Using GIS at Your Library: Home

Geographic Information Systems allow people to not only visually analyze the data, but also to analyze phenomena spatially.  By offering GIS services, libraries are better able to serve their patrons.

This guide was created as an additional resource for the 'Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at Your Library' presentation at the Texas Library Association 2014 Annual Conference. 

The presentation is a basic introduction to GIS techniques and applications.  The goals of the presentation and this guide include an increased awareness of available GIS resources, ability to quickly use GIS sources to create maps with patrons, and knowledge of resources to help patrons with GIS questions.

A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on earth. GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps.” ~ ESRI

Current data can be found from IMLS: http://www.imls.gov/research/pls_data_files.aspx