Info and More: Library district offers research tools, industry and consumer data, and software training at no cost to businesses

Katelyn Egger | SBJ

Cardholders can access their accounts through library kiosks or their phones or computers.

Katelyn Egger | SBJ

A conversation space awaits users at the Schweitzer Brentwood branch.

Eva Pelkey: Makerspace offerings are set to expand this summer.

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Library expansion to include auditorium

To match $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding, the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s makerspace is growing is gearing up for a capital campaign this year.

Director of Development Emily Hertzog said funds will go toward three projects: improvements to the 118-year-old Midtown Carnegie branch, construction of a brand-new branch in the city of Republic and construction of an auditorium at The Library Center.

Hertzog, who came to the library in March from the Springfield Regional Arts Council Inc., is particularly jazzed about the 500-seat auditorium – a facility she said is much needed in the city, and one that will be available to businesses to host speakers, conferences, fundraisers and other events.

Hertzog noted The Library Center hosted a Springfield Symphony Orchestra concert in the middle of the library on March 26. Audience members positioned themselves among the shelving to listen, while other users perused the books for checkout.

It was one of the only spaces available to host an ensemble the size of the orchestra, but that will change with the proscenium stage that is planned.

“We will be able to have concerts, meetings and speakers,” Hertzog said. “We already do those things, but because we don’t have space, we have to do that in the middle of the library. That works OK, but now we’ll be able to keep our library functioning as a library and have concerts happening in the auditorium.”

The space will be available for community use, Hertzog said, including theater groups.

“In my previous work with the Arts Council, we were always looking for things like this,” she said. “There just isn’t much available, especially that’s affordable. It’s the thing that makes it so local theater doesn’t take place.”

Hertzog said information recently came down from the governor’s office that its ARPA funding will require a match.

“It’s daunting, but it’s really energizing,” she said, noting the capital campaign will be announced later this year. Naming opportunities will be available, she said.

Construction of the stage will involve both a renovation and an addition to The Library Center, Hertzog said. The design will allow it to be adaptable for use by smaller ensembles as needed, and plans will also take into consideration parking and traffic needs.

Hertzog added it has not yet been determined if there will be a charge for its use, but she added if there is, it will be reasonably priced so that members of the community will find it accessible.

As continued rumblings of an economic downturn are amplified by news of bank failures, businesses large and small may find themselves scrutinizing their operating budgets for any opportunity to save.

In a survey last year of 500 C-suite executives by national media company CFO.com, nearly all of them – 99% – said they intended to make budget cuts due to recession concerns. And recession worries continued to rank as the top challenge for chief financial officers in 2023.

There is one resource these executives may be overlooking in their cost-cutting measures: business services provided by the Springfield-Greene County Library District.

The library offers workspaces and meeting rooms, research databases, technology training and a growing makerspace, all available to individuals and businesses at no cost.

Information resources
Katy Pattison, manager of the library’s Schweitzer Brentwood branch, heads up the library’s Business Connect service, and she outlined the services available for free to entrepreneurs and businesses with library cards.

One of its key offerings is kind of a no-brainer.

“Everyone knows the library has books, but they may not know that we can get just about any book they want, because we can also borrow books for them from other libraries,” she said.

Offerings include ebooks – no need to come to the library in person – and audiobooks, which can be absorbed during commutes or business travel. Many magazines are also available online.

The library also has online research tools available to cardholders. Reference Solutions is a database of U.S. consumer and business information, allowing users to research companies to gather new sales leads or information about competitors, Pattison said. The resource also allows people to create consumer mailing lists for their target market for sales and fundraising efforts, or to uncover industry trends.

A resource called Business Insights Global offers company, industry and investment reports, as well as business articles, market share data and company history for businesses worldwide.

The information sources can be found online at TheLibrary.org/business.

Gabriel Cassady is co-owner with his wife, Kylie, of the marketing, design and public relations firm 2oddballs LLC. By chance, Cassady met Pattison at a networking event, and she described some of the library’s online resources.

“Data is a big part of what we do, especially these days in marketing,” Cassady said. “It is just an incredible resource. We’re able to get contact information of companies and corporations and demographic data – that’s the really cool part.”

Cassady said he was astonished by the amount of useful information he found in his favorite library research tool, Mosaic. The Experian product is described on that company’s website as a customer segmentation solution allowing businesses to “target consumers with precision.”

With data from 126 million households, Mosaic tracks 650 lifestyle and interest attributes, its website states, providing insight into behavior, attitudes and preferences of customers. This allows marketers to match products to consumers’ behaviors and lifestyles and to leverage predictive insights while gaining an understanding of location and market profiles.

“It’s both scary and fascinating that there’s that much data out there,” Cassady said. “It’s pretty cool for a business of our size to be able to get a hold of data that rich.”

Cassady said 2oddballs recently used data on behalf of a client who was pitching a buyer presentation to Lowe’s. With the information they found, they helped the client put together a presentation.

“We looked at the whole state of Missouri and gathered demographic and psychographic data – information about their thoughts and feelings, technology usage, things like that,” Cassady said. “It’s extremely rich. I was absolutely blown away.”

Training
The library also meets a demand for new skills, whether that is software training or online learning in myriad subjects.

Eva Pelkey, manager of the library’s Midtown Carnegie branch, said a computer training center at her site offers basic computer skills for the public, but many businesses send workers to learn Microsoft Excel, Google tools and other programs and platforms.

Pelkey noted the library also offers free access to Udemy, with more than 6,000 on-demand video courses in categories like technology, design, marketing and soft skills. This is another online tool that users can take advantage of at home.

The library also partners with Grow with Google, a learning platform offering a certificate in five fields: information technology support, data analytics, user experience design, digital marketing and e-commerce, and project management, Pelkey said.

She added that project management is a growing field that is useful in all sorts of industries.

“It seems to be increasing in popularity, and it’s very desirable by employers,” she said.

She added that Google offers career support resources.

“The idea is to get people brought up to speed in some of these specific areas,” Pelkey said. “It’s not something a lot of people seem to know about, but it’s a really great opportunity to develop skills they might not otherwise have access to.”

Makerspace and meeting rooms
Springfield Business Journal reported on the Midtown Carnegie branch’s makerspace a year ago, noting individuals, nonprofits and for-profit businesses could use the space’s 3D printers, laser engraver, vinyl cutter, heat press, slide/negative scanner, VHS digitizer and soldering stations. The equipment is free to use, though some materials, such as 3D printer filament, require a fee.

At that time, Rachael West, owner of the foraging educator Eating the Ozarks, described making engraved-wood tree tags and branded cutting boards that made her business look upscale. She also printed her own logo-imprinted T-shirts and aprons and made business cards out of recycled cereal boxes.

Pelkey said the makerspace is growing. Through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Missouri State Library, she recently ordered a 3D scanner, vacuum former and sublimation printer.

The vacuum former will allow users to create molds or custom-shaped packaging. The sublimation printer will allow them to print shirts, hats, tumblers, keychains and any number of objects with detailed and high-quality images, Pelkey said.

“The folks who are going to be most attracted to our equipment here in the makerspace are folks who are doing small-batch products, promotional items on a small scale or projects for a hobby,” she said. “It’s stuff you may not want to outsource because you don’t need a thousand of them – you just need 10, 20 or 30.”

Pelkey noted the makerspace is not a production facility.

“We don’t have the capacity to create thousands of keychains,” she said.

An inventor can make a prototype on-site, though, and entrepreneurs can make small-batch promotional items, Pelkey said.

Pattison noted people with questions about the library’s business offerings can inquire at any of the library’s 10 branches, all of which also offer co-working options and reservable meeting spaces.