Find. Compare. Decide. From the site: "FindTheData is an objective, reference-based comparison engine that allows you to find and sort through a growing number of databases that are fully sortable, filterable and comparable. FindTheData presents its data in side-by-side comparison databases—allowing for the apples-to-apples comparison of listings free of any hidden advertising.
We obtain our information from primary source, public domain databases—from governmental organizations to universities—and our data is constantly being expanded and updated. We also encourage users to send any relevant databases they would like presented and published on FindTheData."
There's a huge amount of data here. Interestingly, I found a set of statistics for US libraries - some 26,000 individual records. The data appears to be of high quality - again from the site:
"The Public Libraries Survey (PLS) is a voluntary survey conducted annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS collects these data under the mandate in the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 as stated in SEC. 210. The U.S. Census Bureau is the data collection agent for IMLS. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 survey is the 21st in the series."
For each library there are figures for print materials, population served, annual visits, electronic books, audio, internet computers and so on. You can filter results and play around with the data for hours. There are a dozen different classes, with many subsections - just a few data sets that caught my eye - dangerous jobs, child weight, common words translated, famous wildfires, Oscar winners - seriously, you could spend hours here! There is a very strong US bias with a lot of the data, but there's more than enough to satisfy the curious. If you've got 5 minutes to spare, check this one out, as it'll keep you busy for a goodly while.
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