An overview of selected DLI projects Marie-Claire Lauzon, Statistics Canada DLI Atlantic Training Acadia University April 24, 2008

Objective To provide an overview of some the projects the DLI unit has been working on in 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

Lets have a look at the prototype… g=1&sfold=0&survfold=0 g=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 prototypes development Functionality Bold search terms in results list Display # of documents searched and retrieved Show authors name Search within results Develop the interface Test Launch

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), 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