropriate GIS infrastructure provide?
List of common requests for assistance at University of Kansas (KU) Libraries USA
provides
• finding specific datasets;
• generating a map or image from spatial data;
• converting data among various formats, such as open source or proprietary;
• subsetting data or clipping data layers;
• creating data, such as point, line, or polygon features and editing associated
(attribute) information;
• mapping tabular data using geographic coordinates for point locations, or collected
with a global positioning system (GPS);
• mapping tabular data by linking (joining) to a GIS layer with the same geographic
variables;
• integrating an image, such as a scanned map, into a GIS using geographic coordinates
(geo-referencing); and
• spatial data analysis.
Source: adapted from Houser (2006)

Geographic Information Librarianship
(GIL)
“…profession of providing geographic information
resources and services in a library setting” (Weimer
and Reehling 2006: 291).
Three areas of expertise:
1. cataloging of cartographic materials,
2. print map librarianship
3. GIS Librarianship.

Weimer and Reehling’s (2006) informal survey → used job
postings between 2004 to late 2006 from American
Libraries and C & RL News.
Results → about 24 positions ‘required GIS skills’ and that a
further 12 ‘included GIS as a preferred skill for a general or
subject specialist position’ (Weimer and Reehling 2006:
300).
Is GIL is an emerging skill set that may soon become a required
one?
“…job openings containing GIS either as the primary focus or as
a secondary responsibility are posted frequently”
(Weihmer and Reehling 2006:300).

Levels of GIS services that libraries can offer
(Kowal 2002)
GIS
service
level
Example of Query Summarised
Definition
high-level “I want to make a map of outdoor
camping facilities in Minnesota by
country using this table of data I
collected.”
full GIS set-up
mid-level “I’m researching the socioeconomic
makeup of a region across the country
and would like to look at a map showing
demographic features of an area.”
GIS applications
available via the
Web which require
user input
low-level “I need maps of China, both current and
from other points in the twentieth
century.”
static maps available
through the Web

Service models
• Aufmuth (2006) identifies 3 models used to deliver
information services and data
• centralised
• distributed
• hybrid
• Library as a service point
• Service niche
• Neutral space

Staffing: Harvard
http://www.hcl.harvard.edu/staff_directory/browse.cfm?ld_id=8#unit_165

http://libguides.mit.edu/content.php?pid=347508&sid=2843764

Staffing: Oxford (UK)
http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/finding-resources/rooms/dh

Methods
List World
Rank
Institution Region Regional Rank National Rank
1 1 Harvard University Americas 1 100.0
2 3 Stanford University Americas 3 40.2
3 5 University of Cambridge Europe 1 88.5
4 20 The University of Tokyo Asia/Pacific 1 33.3
5 23 Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology Zurich (SFITZ)
Europe 4 34.1
6 27 University of Toronto Americas 20 23.8
7 256 University of Cape Town Africas 1 21.3
8 391 University of the
Witwatersrand
Africas 2 21.3
9 461 University of KwaZulu-Natal Africas 3 0.0
Ranking libraries not possible (Ellis, Heaney, Meunier, and Poll 2009)
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
Reviewed (1) technology, (2) services, & (3) legislation

Results
(results tentative → 2010 data & not triangulated, e.g. by interviews, etc.)
Source: Kelly, L. 2013: Maps, Libraries and the “GIS Librarian”: an Informal Review of International Cartographic
Libraries. South African Journal of Geomatics, 2(2): 163-174.

References
• Aufmuth, J. 2006. Centralized vs. distributed systems: academic library models for GIS and remote sensing activities on campus. Library Trends, 55(2): 340-348.
• Cambridge University Library. 2010. Cambridge University Library website. (Online). Available: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• Casey, N.M., Smith, J. and Keck, C.W. 1999. Mapping Rodent Complaints. Public Health Reports, 114(4): 361-373.
• Donnely, F. P. 2009. Evaluating open source GIS for libraries. Library Hi Tech, 28(1): 131-151.
• ESRI. n.d. ESRI Online GIS Dictionary. (Online). Available: http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/Gisdictionary/browse. Accessed, 10 April 2013.
• Ellis, S., Heaney, M., Meunier, P., and Poll, R. 2009. Global Library Statistics. IFLA Journal, 35(2): 123-130.
• Florance, P. 2006. GIS Collection Development within an Academic Library. Library Trends, 55(2): 222-235.
• Goodchild, M.F. 2010. Geographic Information Systems. In Gomez, B. and Jones III, J.P. 2010. (eds). Research Methods in Geography: A Critical Introduction. Singapore:
Wiley-Blackwell. 376-391.
• Groot, R. and Sharifi, M.A. 1994. Spatial data infrastructure, essential element in the successful exploitation of GIS technology. EGIS Foundation. (Online). Available:
• http://libraries.maine.edu/Spatial/gisweb/spatdb/egis/eg94142.html. Accessed 10 March 2013.
• Harvard College Library Website. 2010. Harvard Map Collection. (Online). Available: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/maps/. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• Houser, R. 2006. Building a library GIS service from the ground up. Library Hi Tech, 28(1): 131-151.
• Human Development Indices: A statistical update 2009. 2010. (Online). Available: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Tables.pdf. Accessed 08 November 2010.
• Kinikin, J. and Hench, K. 2005a. Survey of GIS implementation and use within smaller academic libraries. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. (Online).
Available: http://www.istl.org/05-spring/refereed-1.html. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• Kinikin, J. and Hench, K. 2005b. Follow-up survey of GIS at smaller academic libraries. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. (Online). Available:
http://www.istl.org/05-summer/article1.html. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• Kowal, K. C. 2002. Tapping the web for GIS and mapping technologies: for all levels of libraries and users. Information Technology and Librarie , 21(3): 109-114.
• Martindale, J. 2004. Geographic information systems librarianship: suggestions for entry-level academic professionals. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30(1): 67–72.
• President and Fellows of Harvard College. 2007. Harvard Geospatial Library. (Online). Available: http://dixon.hul.harvard.edu:8080/HGL/hgl.jsp. Accessed 01 November
2010.
• Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. 2010 . Academic ranking of world universities. – 2010. (Online) Available: http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp. Accessed 26 October 2010.
• Shawa, T. W. 2006. Building a system to disseminate digital map and geospatial data online. Library Trends, 55(2): 254–263.
• Singh, P.K. 2005. Gevernance Issues in GIS Infrastructure in India. International Journal of Rural Management, 1(2): 223-224.
• Šolar, R. and Radovan, D. 2008. The change of paradigms in digital map libraries. e-Perimetron, 3(2): 53-62. Stanford University. 2010. (Online). Stanford University
Libraries and Academic Information Resources website. Available: http://library.stanford.edu/. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. 2010. Institute of Cartography website. (Online). Available: http://www.karto.ethz.ch/index_EN. Accessed 01 November
2010.
• Todd, J. L. 2008. GIS and libraries: A cross-disciplinary approach. Online, 32(5): 14-18.
• University of Cape Town Libraries. 2010. UCT Libraries website. (Online). Available: http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• University of KwaZulu-Natal. 2009. UKZN Libraries website. (Online). Available: http://library.ukzn.ac.za/Homepage.aspx. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• University of Tokyo. 2010. University of Tokyo Library System website. (Online). Available: http://www.lib.u-tokyo.ac.jp/koho/guide/coll/index-e.html. Accessed 01
November 2010.
• University of Toronto. 2010. Map and Data Library website. (Online). Available: http://mdl.library.utoronto.ca/. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• University of the Witwatersrand. 2009. The Library website. (Online). Available: http://web.wits.ac.za/Library/Home.htm. Accessed 01 November 2010.
• Vardakosta, I. Kapidakis, S. 2013: The new trends for librarians in management of Geographic information. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 73:794 – 801.
• Weimer, K. and Reehling, P. 2006. A new model of Geographic Information Librarianship: description, curriculum and program proposal, Journal of Education for Library
and Information Science, 47(4):291-302.
• Wikipedia 2010. Library. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library. Accessed 30 October 2010.
• Wooldridge, A. 2005. A world of opportunity. The Economist, Vol. 376. Issue 8443, p14-16. Also Available at:
http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_QPQDDDV . Accessed 30 October 2010.

Data is key:
linking RDM with GIS

Solving real world problems
“The world around us is being simplified into bits of information. An
increasingly important component of this information is spatial. Where
something happened, how one observation is related to another nearby, and
the implications of knowing our location and the location of many other
things is making the world of information more complicated. The technology
of Geographic Information Systems provides us with a means of managing
the flood of spatial data, so that we can ask questions, critical to modern
society, about the significance of location and distance.”
Source:
Centre for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University
Part of a course description for voluntary GIS Camp (4 day workshops) for undergraduates
No previous training required as “spatial thinking and analysis could be critical to the sciences,
social sciences and humanities alike’.
URL: http://gis.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k235&pageid=icb.page445565

Maps, academia & art: Why are maps important?
• Lalitesh Katragadda - Making maps to fight disaster, build economies
o TED Talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lalitesh_katragadda_making_maps_to_fight_disaster_build_economies.html
• Mapping Social Statistics - Taxonomy of transitions: racial and ethic
segregation in Chicago (Bill Rankin)
o YouTube Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pRcdMVkA3k
o Blog: http://www.radicalcartography.net/chicagodots.html
• Bill Rankin’s Blog
o http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?about
o World Cropland (Projects > Browse by Geography > The World > World Cropland)
o GIS Links (RE: Sources > GIS Links > GIS Primers & A Motley Assortment of Governmental Data

Blog:http://www.radicalcartography.net/chicagodots.html

Data Research Management (DRM)
• Manage & share
research data
• Verify results
• Realise value of
public investment
in research
• Policies of Research
Councils and
journals encourage
or mandate a
research data
management plan
and submission of
underlying datasets
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/mrd.aspx

GoGeo: an example of a geospatial research data management site
(Listed during HELIG Data Curation webinar held Tuesday 30 April 2013)
http://www.gogeo.ac.uk/gogeo/
Intro to GoGeo see YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtBZfv-Rjng

What is happening
at
UCT Libraries?

GIS Librarians in Training
• UCT Academic & PASS Staff Learning &
Development Resource Guide
• Online Tutorials
• Meet as a group: 1st Friday of every month
• VULA → interest & support group

GIS Day Workshops
Starting the conversation
Raising awareness amongst staff
Not a one man show
Challenge ☺ find data!

Finding Maps tab in EGS LibGuide
http://libguides.lib.uct.ac.za/content.php?pid=63609&sid=3023305

Map and GIS research projects
• Post grad presentation
• UCT Librarians partnering with UCT’s GIS Lab
• Librarians
• deal with maps in various depts.
• i.e. Special Collections, Govt. Pub., Engineering,
Environmental & Geographical Science
• UCT GIS Lab
• GIS technicians

Google Glass:
an example of
augmented reality & maps?
See URL: http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/

GIS & map related websites & material
www.gisday.com/discover.html

scimaps.org/maps/map/stream_of_scientific_128/

http://hint.fm/wind/index.html

Hidden Geo-Cache Outside
Type “S 33 56.018 E 18 28.599” into Google Maps
You passed me by without a glance
Maybe you don’t like my sour, yellow fruit?
If you find my treasure, leave your business card

Source: https://maps.google.co.za/maps?q=S+33+56.018++E+18+28.599&hl=en&ll=-
33.933631,18.476649&spn=0.001885,0.004128&sll=-
33.915538,18.656059&sspn=1.930516,4.22699&t=h&z=19

A sketch map for going forward

GIL in SA: some thoughts…
• Understanding the process versus the product
• How to link data with the process in order to produce
the final product
• What is the product?
• Is it a map?
• Is it a geospatial analysis?

How am I, as a librarian,
supporting or bridging
the cartographic gaps
in the
research process/education/our community
to help solve real world problems?

Thank you
Questions
Linda.Kelly@uct.ac.za

References
Referenced sources are provided on each slide

2013 gis, gil and libraries… mapping in the digital age

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2013 gis, gil and libraries… mapping in the digital age