ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


October 1990 / 869

The International Association for 

Social Science Information Service 

and Technology (IASSIST)

By Diane Geraci

Social Science Bibliographer
State University o f New York at Binghamton

Data resources fo r  the 1990s was the theme o f the 
IA SSIST  conference.

The International Association for Social 
Science Information Service and Technol­

ogy (IASSIST) is an organization that brings to­
gether data archivists, librarians, computing spe­
cialists, researchers, planners, and government 
agency administrators interested in social data in 
machine-readable formats. Since 1974, IASSIST 
has served as a forum for the exchange of ideas for 
providing information services and for developing 
technical applications in data information centers 
in a number of settings. Among them  are national 
archives, university libraries, computing centers, 
research institutes, government agencies, and pri­
vate corporations. IASSIST members are engaged 
in the acquisition, processing, administration, pres­
ervation, and distribution of data.

This year’s annual conference was held May 30- 
June 2, 1990, in Poughkeepsie, New York. The 
theme of the conference was “Numbers, Pictures, 
Words and Sounds: Priorities for the 1990s.” It 
reflects the ever-increasing universe of data re­
sources. The program featured several plenary 
sessions, concurrent sessions, round table discus­
sions, and workshops. Together they highlighted 
this expanded notion of data as well as concomitant 
hardware and software development.

Opening remarks were given by IASSIST presi­
dent Thomas E. Brown, National Archives and 
Records Administration, and Nancy S. Dye, dean 
of Vassar College. Laura Guy, University of Wis­
consin-Madison, presided over the first plenary 
session, which included a representative from the 
U.S. Bureau of the Census speaking on the 1990 
census and its challenges. A guest from the 
U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences spoke about recent 
Soviet efforts to produce their first electronic 
commercial product and a database of political 
biographical information.

The second plenary, “Perspectives on Data 
Services Over the Last 25 Years: Where Are We 
Going?” was both entertaining and provocative in 
providing a “romp” over the last sixty years of social, 
organizational, and technological developments 
that have affected the provision of data services. 
Chaired by Murray Aborn, an honored National 
Science Foundation retiree, the session further 
covered issues such as the lack of a union list of 
machine-readable data, the benefits of data ar­
chives for faculty and students, the growing com­
mitment of librarians to data, and the need to focus 
on the educational process in college teaching in 
relationship to primary data collecting and secon­



8 70 / C&RL News

dary analysis. Long-time leaders in data library 
development, Judith Rowe, Princeton University, 
and Margaret O. Adams, currently at the National 
Archives and Records Administration, were two of 
the speakers.

The third plenary session, “Research Library 
Developments: Future Directions,” was also of 
interest to academic and research librarians. Mari­
anne Gaunt, Rutgers University, chaired the ses­
sion. Beecher Wiggins, Library of Congress, pre­
sented Henriette D. Avram’s paper on networking 
and the immense implications of the proposed 
National Research and Education Network for 
libraries. Leslie Hume, Research Libraries Group, 
Inc., shared a consortial view of new information 
needs and challenges for research libraries. Rich­
ard Leacy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 
touched on technical issues libraries will face along 
with the economics of information and issues of 
access involving U.S. government agencies. James 
Neal, Indiana University, spoke about “the people 
challenge” in libraries as they strive to meet the 
needs to deliver computer-based resources and 
services to the scholarly community.

Concurrent sessions were varied and included 
the following topics: cross-national and compara­
tive survey data, data collection and access issues, 
digital cartographic data, machine-readable docu­
mentation, encouraging instructional uses of data, 
new methods of distributing federal data, lexicons 
and text data for the humanities, networking, non- 
North American archives update, bringing data to 
the user, images as data, developing standards and 
bibliographic projects related to computer files, 
public policy issues, cooperation in providing ac­
cess to computer files on university campuses, 
research uses of text materials, alternative data 
sources, and archival responses to technical devel­
opments.

In the session “Cooperation and Connectivity: 
Problems and Solutions,” Linda Langschied and 
G ertrude Lewis shared th eir experiences at 
Rutgers University in providing access to machine- 
readable information in a setting with a long history 
of cooperation between the library and computer 
center. Services ranging from access to data files on 
magnetic tape to searching commercial databases 
were highlighted. Patricia Vanderberg, University 
of California at Berkeley, discussed cataloging of 
computer files of all types, the need to coordinate 
with various library and non-library units on cam­
pus, and work on standards. Vanderberg is chair of 
the Computer Files Discussion Group, Association 
of Library Collections and Technical Services, 
American Library Association.

Text files were the topic for several speakers. 
Among them was Marianne Gaunt, Rutgers Uni­
versity, the project director for a one-year planning 
grant from the National Endowment for the

Humanities. The project, which began in July 
1989, was aimed at establishing a national center 
for machine-readable texts in the humanities. 
Gaunt’s efforts to create an inventory of machine- 
readable texts has been underway since the early 
1980s. RLIN’s M DF (machine-readable data for­
mat) file continues to bear the fruit of these efforts.

Round table lunches provided the opportunity 
for informal discussions among conference partici­
pants. Topics included: bibliographic control of 
computer files, database servers, issues of public 
policy, providing levels of reference, and electronic 
records and the Freedom of Information Act.

At one of the round table lunches, Sue A. Dodd, 
University of North Carolina, an IASSIST member 
and leader in developing cataloging rules for com­
puter files, shared her paper on “Bibliographic 
References for Computer Files in the Social Sci­
ences: A Discussion Paper.” Although researchers 
are beginning to cite computer files in their bibliog­
raphies, those who do are in the minority. Dodd 
further outlined suggestions to promote accurate 
and consistent citation practices.

Two half-day workshops, “Geographic Informa­
tion Systems” and “Introduction to Data Librar­
ies,” were also offered, as well as two full-day 
sessions: “Data Library Management: Planning for 
the Future” and “International Socio-Economic 
Time-Series Data.”

Presented by Chuck Humphrey, University of 
Alberta, and Bliss Siman, Baruch College, City 
University of New York, the focus of the workshop 
on “Data Library Management: Planning for the 
Future” was to identify relevant issues for planning. 
Among the issues highlighted were: bibliographic 
control, effect of online public catalogs on access to 
data, trends in research and instruction, collecting 
data resources, services to be provided, level of 
staffing required, impact of technological change 
on data access, and preservation of machine-read- 
able information.

The conference concluded with an IASSIST 
General Assembly meeting where a five-year plan 
for the Association was adopted, “Future Direc­
tions for IASSIST.” The plan stresses the crucial 
role IASSIST has played in bridging the interests 
and concerns of social researchers and scientists, 
information specialists, and computing specialists 
over the last 15 years. The “Outline of Goals” 
includes professional development of staff in data 
centers, advancement and development of social 
data information centers, assessment and planning 
for the impact of new technology, promotion of the 
archiving of social data and the advancement of 
data standards, development of linkages between 
social data centers and users and producers of data, 
and evaluation of the role and contribution of 
IASSIST and recruitment of new members.

As more academic and research libraries expand



October 1990 / 871

their role as information providers for data files, 
they will be grappling with many of the same issues 
highlighted in the program. The conference pro­
vided a forum for IASSIST members and other

presento rs to share their expertise and visions for 
dealing with acquisition and access issues, techni­
cal and administrative issues, as well as with provid­
ing reference services for data files. ■  ■

The practical librarian: Managing 

collections and services in the 

college library

By Sandra Upchurch

Library Director
Culver-Stockton College

A report on a conference on small college libraries.

The Practical Librarian: Managing Collec- 
tions and Services in the College Library” 

was the theme of a conference held at Maryville 
College, Maryville, Tennessee, May 31-June 2, 
1990. Co-sponsored by the Lamar Memorial Li­
brary at Maryville College, and the University of 
Tennessee, Knoxville’s Graduate School of Library 
and Information Science, the conference was de­
signed for college librarians serving student enroll­
ments under 2,000. Sessions focused on the envi­
ronment of higher education in the 1990s, the role 
of the college library, collection and service issues, 
and support for the library on campus. The tranquil 
Maryville College campus, in the foothills of the 
Great Smoky Mountains, provided a relaxed envi­
ronment that encouraged interaction and idea­
sharing among the 48 participants.

To facilitate discussion, William C. Robinson 
(UTK Graduate School) developed a composite

profile of 22 libraries based on a questionnaire. The 
average conference participant had been at his or 
her library for 11.4 years; the average library repre­
sented held 129,545 volumes and had a book 
budget of $82,676. The library was open 82.7 hours 
per week with four professional librarians and four 
FTE support staff. Automation activities in the 
average library included acquisitions, online 
searching, and cataloging functions. Most libraries 
used LC classification. Fifty-nine (59) percent of 
the libraries have a separate reference service 
point, staffed an average of 50.5 hours per week, 
and staffed by professionals 41.7 hours per week. 
The average library provided bibliographic instruc­
tion as part of freshman English and subject-ori­
ented instruction at the junior level.

Ingram Book Services hosted a splendid recep­
tion at Willard House, formerly a presidential 
home on campus, and at the opening banquet Tom