23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 1

Experiences with Data Dissemination

ACMLA Meetings

Toronto, 2002

Bo Wandschneider

Manager Academic Service

University of Guelph

Bo@uoguelph.ca

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 2

Introduction

Parallels between what we went through in Data Centre with DLI and what GIS librarians going through now

There is overlap and we can gain from each others experiences

Many sites integrate ‘data’ and ‘maps’

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 3

Topics of Discussion

History of DRC Proposal Stage Why Successful Hardware What You Need Developments GIS

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 4

What To Expect

Not providing answers Outlining our process and solutions

with respect to ‘data’ May help you make decisions for

your own site with respect to geospatial data

Speak in general terms with focus on UoG experiences

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 5

History of DRC I

Grew out of the Social Sciences There was a need Economics researchers did a lot of

empirical work and other departments looked to their support person for help (this included library)

Already developed interfaces to CANSIM, CRSP and LAVAL

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 6

History of DRC II

Joined ICPSR in early 90’s Questions re: funding and support Attended a summer workshop at

ICPSR put on by Chuck Humphrey, Diane Geraci and Jim Jacobs

Visited Laine Russ and Vince Gray and talked to lots of of people on lists like CAPDU, DLI, IASSIST

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 7

Proposal Stage

Based on information gathered Wrote a detailed proposal outlining

various models for a Guelph data centre in 1993

Flogged it to EVERYONE DLI was the key Kansas was playing with SAS/Perl Developed a prototype

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 8

Proposal to Pilot

Set up a Pilot in Fall of 1996 Partnership between CCS and

Library and CSS Moved from CSS to CCS –

partnership changed SAC formed to give us a forum to

vet ideas and generate support

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 9

Why Successful

Timing was right – latent demand Collaborative – CCS/Library Built a TEAM Librarian - Gov Docs Library Associate - Gov Docs Systems Analyst – programmer Systems Analyst – background

with data applications in Social Science research

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 10

Hardware/Infrastructure

Physical location with personal/public workstations in Library

Central Unix Server (piggy back on Stats Server)

Started as HP K200, single Processor, 256 Mb memory with about 10GB dedicated to DRC

Now a Sun E450, 4 processor, 4Gb memory with about 200GB disk for DRC

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 11

What you need

Need someone with vision and drive Don’t get stuck talking in committees

about problems needs and ideal solutions. Although, buy-in is critical

Demand is out there now so get the info to the users and worry about the details later.

Someone will always do it better tomorrow – use that to grow your service

Get people with hands-on experience or train, train, train – This is applied work

Publicize

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 12

Further Developments

Moved to integrate with Gov Docs Reference (challenging, really just happening over last year)

TDR partnership Developed DDI compliant

metadata GIS

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 13

GIS

From the beginning we discussed what to do with Census Maps

Lacked GIS skills on our team Most of our data is geo-spatially

referenced Problem - no consensus on GIS tools on

campus Lacked specialized equipment/lab in

library to deliver information Needs exist in departments beyond core

GIS users

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 14

GIS - What we did first

Started small – biggest bang for the buck Hired a work study student They wrote web pages to wrap around

census files Explained files and how to use them in

detail Simply served the files to user Worked very well Used by other sites http://drc.uoguelph.ca/GEOG/geogindex.htm

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 15

GIS - What happened?

NTDB, NRVIS, DMTI, DCRB, Grand River, Municipal, OMAFRA Soil Maps ….

This is a good thing, right ? déjà vu ?

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 16

GIS - What did we do next

Jenny Marvin became the GIS librarian Integrated, Gov Docs, Data and Maps Changes in CCS staffing of DRC allowed

us to have our staff gain experience with GIS, specifically ESRI

Negotiated a site licence for ESRI on campus

Someone ‘gave us’ a disk tower Still a partnership between CCS and

Library

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 17

GIS - What else did we do

Wrote pages around the new data and served it to the users like what we did for census

Added 3 work stations outside DRC with account security for maps that need licences signed by user (incl. ESRI and CDRW’s)

High School and Work Study help Onus is still on the client to figure out

how to view information – they need the skills

23-04-20 ACMLA - Toronto 18

GIS - What are we going to do

ARCIMS – deliver maps on the web for those with no GIS skills

ARC Catalog – create metadata for collection

Offer training in ARCGIS similar to what we do with SAS and SPSS

Promote use of ESRI Establish a GIS lab in library http://drc.uoguelph.ca/GIS_SITE/