Issue link: http://digital.corporatepress.com/i/143540
the bookshelf Book Review Editor: Theodore J. Weidner, Ph.D., P.E., CEFP, AIA The topic of sustainability is not new to APPA members, but it continues to grow as a topic for both APPA members, others in higher education— and in society in general. The two books reviewed this month look at implementation of institutional-wide sustainability, as well as personal sustainability. In order to continue with the sustainability focus, if you are reading this online, don't print; if you're reading the print version, share it. Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government Gavin Newsom with Lisa Dickey, Penguin Press, New York, 2013, 272 pages, $25.95 hardcover, $12.99 Kindle. T here are many companies, individuals, and organizations that expend vast resources to mine the wealth of data being collected every year and to identify valuable information about various groups and individuals. There are concerns about individual privacy when companies like Amazon or Google send us e-mails recommending what to buy, or when we are enticed (or irritated) by a pop-up ad for a movie or music download. There are larger, more beneficial results for society, as evidenced by an IBM ad showing a cop getting to a potential crime scene before the robber arrives, thus thwarting the crime. This sort of pattern-checking helped New York City get a better handle on crime, but still raises the privacy issue. Citizenville discusses how the governments of San Francisco and California were able to leverage the data they had and how their citizens were able to use the data more meaningfully and usefully. Something as simple as tracking data about automobile accidents could result in improved traffic control at roadway intersections, or identifying where water main breaks were occurring, so engineers could plan an upgrade or renewal in the water distribution network. While authors Newsome and Dickey provide many examples about how ordinary citizens have helped themselves, others, and their communities by looking at open data that governments maintain, there is a clear argument to provide the data in a more readily accessible form, and to make other community data more readily available. Rather than focus the privacy issues and concerns about malfeasance, I prefer to use Citizenville for examples of how facilities managers and others can identify and leverage similar information in an educational setting. There are several examples already in educational institutions where facility officers are benefiting from their own datamining efforts. The University of Iowa is using building operating data combined with weather data to compare anticipated utility consumption against actual consumption. When anomalies are identified, mechanics are dispatched to identify building systems in need of repair or adjustment, rather than wait for a work request or an end-of-month utility bill to point out a problem. Similarly, the University of Nebraska Lincoln makes decisions about changing HVAC filters based on building operating data reported through the BAS (building automation system). This approach maximizes IAQ and operating efficiencies while minimiz- ing staff time and material costs. Similar initiatives may exist at other campuses. Consider what other ways can be used to improve service effectiveness or efficiency. There must be thousands of them on each campus represented by APPA members who are all struggling to do more with rapidly diminishing resources. Our CMMS software is a valuable source of opportunities to utilize our data better; linking the CMMS with the BAS or other facility data should provide more opportunities. Citizenville is not written for the facility officer; it is written as examples of what has been done and what might be done in future. It doesn't matter who the audience is. What matters is that someone, somewhere, realizes there's on opportunity to take previously disconnected data, combine it with other data, and to create new opportunities to perform better. This book will stay in my library to help me find new inspirations. The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education Clayton M. Christensen, and Henry J. Eyring, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 2011, 512 pages, $32.95 hardcover, $18.12 Kindle. I 've read many books about higher education and its history. I read them to get a better understanding of the core mission of the industry I have served, in the hopes of providing better service to the campus, and to understand what might be coming next to challenge the facilities area. Sometimes Facilities Manager | july/august 2013 | 53