You don't have to be a geek.

Everybody's welcome in the DataSphere.

Huh? The what? The DataSphere: The Roanoke Times' and roanoke.com's new online library of the data that matter in the Roanoke and New River valleys and beyond.

It's a collection of search-for-yourself databases on topics from schools, crime and politics to Virginia Tech football, the weather and deer hunting. Its news you find yourself and filter yourself, all set up for you to search with a click or two. It's the first site of its kind at a Virginia newspaper.

You don't have to be a geek. You just need an Internet connection and a little curiosity, and you can learn, for example, that:

n Round Hill Montessori Primary School has the highest percentage of Hispanic students of any school in Roanoke this year, with 14.5 percent.

n Six dentists and hygienists were fined by the state board of dentistry in the past 90 days, including a dentist from Lexington and a hygienist from Roanoke.

n On my birthday, March 27, 1966, the high temperature was 47, the low was 29, and there was no precipitation.

Me, I'm no geek, at least not in the technology/computer/hangout-at-the-Radio-Shack kind of way.

But for 14 years I was a reporter for this newspaper, living off my curiosity. I took on the job of Data Delivery Editor and the task of pulling together the site that turned out to be the DataSphere because it was another way to indulge my yearning for learning -- and another way to provide our readers with the stuff they need to know.

It's a growing trend in the newspaper industry, and one well-practiced already by newspapers such as the Indianapolis Star, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, and the Greenville (S.C.) News.

Newspapers have produced stories based on data and databases for years, of course.

Roanoke Times education writer David Harrison used data on enrollment at Hurt Park Elementary School in Roanoke as a basis for today's front page story on that school's comeback despite whispers that it might be shuttered before long.

The difference here is that, while we might mine that data for stories to write, we're also offering the same data to you, inviting you to mine the data for yourself, and find stories in it to tell us about.

The same data Harrison used for his story, you can search yourself right now in the DataSphere.

I also host our DataBlog, where I'll highlight new data and show off the nuggets and oddities I've found. You can share your finds there, too, or just e-mail me.

Look for new databases to show up in the DataSphere often.

Right now, we feel like we've got a good beginning with databases we've collected ourselves, and links to searchable data on both government and commercial sites elsewhere on the Web. We've also got links to documents in the news, such as the Michael Vick dogfighting indictment and the Virginia Tech Review Panel's report on the April 16 shootings.

So log on and look for the DataSphere logo at www.roanoke.com. Come on in and test drive a database or three.

You may not even realize you're interested to know that the biggest fish caught in Smith Mountain Lake last year was a 38-pound, 42-inch striped bass.

Or that Virginia Tech football teams under coach Frank Beamer have beaten just one team ranked 5 or higher in 17 attempts.

Or that the oldest man to father a child in Virginia in 2005 was 77.

But you can find out that kind of stuff in the DataSphere.

And you don't have to be a geek to do it.