The DLI Community Where in the world are data professionals? DLI Orientation Workshop Queen’s University, Kingston April 5, 2004

The Academic Community  Data professionals are an important part of the academic community  That encompasses our own institutions, those of our region, the nation and the international academic community

The Local Community  A data service includes:  A reference service  A research resource  A consultative function  An educational asset

The Local Community  A data service may be:  A stand-alone service  Part of general reference  Part of a specialized service (eg. MADGIC – maps, data and documents)  Part of the computing services  An adjunct of a research operation

Local Community  Models may be:  One person with multiple responsibilities  A one-person data shop  A multi-person operation within a single department  An interdepartmental resource  Levels of service will depend on the model  Whatever the model, data professionals often feel isolated

Regional Community  All regions (except Ontario) have a regional data group  West – ACCOLEDS  Quebec – CREPUQ  Atlantic Canada – part of APLA  Ontario – may be coming soon  DINO

National Community  Data Liberation  Community through training  Community through dlilist  Community through cooperative projects

National Community  CAPDU  A group representing data professionals, data producers, data providers and data users  Founded by data professionals in response to access problems  Is responsible for many of the gains made in data availability

International Community: IASSIST “An international organization of professionals working in and with information technology and data services to support research and teaching in the social sciences.”  Membership is largely European and North American, with some representation from Australia, Africa and Asia

International Community: IASSIST  Annual conference is the most important international meeting of data professionals  On the cutting edge of new developments in data access  Based on model of co-operation and sharing of ideas and expertise  A family affair

International Community: ICPSR  World’s largest data co-operative  500+ universities world-wide  29 in Canada in 2 Federations  World-renown summer programme in quantitative analyses  One-week summer programme for data specialists

The Data Community  Local, regional, national and international communities provide a network of colleagues whose goal is to see you succeed  Don’t be afraid to use their expertise