An overview of selected DLI projects

Marie-Claire Lauzon, Statistics CanadaDLI Atlantic TrainingAcadia UniversityApril 24, 2008

Objective

To provide an overview of some the projects the DLI unit has been working on in 2007-2008 The DLI Survival Guide The new and improved DLI collection interface A faster search tool for the DLI listserv DDI – Data Documentation Initiative and Nesstar

The DLI Survival Guide – A bit of history Based on:

The “Brian McNally First Aid CD-ROM” produced by Elizabeth Hamilton and her colleagues at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) - A quick reference guide for librarians that dedicate a short amount of time to data services

The 1997 training binder for new data librarians developed by the DLI unit

The DLI Survival Guide – A bit of history These resources were expanded through the

efforts of Jane Fry, Carleton University, and the DLI unit at Statistics Canada

Chuck Humphrey, University of Alberta and Nancy Lemay, University of Ottawa, also contributed to the Guide

DLI Survival Guide – National Training Day Demo Draft version of the Guide presented during

the DLI National Training Day (May 2007) DLI unit received more than 100 suggestions

from the DLI community Incorporated these suggestions and

translated the Guide Released an updated, password protected,

version

DLI Survival Guide – Recent developments Last month, the Centre of

Expertise on Accessibility reviewed the guide and provided accessibility related recommendations

Their recommendations led us to re-write and re-code certain sections of the Guide

Replaced menu on right side with links at the top

Removed any instances of “click here”

Re-wrote expressions like “Position your mouse over the link below" (not everyone uses a mouse)

DLI Survival Guide – Next Steps Currently testing search feature with search

specialists from our Dissemination Division This week, the Guide is undergoing TASS

(Testing and Support Services Unit) testing Examine how the Guide works in different

browsers Identify any broken links Provide usability recommendations

We will then implement the usability recommendations and release the Guide

The new DLI collection interface Goal: Facilitate access to DLI data and metadata Being developed by IT specialists in the

Dissemination Division Jackie Godfrey is our DLI lead on the project Will allow users to both browse and search the DLI

collection Will pull information from IMDB and Online

Catalogue Will eventually completely replace our static DLI

collections pages

The new DLI collection interface Interface is based on the Statistics Canada

Analytical Studies module Users can search the Online Catalogue for

DLI products by keyword They can also browse the IMDB for DLI

related surveys and related products By Subject By Date By Survey

Let’s have a look at the prototype…

http://www.statcan.ca/dli/english/dli?&dfold=0&currpg=1&sfold=0&survfold=0

DLI Collection Interface Prototype Next Steps

Continue to develop searching and browsing functionality, the interface design

Perform usability testing Launch the interface and use it with the DLI

static pages Develop a fully independent interface

The new dlilist search tool

Prototype based on open source application

A faster alternative to the existing listserv search tool

Available under “Alternate Search” on the dlilist

The new dlilist search tool

Supports Boolean AND, OR, NOT Must be capitalized

Use “ ” to search as phrase

Use * to truncate

Search results compared

Prototype faster Primary tool shows

search terms in bold in results

Primary tool shows total # of documents searched and # found

dlilist search tool - next steps

Request input from the DLI community Complete the prototype’s development

Functionality Bold search terms in results list Display # of documents searched and retrieved Show author’s name Search within results

Develop the interface Test Launch

DDI – Data Documentation Initiative DDI – Data Documentation Initiative An international XML-based metadata

tagging system for social science data Allows for detailed and structured information

searches across repositories or data collections tagged using DDI specifications

DDI – Data Documentation Initiative Statistics Canada working on DDI project since April

2007 Other groups working on DDI:

ODESI (Ontario Data Extraction System Infrastructure) – a jointly funded project between the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and OntarioBuys

Statistics Canada Research Data Centres (RDCs) will be coding Statistics Canada master files in DDI format

DDI specialist in DLI unit is Linda Harding-Devries

DDI Best Practices Document

DLI unit has worked with: Dr Michelle Edwards (Guelph University) Jane Fry (Carleton University) Irene Wong (University of Alberta) Special Surveys Division at Statistics Canada

Developed the Statistics Canada best practices document for coding Statistics Canada files in DDI format Goal: Ensure consistency in marking up surveys

Also working with other Divisions within StatCan on DDI related projects

Provides training to Statistics Canada Divisions on tagging DDI files

Statistics Canada files in DDI

The following StatCan data files have been coded in DDI and are available through the DLI Nesstar site: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring

Survey (CTUMS), 2000-2007 1996 Census of Population

(Households and Housing, Families and Individuals Files)

Public Service Employee Opinion Survey (PSES), 2002 and 2005

Residential Telephone Service Survey (RTSS), 2004 (May and December), 2005 and 2006

Youth Smoking Survey (YSS), 2002 We will be adding these files next

week: Canadian Survey of Giving,

Volunteering and Participating, 2004 Employment Insurance Coverage

Survey, 2000 to 2006

The Statistics Canada Nesstar site The DLI Nesstar site will be the official repository for StatCan data

files in DDI compliant format a virtual data library users can search, browse, download and manipulate Statistics

Canada data files to create their own tables Files will be available in both French and English DLI contacts can access DLI data with a user name and password The metadata will be available to all. Clients will be able to perform

variable level searches to locate data files Next files to be tagged are Census of Population, Public Service

Employee Opinion Survey (PSES), Residential Telephone Service Survey (RTSS), Youth Smoking Survey (YSS) files

Statistics Canada Nesstar site: www62.statcan.ca