Census 2000 Introduction

Instructor: Andrea Sevetson

Census 2000 Introduction

Every ten years a wealth of demographic, geographic and just plain useful information is gathered and assembled into the Decennial Census. Savvy library staff recognize that knowing how to find and use Census data can be a tremendous aid to reference, program planning, grant writing and outreach activities. And since the advent of the Internet, this data is now freely available for all.

Would you like to be able to find out:

• How many people lived in San Francisco or Los Angeles in 2000?
• How many nursing homes are in your county?
• Which Census tract you live in?
• The ethnic and racial composition of the neighborhood around your library?
• Patterns of education, language, or family composition in your area?

Would it save you time to know what is and is not covered in Census 2000 - is there a question on religion, for example? Or on small business development?

Census 2000 includes a wide range of information for answering these and many more questions. However, using the Census documentation and data sets can be daunting. This course will teach you how to mine Census 2000 data effectively to find, interpret and present the information you and your users need.

Workshop Description: In this all-day hands-on workshop we will work with American FactFinder to access Census data, download Census data, and create thematic maps. We will also explore other resources for Census 2000 including PDF publications, Census briefs and reference sources that explain Census geography, data, and more.

Preliminary Course Outline:

• What is and is not in the Decennial Census?
  • Questionnaires
  • Other requested data sets
  • Searching the Census Web site
• Understanding Census Geography
  • Census tracts, blocks and more
  • Thematic mapping
  • Other map sources
• Census 2000
  • 100% vs. sample data
  • Using briefs, reports, and data sets
  • How to find ancestry, occupations, languages spoken, and more
• American FactFinder
  • How to research a community
  • Searching in the data sets, adding places and tables
  • Displaying and saving Census information

  Who Should Attend: Anyone in a California library who wants to:

  • understand Census data and concepts,
  • use Census data to answer questions,
  • use Census data to prepare community profiles for grant applications, planning, needs assessment or program development, or
  • increase their confidence in their knowledge of this important tool.

  Prerequisites: None

  Please Note: There is a $75.00 fee for this workshop. Infopeople does not provide parking passes, lunch or refreshments.

  Check-in: 8:30 to 9 AM Instruction: 9 AM to 4:30 PM