UW Library Electronic Data Service | Library

MINUTES OF THE MEETING, OCTOBER 29, 2003

Present: Sandra Keys; Richard Pinnell; Judy McTaggart (Recorder)and Shabiran Rahman (Facilitator)

Regrets: Jack Cooper

Minutes of the Meeting of September 3, 2003: Approved.

Business Arising:

Previous business arising, item 6, Source OECD: Sandra reported this has been ordered and should be received shortly. Richard noted the license agreement will be put on the TDR website and linked to the read me file for that product. There will be a more consistent effort in the future to link licensing agreements to specific products.

Item 4, TDR Operational Management: Richard reported he sent the group an update on the July meeting and he also sent an update on the latest meeting in October.

ICPSR/OR: Richard reported he attended the ICPSR/OR meeting and provided a brief review of the highlights. He noted that faculty should be encouraged to submit their research data to ICPSR.

Item 5, EDS Organisational Review: Shabiran asked for feedback on the impact of the closure of the Government Publications Desk and Susan’s absence. Sandra noted there has been no significant impact on data related questions. It was agreed that, overall, we are doing o.k.

There was discussion on whether the group should continue to meet and, if so, should there be a facilitator. It was agreed the group should continue to meet at least monthly (the first Wednesday of each month) and there should be a facilitator. Shabiran offered to send the call for agenda each month.

EDS website: Responsibility for this will possibly be given to the new ½ time Government Publications librarian. Corrections for dead links will be given to Val Huggan.

EDS office: Sandra reported she is now receiving all cd-roms. There was discussion on the need to put the complete list of local cd-roms on the TDR site and the fact that the list needs to be updated. Sandra offered to start on this project.

DLI and DSP: Sandra noted she would like to keep her name as the DLI contact. Shabiran noted the new Government Publications librarian will assume responsibility for DSP.

Other outstanding issues:

Val and Helen have gone through the entire web site looking for references to Susan’s name and made the appropriate changes.
Invoices with Susan’s name – it is unclear whether the DLI invoice went to Susan. There was discussion about the possibility of having all invoices go to Acquisitions (Debbie Tytko) rather than individuals. The group agreed this would be the best procedure. Shabiran will notify IRMC of the change in procedure; Richard will notify ICPSR and Sandra will inform DLI.

Additional Agenda

CARL Data Survey
EDS Budget

How Are We Handling Data Questions in Susan’s Absence?

Sandra reported she has received only 5 or 6 data related questions in the month. There has not been a significant impact on her workload.

UW-EDS Page: Shabiran noted that Helen has taken Susan’s name off the page. Shabiran stated that Helen will be here until December 7 and she has time to make some changes to the page. The group agreed to look at the first page and send Helen any changes. Sandra will ask Helen to put a link to E-Stat on the main page. Shabiran will ask Helen to make the pages public and also ask her if she has time to do some redesign work on the page to make it more distinctive and attractive.

TDR Usability Study (Sandra)

Background: There is a problem with finding content on the TDR site. A usability study has never been conducted. Sandra is one of a group of Librarians who were asked to examine the site, brainstorm and come up with a list of issues. Sandra wrote a report and gave it to Richard to submit to the usability group in Guelph. Result: it was discovered the usability group consists of one individual with an assistant and they currently do not have time to work on the project. Sandra noted that OMG needs to be aware of this timing factor, the personnel issue and the impact on the project. Action: Richard will take the issue to OMG when they meet in November.

Sandra’s Presentation to Guelph:
Sandra reported she has been invited to give a talk to the Data Resources Group in Guelph. She also noted she will be giving 2 spotlight presentations at future ISR meetings (Finding Company Information and Industry Information). Richard asked if there might be interest in spotlight presentations for UMD related information (GIS, etc.) Action: Sandra will pass this on to the training committee.
TDR Operational Management (Richard):

Richard noted he had sent out a complete report on the October 3 rd meeting. Items on the agenda included:

Tour of DRC
Synthetic files (how TDR will handle)
Data Links report
Web board
External clients policy

CARL Survey Data (Shabiran):

Shabiran reported she has received the CARL Survey and noted it needs to be completed by the end of November. The group examined the survey to see if any changes need to be made. Shabiran will complete the survey and show it to the group before submitting it.

EDS Budget (Shabiran):
Shabiran reported the annual EDS budget is $1,500 for the purchase of data

Shabiran noted the EDS Advisory Group usually meets in November. She suggested it be over the lunchtime and lunch could be provided. The group agreed this was a good approach. Shabiran will look into getting the budget for this.

Judy McTaggart

August 3, 2005