Public Library Operations Machine-Readable By Default

by Kin Lane on 02/12/2013

Palo Alto has opened up city data, including operational data about the Palo Alto City Library. Using the Palo Alto City open data portal you can access machine-readable data sets about various aspects of library operations including visitor count, checkouts by type of materia, information and circulation services, programs attendance, website visitors count and how library funds are spent.

The Palo Alto open data portal provides widgets with data grids and charts derived from data. But you can also request data sets and access data via the City of Palo Alto's API.

The city hopes that it will increase community engagement by making data open and machine readable by default. The city is looking to throw hackathons that will develop solutions, and increase public engagement in city government, and ultimately save money and enhance city services.

The City of Palo Alto open data portal is provided by cloud-based Junar Open Data Platform.