Come budget time, I invariably find myself working with the most
recent compilation of public library statistics put out by our State
Library -- comparing our library to peer institutions along a variety
of measures (support per capita, circulation per capita, staffing
levels, etc.) so I can make the best possible case for increasing/
maintaining our funding.

The raw data is in a Excel spreadsheet --
http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/lds/public_library_stats.html -- so this seems
ripe for mashing up, data visualization, online charting, etc.

Does anyone know of any examples where these types of library stats
have been made available online in a way that meets my goals of being
user-friendly, visually informative/ clear, and just plain cool?

If not, examples from the non-library world and/ or pointers to
dashboards of note would be equally welcome, particularly if there's
an indication of how things work on the back end.

Cheers,

Cab Vinton, Director
Sanbornton Public Library
Sanbornton, NH