Workshop 1

Title: "Developing a GIS Data Services Program"
Presenter: Steve Morris, North Carolina State University

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services are becoming an increasingly important part of social science data services. This workshop will examine the steps involved in developing GIS services as a component of an information services operation.

Topics to be discussed include: Developing a service plan, acquiring hardware, selecting software, acquiring and organizing data, planning and developing data access mechanisms, managing metadata, providing user support and training, developing partnerships, and planning for long-term data preservation.

A discussion of data selection issues will include a hands-on examination and comparison of various geospatial data resources. The components of a reference interview in the context of GIS services will be discussed in detail, with a special focus on supporting user selection of data resources from among competing alternatives.

The workshop will conclude with an examination of Web-based mapping services as an alternative to workstation-based GIS data access and use.

Workshop 2

Title: "Finding, Evaluating and Using Numeric Data"
Presenter: Julie Linden, Yale University

This workshop will present reference strategies for identifying and locating digital numeric sources and the information necessary to evaluate numeric data resources and access options.

The audience for this workshop would include librarians and information specialists (for example, government documents and social science librarians) whose clientele seek numeric data and students who want to learn about data support services and librarianship.

Topics covered will include: the process of finding resources at the study, question, and variable levels; understanding the "data life cycle" and why it's important for reference work; a tour of the best catalogs and websites for finding data; and using metadata and codebooks to evaluate and use data.

Practical examples of data questions and search strategies will be provided, focusing on commonly used data such as Census 2000 and public opinion surveys.

The workshop will conclude with a review of options for using numeric data: simple tables and spreadsheets, raw ASCII files, extraction tools and common statistical software applications.

Workshop 3

Title: "An Introduction to Arcview"
Presenter: Steven Citron-Pousty, Yale University

This half day workshop will introduce basic concepts in GIS along with an introduction to Arcview GIS 3.2 and some of its capabilities.

The GIS material will cover basic distinctions between different geographic data types and issues to be considered when using data from different sources. For the Arcview session of the course we will carry out basic data and mapping tasks in Arcview. We will also carry out some more advanced procedures such as address matching and distance buffering. Finally, participants will create maps suitable for printing and image export.

This course is intended for people new to GIS or Arcview and should prepare people to carry out basic GIS analysis.

Workshop 4

Title: "DDI in Action: the Innovative Data Library using Nesstar Knowledge Products"
Presenters: Simon Musgrave, UKDA and Jostein Ryssevik, NSD, Nesstar Ltd.

The DDI has now reached a level of maturity and acceptance that makes it a robust and suitable structure on which to develop an advanced data library. The Nesstar team have now implemented a number of DDI based data libraries/archives in Europe, using the Nesstar software that is built upon the DDI. This software includes the web server, database engine, statistical engine, access control and both Java and browser based interfaces.

This workshop is designed for those who wish to create an advanced data library with easy search and analysis possibilities allowing the linking and integration of local with national and international resources. The library personnel will be able to create their own unique look and feel to their service without sacrificing any Nesstar functionality. The workshop will cover the creation of unique and localized interfaces, fully bookmarked in such a way as to seamlessly link both local and remote resources.