jajacobs%weber@ucsd.edu (Jim Jacobs) (02/13/90)
----------------------------Original message---------------------------- In reply to Anne J. Gilliland's question: ------- Is anyone currently providing or contemplating online reference/research services to files of archival data (including social science data archives) created and maintained in electronic form? ------- If when you say "social science data archives" you are including libraries of large sets of numeric data in machine readable form (e.g., census data) suitable for quantitative research. There are several libraries which are doing things. At UCSD the library acquires data, houses the codebooks and provides reference service. We do this in cooperation with the Dean for the Social Sciences who runs a Social Science Computing Facility (a super-mini computer where the data are used) and our Instructional Computing Center which houses computer tapes. You might want to look into membership in two organizations: IASSIST (international association for social science information service and technology) and APDU (association of public data users); both these organizations have members who are archivists. The next IASSIST conference is May 30 - June 3, 1990 in Poughkeepsie, NY; the theme is "Numbers, Pictures, Words and Sounds: Priorities for the 1990's." You can obtain more information on the conference from Laura Guy, Data and Program Library Service, 3308 Social Science Building, 1180 Observatroy Drive, University of Wisconsin,-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 [GUY@WISCMACC.BITNET]. Jim Jacobs data services librarian Central University Library C-075-R University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093 voice: (619) 534-1262 bitnet: jajacobs@ucsd internet: jajacobs@ucsd.edu