University of Waterloo
                    Electronic Data Service Task Group
                      Minutes of Meeting Feb 9, 1994


Present:  Albert Kemp
          Sue Moskal
          Doug Morton (Sec.)
          Bill Oldfield (Chair.)
          Richard Pinnell
          Shabiran Rahman
          Carol Vogt

CC:       Bruce MacNeil  Mike Ridley

1.   Minutes of Previous Meeting
     none

2.   Task Group Administration
     D. Morton appointed as Secretary.

3.   Centre Name
     It was agreed that UW Electronic Data Service is an
     appropriate name.

4.   U of T (EPAS) Software
     The request for information has been sent to Laine Ruus, who
     forwarded the message to Chris Loewski of EPAS.

     Bill Oldfield distributed copies of a U. of Guelph newspaper
     article which indicated that U. of G. Dept. of Economics had
     just purchased the search software and leased the CANSIM and
     OECD database data through U. of T.  Bill had been in touch
     with the contact person (Bo Wandschneider) and reported the
     price for CANSIM to be about $2,000 per year and the
     software to be $350 for the first module and $150 for
     subsequent modules. The software is installed at U. of G.
     and the data files are updated via FTP.  Bill was going to
     arrange for a temporary demo account.

     To be able to effectively evaluate any software we see is
     was agreed that the Task Force should have a better idea of
     the nature of the questions users of the current Data
     Resource Centre ask and what they do with the data. Carol
     Vogt offered to demonstrate some of the statistical
     packages.

4.   Current Situation wrt Acquisition of Data
     Carol Vogt reported that DCS is currently paying for the
     CANSIM Mainbase.  Sue Moskal reported that the Library is
     paying for 1986 Census, 1991 Census, and the General Social
     Survey files.  Other files may show up as a result of the
     survey being done by the Non-Traditional Media task Force;
     Richard Pinnell will enquire.

     Carol Vogt pointed out that as access to the CMS machines
     was closed out a group of researchers reviewed the data
     tapes in the DRC and recommended which would be transferred
     to ATTIC and made available for anonymous FTP.  The
     remainder of the data are still on tape.

5.   Terms of Reference
     The Objectives and Terms of Reference were discussed and
     agreed upon.  A copy is appended.