On Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m., in Falvey’s Speakers’ Corner, join a faculty panel for conversation and questions about the upcoming decennial census on April 1, 2020. Discussion will aim to provide context and insight into the history of the Census, its use in research and policy-making, and issues particular to the 2020 Census. Faculty panelists include Camille Burge, PhD, Political Science; Judith Giesberg, PhD, History; Rory Kramer, PhD, Sociology and Criminology; and Stephen Strader, PhD, Geography and the Environment. This ACS approved event, sponsored by Falvey Memorial Library with support from librarians Deborah Bishov and Merrill Stein, is free and open to the public.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau counts the populations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Mandated by the Constitution, the results determine the number of seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives and provide helpful data for public service/administration members and local communities.

Traditionally, Census respondents completed a short questionnaire by phone or mail. This year, individuals will be able to complete the questionnaire online or through their mobile device. For additional information and ways in which you can get involved, visit the United States Census Bureau website.

Dig deeper: Check out the links below to learn more about the Census. Resources courtesy of Librarian Merrill Stein.

• Census Bureau Library
• Explore Census Data
• U.S. Census Data and Statistics
• Standard Hierarchy of Census Geographic Entities
• US Census Bureau Geographic Entities and Concept
• What Census Calls Us: A Historical Timeline (Pew Research Center)
• Census in SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development
• History of the Census in Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of the U.S. census: from the constitution to the American community survey
• Census 2020: examining the readiness of key aspects of the Census Bureau’s 2020 census preparation: hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, second session, June 9, 2016
• Social Explorer (Falvey Library database)
• Data-Planet (Sage) (Falvey Library database)
• ESRI Tapestry Segmentation. Explore Your Neighborhood
• AncestryLibrary (ProQuest) (Falvey Library database)
• Census Bureau Genealogy
• National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) – The IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides free online access to summary statistics and GIS boundary files for U.S. censuses and other nationwide surveys from 1790 through the present. (Using NHGIS: An Introduction)
• Longitudinal Tract Database
  

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  Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.