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UW Library Electronic Data Service

MINUTES OF THE MEETING, OCTOBER 4, 2004

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

  1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, September 20, 2004: Approved with the following corrections:
    Item 2, Business Arising: Submissions for Data Links newsletter: Add: Sandra has submitted her articles.
    Item 4, Update on Co-operation Between RDC and TDR: Add meeting date “Sept.24” to last line.
  1. Business Arising:

Item 5: Funds for datasets. Shabiran has not yet checked how much money is available in the EDS fund and if this money can be used for data purchases.

Item 6: Archiving UW Data: Richard will meet with Mark on Oct. 15 to discuss this issue and he will check at the next TDR meeting to find out what DRC ( Guelph) and Wilfrid Laurier is doing.

Shabiran reported she spoke with Jane Britton and Jane has never been contacted about archiving data.

  1. Additional Agenda:

Add item #5: TDR Report (Richard)

  1. TDR/SWORDC Meeting Summary (Shabiran):

Shabiran provided a summary of the last meeting. She has made the TDR/SWORDC group aware that EDS had discussed the need for some terms of reference. She noted the upcoming mini-conference will be geared to graduate students and faculty and will focus on RDC and DLI data. At the meeting, it was suggested that Bo Wandschneider be asked to talk about the DLI data. John Goyder will talk about RDC data. Shabiran will send an electronic copy of the promotional material to EDS members.

Shabiran also noted that “Data Day” (a joint presentation about the RDC and DLI services) will be held on November 19 th at WLU (Library, 3 rd floor), 9 a.m. – noon. John Goyder will give a brief introduction to the RDC program. Other speakers will be Timothy Gawley (Sociology grad now teaching at WLU) and Susan Johnson (Economics, WLU). Timothy will talk about using both DLI and RDC data and the progression from one to the other; Susan will speak about her experiences with DLI data

A third event will be held in April. This is an event previously hosted by RDC but will now be a joint venture.

Jack noted there is a WATITS seminar planned for the beginning of December in which the group might be interested in participating. Action: Jack will send details about the time, when the program needs to be finalized, etc.

  1. TDR Report (Richard):

Richard noted TDR will meet on Thursday, Oct. 7 and the following will be on the agenda:

Richard asked if the members had any issues that should be taken to the meeting. Sandra would like to know if any publicity, promotional, or training materials for Nesstar are available that EDS could use. Action: Richard will follow-up.

  1. TDR “Reps” Meeting Summary (Sandra):

Sandra provided an update on the TDR “Reps” meeting. The TSX and Datastream databases were the main points of discussion. She noted the TSX is now available through the CHASS interface and a link to CHASS should be put on the TDR page. Action: Christy will add the link.

Guelph and Laurier are both involved with Datastream; however, Waterloo is not at this time. Sandra will approach the Accountancy Dept. to determine their interest. If there is interest, Michelle Edwards will contact Datastream about any potential cost savings.

Sandra also noted that the “read me” file for the TSX is not available. There was discussion about the message that appears when someone clicks the documentation link for specific datasets. Action: Richard will follow up.

  1. Advisory Committee:

The group held further discussion about the EDS Advisory Committee. Changes to the name, membership, and mandate were discussed. Suggestions included: changing the committee’s name to “Data Interest Group” and possibly think about expanding the membership to a larger group in the future (e.g. TDR Data Interest Group). It was suggested the terms of reference for the Advisory Committee should be examined and it was pointed out that a link to these should be added to the EDS page. Action: Christy will add the link. Nesstar promotion was also discussed. If an advisory meeting is held, will Nesstar be live at that time so that a demo could be given? Could a Nesstar demo be incorporated into another forum (WATITS seminar)? Action: Richard will check on the timeline for Nesstar and he will ask if someone from Guelph could provide a demo at the WATITS seminar in December.

  1. Nesstar:

Item deferred to next meeting.

  1. Easy CD Demo (Christy):

Christy noted she was unable to give the demo because the cd burner on the EDS machine appeared not to be working. Action: Christy will follow-up with Chris Gray to see if a cd burner can be maintained on that machine.

Next Meeting: November 1 st; Porter 407, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Judy McTaggart

August 3, 2005