Archiving our Social Science Archiving our Social Science

Digital HistoryDigital History

ECURE 2005

March 1, 2005

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Presentation Overview

• Background Information

• The ICPSR Process

• New Directives

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Background

• Established in 1962

• Membership-based organization, with over 500 member colleges and universities around the world

• Encourages and facilitates research and instruction in the social sciences and related areas

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Background

• 2004-2005 budget approximately $10 million

• Around 100 employees; 40 data-processing staff

• World’s largest archive of computer-readable social science data

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ICPSR’s Mission

• Acquire social science data

• Preserve social science data in perpetuity

• Assist with the use of social science data for research

• Assist with the use of social science data for teaching

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Our data holdings cover a broad range of disciplines

• Political Science• History• Public Policy• Economics• Education

• Criminal Justice• Law• Public Health• Foreign Policy• Gerontology

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Two Kinds of Archival Holdings:

• General Archive Holdings are funded with member dues and are available only to members

• Special Topic Archives are supported by foundations or federal agencies and are available to all

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Special Topic Archives:• Child Care and Early Education Research

Connections

• Health and Medical Care Archive

• International Archive of Education Data

• National Archive of Criminal Justice Data

• National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive

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Confidentiality

• Confidentiality review of all contents of the data collection

• Disclosure analysis

• Public Use version vs. Restricted Use version of data

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Restricted Use Data

• Several dozen data collections

• Restricted Use Agreement

• No copy is stored online or on a file server connected to any network

• Secure Data Enclave

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Downloading Data

• Immediate downloads to the user’s desktop

• Supporting documentation and setups for statistical packages supplied

• Technical support provided

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Web-based finding aids for resource discovery:

• Detailed metadata about each collection

• Robust field-specific search capability

• Thesaurus - 4,500+ social science keywords

• Bibliography of data-related publications (over 35,000 citations)

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Research Directions:

• Analysis of procedures to limit disclosure risk

• Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) to develop standards for XML markup of social science materials

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New This Year

• Data for Demographic Research (sponsored by Demographic & Behavioral Sciences Branch @ NICHD)

• Data-PASS (sponsored by the Library of Congress)

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Data Sharing for Demographic Research • Collaboration with:

– the Carolina Population Center (CPC) – the Minnesota Population Center (MPC) – Population Studies Center (PSC)

• Supported by the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

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Data-PASS: The Partners

• ICPSR

• Roper Center

• Odum Institute

• Murray Center

• Virtual Data Center

• National Archives

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Data-PASS: The Plan• Identify significant data collections

(classic)

• Identify important contemporary data (that are “at risk”)

• Develop common standards and procedures across partnership

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For More Information

• Website: www.icpsr.umich.edu

• Darrell Donakowski

dwdonako@icpsr.umich.edu

734.615.7664