COSLA Industry Insight with PolicyMap
PolicyMap’s Chief Growth Officer, Joel Nadelman, recently joined the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) for a video interview exploring how libraries can leverage data to expand their reach and impact. In this conversation, Joel highlights how PolicyMap’s mapping and analytics tools support libraries in understanding community needs, guiding programming, grant disbursement, strategic planning, and strengthening connections with residents.
COSLA Industry Insight with PolicyMap, featuring Joel Nadelman
As part of COSLA’s Industry Insight series, Executive Director Jeremy Johannesen sat down with Joel Nadelman, Chief Growth Officer at PolicyMap, to discuss the role of data in today’s library landscape, and how PolicyMap supports libraries in planning, outreach, and community impact. Below are a few highlights from their discussion:
Jeremy: Can you tell us more about the data and tools PolicyMap provides, and who uses them?
JOEL: We aggregate over 75,000 indicators from more than 170 sources, including the Census Bureau, HUD, BLS, IRS, FEMA, and others. When public data isn’t available, we license data from third-party vendors like Moody’s Analytics, Data Axle, and Candid. We also create our own analytics by aggregating, cleaning, and standardizing data, then putting it all on a map that requires no GIS experience.
One major recent development is the addition of Claritas PRIZM® Premier lifestyle and market segmentation data. This was requested by the library community to support entrepreneurs and small businesses—helping them answer questions like where to open a food truck, coffee shop, or daycare center. When viewed alongside PolicyMap’s economic, housing, and health data, it becomes a powerful tool for local decision-making.
We work with public libraries, state libraries, and their patrons, as well as academic institutions from high schools to graduate programs. Getting PolicyMap into the hands of students is especially rewarding—it helps them with schoolwork and trains the next generation of PolicyMap users.
Jeremy: How can PolicyMap support state library agencies during challenging times and in making data-driven decisions?
JOEL: We’re seeing how fragile our public data infrastructure can be. Datasets that we once assumed would always be freely available—like those from the ACS, HUD, and BLS—are no longer guaranteed to be updated or accessible. That’s a problem for libraries that rely on those sources.
At PolicyMap, we don’t just aggregate data—we also archive it. Even if federal websites remove data, libraries will still have historical access through PolicyMap. We also work with trusted third parties to fill data gaps. Whether it’s broadband access, service deserts, or grant-related data, we make sure libraries always have the tools they need to serve their communities.
Jeremy: Can you share examples of how libraries use PolicyMap to serve their communities?
JOEL: Absolutely. For state libraries, the biggest value is time savings—PolicyMap is a one-stop shop for hundreds of sources, so librarians don’t need to collect it all themselves. For public libraries, use cases include:
Grant disbursement: Identifying vulnerable areas where funding will have the most impact.
Strategic planning & outreach: Understanding why some community members aren’t engaging, whether due to language needs, accessibility, or other barriers.
Mobile services: Planning bookmobile stops and outreach initiatives.
Data integration: Combining cardholder data with PolicyMap datasets for more powerful insights.
We also recently added tools for patrons—students can use PolicyMap for assignments, families can evaluate neighborhoods before buying a home, and entrepreneurs can identify where to launch or grow their businesses. When small businesses thrive, so do communities—and libraries want to be central to that success.
Jeremy: What’s on the horizon for PolicyMap in the coming year?
JOEL: We’re always expanding our data and functionality. Recently, we launched a housing supply dataset with Moody’s Analytics, covering conditions from the financial crisis through COVID, to measure oversupply and undersupply at the census tract level. We also added FEMA disaster relief data, food insecurity data, and a credit insecurity index from the New York Fed.
On the technology side, we’re introducing a Salesforce plugin that integrates PolicyMap directly into Salesforce, so users don’t need to switch between platforms.
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