1003.0 - ABS News for Libraries (Issue No. 60), May 2007  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 01/06/2007   
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Image: Public Libraries

PUBLIC LIBRARIES


Pilot Regional Social Atlas Program

Queensland LEP coordinator Dianne O'Brien visited Ipswich Library in early April to introduce the library staff to the Pilot Regional Social Atlas program.

The aim of this pilot program is to enable libraries to produce a regional atlas that is specific to their own area. The atlas is modelled on the Brisbane Social Atlas which presents a set of colour maps and commentaries of the key social, demographic and economic characteristics of Brisbane, at the time of the 2001 Census.

For this project Dianne used MapStats to produce the maps and Census Community Profiles to provide the data for the commentaries. Dianne and the library staff worked together through each profile searching for the correct data in the referenced Community Profiles and entering it into the spaces provided.
    Fig. 1:Example of customised regional social atlas
        IPSWICH (C) (Local Government Area)

        Home Ownership
        Dwellings that were owner-occupied or being purchased
        As a percentage of all occupied private dwellings
        Based on Location on Census Night, 2001

        At the 2001 Census .............. dwellings were either owned by their occupants or being purchased. This represents .........% of total occupied private dwellings in Ipswich.

    The advantages of this project are that not only do library staff have practical experience with researching Census data that they can pass on to clients but the end result of the project is an Ipswich specific product that can be displayed in their Library. When all the profiles have been completed it will be a relatively simple task to update the Atlas with 2006 data.

    The session was enthusiastically received, with Library staff willing to take away 'homework'!

    Want to talk to the ABS about training? Please contact your local ABS consultant to discuss your needs.