Teaching Spatial Literacy in an Equity-Informed Public Engagement: An Academic Library’s Case Study

Abstract

The proliferation of geospatial data, services, and applications on the web, as well as open data made available by government agencies, have brought both opportunities and challenges for the public to engage more widely and deeply with geospatial data. Promoting spatial literacy and GIS education for the public is key to responding to the opportunities and challenges, in which academic libraries can play a pertinent role by leveraging their experience in providing geospatial data services and education. This paper describes a GIS workshop designed to cultivate spatial literacy for the public, a collaboration between an academic library and a campus unit mandated to nurture community connections. The discussions focus on how the workshop was an endeavor to synergize with the university’s commitment to public engagement and how it adopted an equitable approach to teaching spatial literacy for the public.

Keywords:

• Academic libraries
• GIS
• spatial literacy
• public engagement
• equity

Notes

1 The workshop slides and step-by-step instructions are available at https://summit.sfu.ca/item/35303