Present: Christy Branston (Facilitator), Jack Cooper, Sandra Keys, Richard Pinnell, Shabiran Rahman, Judy McTaggart (Recorder)
1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting March 29: Approved.
2. Business Arising:
Previous business arising, November 26 minutes: Richard noted OMG did not meet so he has not been able to take the “panel of experts” issue forward.
Item 3, Advisory Committee Meeting - Suggestion of submitting a “What’s New at UW” column for the Data Links newsletter: Richard reported there is a willingness to add this column to the newsletter.
Item 4, UWEDS Account: Richard reported the account is now defunct.
Item 6, Facilitator for Future Meetings: Judy noted she has prepared and distributed a facilitator’s schedule for the rest of the year. Meeting rooms have also been booked.
3. Additional Agenda:
Add “ Follow-up to EDS Advisory Committee Meeting Discussion ” as agenda item number 8.
4. ICPSR Summer Program:
Sandra asked how the ICPSR Summer Program is advertised to faculty members. She commented that awareness appears to be low and asked the group for promotion ideas to ensure faculty are aware of the program. Shabiran noted that she sends a message to her faculty members and brings it up at Department meetings as a way of making her faculty aware. There was further discussion on ways to promote the program. The point was made that U of W (in conjunction with York) offers a 6 week training program over the summer that is similar and perhaps, faculty members may be attending this.
Sandra noted she is interested in attending a course in the program. Action: Richard will send her the information about financial support from ICPSR.
There was discussion about whether EDS members should become more involved in data analysis. The current practice is to retrieve the data and refer clients to other sources on campus for assistance with data analysis. Jack noted that introductory courses for statistical packages- such as SPSS and SASS- are offered regularly by the IST department. Sandra and Christy both expressed interest in obtaining copies of this software and will contact Susan Routliffe. Christy also expressed interest in obtaining a copy of Professional Acrobat (software useful for searching codebooks and downloading tables). Jack noted that he had written an article for a past issue of Data Links that detailed information about statistical packages available locally. Action: He will revisit this to determine if it should be resurrected.
5. EDS CD-ROMS and Terminal Services – CD-ROM Network:
The group considered whether there are any CD-ROMs that should be put on the network. It was agreed that some – Inter-Corporate Ownership, for example – should be loaded and it would be useful to identify others that might be put up. There was also discussion about how the process of tracking new CD’s - from receipt through the cataloguing process to being loaded - is working. The need to be on top of what we receive and where they are in the process was discussed. Actions: Sandra will try to identify CD’s that might be loaded on the network and bring the list to a future meeting. She will also check with Chris Gray to see if there are any CD’s waiting to be loaded.
6. Metrics For Data (Sandra):
Sandra reported that at the DLI conference she recently attended there was a fair amount of discussion about reporting of statistics – issues such as the level of detail provided, usage, and confidentiality concerns. The group considered whether this might have implications for how statistics are kept. It was noted our current practices may not be a true reflection of usage. For example, a professor might download a dataset for teaching but the class may be using the data. Our statistics reflect only one download. We have no way of tracking who is using what and for what purpose. Richard noted there has been discussion in the past about ways to obtain improved information about usage. A login procedure was suggested; however, this idea was discarded due to confidentiality concerns. Shabiran suggested the issue should be brought up at the upcoming CAPDU meeting. Action: Shabiran will speak with a Sociology professor regarding datasets he has downloaded and how they are used.
7. News at Your Library (Sandra):
Sandra described the contents of the article for the “News at Your Library” issue devoted to EDS. It will be titled “Data at Your Library” and include the following:
Sandra will contact Mary Stanley re deadline for the article.
There was discussion about lack of notification for the SWORDC mini-conference. Richard expressed interest in visiting the centre again. Action: Shabiran will make arrangements for the group to visit.
8. Advisory Committee Discussion Follow-Up:
There was discussion on the issue of whether the Advisory Committee meetings should continue. The group agreed the meeting for the Spring term will be cancelled and faculty will be notified. The group also agreed to wait until the new ISR managers are in place and then discuss how the liaison librarians could get involved with promotion. It was suggested that the new managers be invited to a future EDS meeting to discuss the issue. Action: This topic will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting (or the one in July) for further discussion.
9. Other:
Richard noted he is currently sending the list of new datasets available on ICPSR to all liaison librarians. He asked if there were some librarians who might not want to receive it (faculty members don’t use data; low comfort level of librarian with data, etc.) It was agreed he should continue to send the list to all liaison librarians.
Sandra noted a new Ontario chapter of an OCUL data group is currently being established. She will send information about it to the group.
Next Meeting: June 7, Room 512A (Porter), 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Facilitator: Richard
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