Preservation and Security IPUMS International Wendy Thomas Data Archivist
Processing Data ► Data is received ASCII format or similar on CD/DVD 9 track tape any format ► Conversion process and tape reading by Muller Media Signed confidentiality agreement, retain NO FILES ► Data is converted to ASCII format
Internal Processing ► Data is encrypted Only high level staff have the encryption code Sensitive and geographically specific information is removed Creation of a secure, non-identifiable file ► Data processing Evaluation of data elements Creation of harmonized variables Graduate student staff work only with non-identifiable data sets ► Creation of the IPUMS sample
Storage ► Off line files CD/DVD copies are held in a data safe ► Preservation from fire ► Preservation from access (PI’s and Data Archivest only) ► Internally accessible Encrypted files (high level staff only) Non-identifiable source files ► Externally available Public use samples in IPUMS format Registered users only Respect limitations imposed by countries
Documentation Coverage ► Date from 1920 to 2006 ► Documentation from over 400 censuses ► Promotional material to official forms ► Prepared over 30 country specific listings of documents in the archive ► Over 20,000 documents total
Document Preservation ► Collection is housed in acid free archive quality storage boxes ► Bibliographic records are created for all documents including a first page scan for easier identification of useful information ► Full scans are made of all enumeration instructions, codebooks, and coding manuals for data in IPUMS ► Full scans are made of all materials from the US Census Bureau
Document Availability ► Enumeration Forms Publicly available regardless of data availability ► Enumerator Instructions/Codebooks etc. Available per country agreements for data accessibility ► Related documentation On-line versions will be available for those that we have agreements for or are public documents All others will be listed in an on-line catalog of the Minnesota Population Center holdings
Services for Countries ► Provide a listing of material held with first page scan ► Can provide full scans of any document held in the collection ► Contact: Wendy Thomas, MPC Data Archivist