# The Great ILS-Data Pre-Conference: Quick Lessons With Your Peers
**URL:** https://forum.innovativeusers.org/t/the-great-ils-data-pre-conference-quick-lessons-with-your-peers/2897
**Category:** IUG Conference 2026
**Tags:** sierra, sierra-sql, sql, polaris-sql
**Created:** [April 23, 2026, 11:43am UTC](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/t/the-great-ils-data-pre-conference-quick-lessons-with-your-peers/2897 "2026-04-23T11:43:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CyberpunkLibrarian](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/u/CyberpunkLibrarian)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2026, 11:43am UTC](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/t/the-great-ils-data-pre-conference-quick-lessons-with-your-peers/2897/1 "2026-04-23T11:43:04Z")
**Program Title:** The Great ILS-Data Pre-Conference: Quick Lessons With Your Peers
**Track:** General
**Program Description:** Ease your way into this year’s conference with our all-star assortment of IUG experts who will present a full afternoon of activities for those looking to expand their library data toolbox. Through a series of mini-talks, some speed geeking and lively conversations, attendees will have opportunities to learn about a wide range of techniques for working with both Sierra and Polaris data.
### Individual Sessions
- **DASHboard Confessional: Revealing the secrets of data visualization**
- **Vega Kiosks**
- **Finding Signal in the Noise with Regex**
- **From Create Lists to Action: Empowering Staff with API-Driven Micro-Projects**
- **I ❤ Datasette: A Tool for Exploring and Publishing (Library) Data**
- **Out Here in the Fields: Lessons Learned from a Different Database**
- **Data Lakes/warehouses and storing data extracts**
- **Putting Privacy First: Making Due with Less Data**
- **AMH Insights: Turning Log Files Into Actionable Data**
- **Python Command Line Processing with argv[] and the argparse Module** - Python’s [argparse module](https://docs.python.org/3/library/argparse.html) makes it easy to write user-friendly command-line interfaces. The program defines what arguments it requires, and argparse will figure out how to parse those out of [sys.argv](https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.argv). The argparse module automatically generates help and usage messages. The module will also issue errors when users give the program invalid arguments.
- **Thousands of Tables and Four Farthings: Hacking Your Way to a Better Report** - In the midst of building a centralized data server, we ran into an issue with a report that the Finance Department had been running for years. Nothing was wrong with the report, the problem came about from the _way_ they were running it. This new data server is going to need that report, but they’re not going to be able to run it the same way. Okay, so we’ll rebuild it. But first things first… where does the data come from, how is it pulled from the database, where is the report file, and how does it work?
**Speaker/ Information:**
- Derek Brown, Director of IT: [Rochester Hills Public Library](https://www.rhpl.org/)
- Bob Gaydos, ILS Administrator: [Stark Library](https://www.starklibrary.org/)
- Jeremy Goldstein, Data Curation Librarian: [Minuteman Library Network](https://www.minlib.net/)
- Daniel Messer, Integrated Library Systems Administrator: [Library Systems & Services](https://www.lsslibraries.com/)
- Wes Osborn, Executive Director: [Central Library Consortium](https://clcohio.org/)
- Ray Voelker, Integrated Library Systems Administrator: [Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library](https://chpl.org/)
- Victor Zuniga, System Administrator: [Poudre Libraries](https://poudrelibraries.org/)
The materials, slide decks, and references can be found at the [presentation’s Github repo](https://github.com/iug-ils-data-preconf/iug2026/tree/main).
[1000s\_of\_Tables\_and\_4\_Farthings.pptx](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/uploads/short-url/4rnkIGol1EkY3iWFv2RSWJ8SaNj.pptx) (1.6 MB)
[Dashboard\_Confessional\_with\_template.pptx](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/uploads/short-url/gmsV72GKJafylk7BII1nrxV1VQG.pptx) (5.1 MB)
[Out\_Here\_in\_the\_Fields-Slide\_Deck.pptx](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/uploads/short-url/AjGOBQkKXKvsN4Ivn3z1PEzfX45.pptx) (7.0 MB)
[Pre-conference\_Vega\_Kiosk-IUG\_2026.pptx](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/uploads/short-url/i1t5ChtQoN8l3SahH0xwUAK6RPn.pptx) (816.5 KB)
[Putting\_Privacy\_First\_with\_template.pptx](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/uploads/short-url/4w48Xtw1Xm9LY497mtATkQjfvhu.pptx) (3.9 MB)
[The\_Great\_ILS-Data\_Pre-Conference.pptx](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/uploads/short-url/9KbpZEbtsldUNr0ET2etaphvsI5.pptx) (7.7 MB)
---
### Author:  [@jmgold](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/u/jmgold)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/t/the-great-ils-data-pre-conference-quick-lessons-with-your-peers/2897/2 "2026-05-04T14:08:14Z")
The [Github repo](https://github.com/iug-ils-data-preconf/iug2026/tree/main) for the conference has been updated to include materials from Bob Gaydos’ presentation _Command Line Processing with argv[] and the argparse Module_
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### Author:  [@jmgold](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/u/jmgold)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://forum.innovativeusers.org/t/the-great-ils-data-pre-conference-quick-lessons-with-your-peers/2897/3 "2026-05-20T17:17:47Z")
[The Github repo](https://github.com/iug-ils-data-preconf/iug2026/tree/main/Victor%20Zuniga) has now been updated to include materials from Victor Zuniga’s prototype app for parsing AMH log files, and their Hackathon app for updating Sierra patron records.