A Brief History of Data in Canada and Canadian Academic Libraries Presentation to Maynooth University Librarians and Friends Wendy Watkins Carleton University March, 2014

Outline A brief history of data in Canada Data Liberation as a catalyst Carleton University’s Library Data Centre Abracadabra--the birth of MADGIC in the Library The broader picture – Canada’s shameful record – Research Data Management and Open Data Where in the world are the leaders? Questions?

In the Beginning There was the Machine-Readable Archives of the Public Archives of Canada (MRAD-PAC)

What Happened?

Wandering in the Wilderness No national leadership No international voice Handful of data services in university computing centres and research units Statistics Canada data priced out of reach

Changing of the Guard – New Government Statistics Canada data had always been expensive Licences forbade sharing; researchers needed grants or cash 1986 Census cancelled and reinstated under cost-recovery Statistics Canada’s prices increased up to 1000% Universities priced out of the picture (many not in the frame in the first place)

Home-grown measures Universities formed purchasing consortia for Statistics Canada Data Involved separate negotiations for every research file (there were about 250) Not everyone could afford to play Needed another solution

Bring on the Liberators 1992 – Paper “Liberating the Data” – Proposed affordable access for Canadian universities 1996 – Data Liberation Inititative (DLI) launched Annual subscription for post-secondary institutions for – All STC’s public microdata, aggregate data and geographic files – 50 universities in year 1 – 75 now; nearly 100% coverage Carleton’s DLI home is in the Library Data Centre

Carleton University’s Library Data Centre Carleton University’s Library Data Centre (est. 1965)

Data Rescues and the project Involved in several major data rescues – Canadian Gallup Polls ( ) – The Centre for Research and Information on Canada – Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation – Listening to Canadians Major instigator in the development of a web- based data documentation and extraction servicea web- based data documentation and extraction service

ABRACADABRA, the Birth of MADGIC (Maps, Data and Government Information Centre)

MADGIC – View from the Desk

MapsMaps in MADGIC

GISGIS in MADGIC

Gov Docs Gov Docs in MADGIC

Canada – Data Collection in Jeopardy Successive budget cuts have crippled the world’s number 1 statistical agency

Datalibre.ca Datalibre.ca Urging governments to make data free and easlily accessible for Canadians Tracey Lauriault is a fearless fighter for open data and evidence-based policy Great place to keep abreast of Canadian data news

Research Data Management Research Data Management and Open Data: Calling all Librarians Open data without management will remain locked Librarians have the skills to organize open data

Where are the Experts? Try Scotland University of Edinburgh has University of Edinburgh and the Digital Curation Centre in cooperation with the Universities of Glasgow and BathDigital Curation Centre

Where Else Are the Experts? Try CESSDAExperts?CESSDA

Questions?