Data Visualization: The Seattle Public Library’s “Making Visible the Invisible”
By Amy Sellers
Above the reference desk in the Seattle Central Library’s fifth-floor, 19,500 sq.ft. “Mixing Chamber,” six LCD panels showcase a cascading shower of titles and keywords.
The installation, titled “Making Visible the Invisible,” was designed by UC-Santa Barbara professor George Legrady. Part art and part technology, the display draws real-time data from the Seattle Public Library’s circulation database and visually renders system-wide usage statistics into a vivid display of color and light.
The four phases of Legrady’s display – labeled “Vital Statistics,” “Floating Titles,” “Dewey Dot Matrix Rain,” and “Keyword Map Attack” - correspond to the four key categories of circulation data. In a constantly moving, animated series of floating titles, pulsing Dewey decimal grids and bold numeric statistics, the panels catalogue the volume of materials that move through the library system. As the day progresses, the display grows brighter and denser as it tallies the traffic for the day. The following morning, the system resets and begins again.
This process utilizes a usually ignored type of data called metadata. Metadata is a set of “invisible” additional information linked to most digital files. Most users are familiar with the metadata embedded in digital music files – artist name, album title, maybe a link to the album artwork – that appear when the file plays in a digital music player, but “Making Visible the Invisible” pulls metadata from an unexpected source – the Dewey decimal system.
The Seattle Public Library's "Mixing Chamber."
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Legrady’s piece highlights the metadata attached to specific Dewey decimal numbers and uses that additional information to situate each circulating item into a broader cultural context. Titles, check-out times and keywords create an interlocking web of data and the simple visual display adds order and cohesion to the chaotic mix of information.
In a city that prides itself on connectivity, “Making Visible the Invisible” transforms metadata into a dynamic showcase of the flow of ideas, materials and energy through the Seattle Public Library system. The display creates a cohesive daily snapshot of the shifting interests of Seattle residents and reveals on a day-to-day basis what Seattle residents are thinking and exploring.
The installation is a fitting centerpiece for the “Mixing Chamber,” the floor dubbed the “trading floor for information.” Surrounded by computer terminals and busy patrons typing away, the surroundings add to the concept of the piece. It is easy to imagine a user typing in a keyword and that same keyword popping up onto the LCD panel a short time later.
“Making Visible the Invisible” is not just a novelty display of day-to-day data. Watching the piece over time reveals consistent behavioral patterns of library users. According to Craig Kyte, Manager of General Reference Services, “Materials in the 780’s, typically music and CDs, and the 600’s, called ‘Applied Technology’, things like user manuals and how-to guides, are the highest traffic areas on a regular basis.” As part of the long-term vision of the project, the installation will collect data for ten years and allow for a retrospective look at shifting interests and popularity of materials.
Selected by the library’s Board of Trustees as a part of the “Library Unbound” series, Legrady’s work is a permanent fixture in the Central library. Living in the heart of the glass and steel space, “Making Visible the Invisible” brings digital transparency into the information hub of the library and the collective mind of Seattle citizens.