Data Visualizations and Infographics

Graphics which visually represent data or complex ideas are oftentimes easier for people to understand and digest than standalone statistics. A map shaded with different colors to represent religious affiliations or income levels enables researchers to quickly identify trends and patterns. New free tools and applications offer librarians the opportunity to organize and manipulate data to quickly create these helpful graphics. Learn how to overlay data sets on maps, create infographics for library services and instruction, use mindmapping for group brainstorming sessions, produce detailed timelines, process flowcharts, diagrams, and much more in this complete how-to-guidebook.

This complete how-to guidebook provides you with the tools and inspiration you need to use infographics and data visualization techniques in your library to knock your audience’s socks off as you tell your story in a visual format that can be consumed and understood at a glance.

You will learn how to:
use the tools you already have to create a simple infographic;create a library services infographic using Piktochart;create instructional infographics with Easel.ly;create interactive timelines; mindmap your brainstorming meetings;create library flowcharts and diagrams using Creately;create interactive maps with imported data; andcreate complex data visualizations.

Sarah K. C. Mauldin is Director of Library Services at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP, a midsize law firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with offices in Jacksonville, Florida; Washington, DC; New York City; and Frankfurt, Germany. She spent a short time as a public librarian in Austin, Texas before beginning her law firm career in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is deeply involved in library professional associations including the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and its Private Law Libraries, Reference Instruction and Patron Services, and Legal Information Services to the Public special interest sections and its Atlanta and Southeastern chapters; the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and its Leadership and Management and Legal divisions and Georgia chapter; and the Georgia Library Association (GLA). She has served in various capacities in all of these organizations from committee member and chair to board member to president. She was the inaugural recipient of the AALL Emerging Leader Award in 2010 and is a frequent speaker and writer on issues related to technology in libraries, law librarianship, and access to justice. Sarah is also an active community volunteer with projects including the AJC/Decatur Book Festival and the Decatur Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Project and serves as Board Secretary for 7 Stages Theatre. She is a 2013 graduate of Leadership DeKalb and continues to volunteer with the program. In her spare time she enjoys trivia, euro board games, Sooner sports, and almost any fiber art. Sarah holds a B.A. in Letters from the University of Oklahoma and an M.L.I.S. with specialization in Law Librarianship from the University of Texas at Austin.