Location
Room 217, Woodruff Library

Services
Provides data and statistics from international, government, and corporate sources in trade, business, government, demographics, and social sciences. Offers assistance in areas such as survey design, quantitative analysis, data management, and statistical analysis.

Internet
On-line data collection is open
to Emory community at einstein.library.emory.edu/EDC/

Hours
For walk-in data and statistical services:
Mon. and Wed. 1:00p.m. to 5:00p.m.
Tues. and Thurs. 11:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. Mornings, evenings, and Fridays by appointment.
Workstations available:
Mon.­Thurs. 9:00a.m. to 8:00p.m.
Fri. 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.
and by appointment.

Contacts
Patrick Moriarty, Director, 727-6129
Julia Leon, Web Programmer, Teaching & Research, 727-7664
Brian Lai, EDC Specialist, 727-6129

Visit the May/June 1999 issue of the Academic Exchange for additional technology resources for faculty.

Academic Exchange October/November 1999 Contents Page

If you use data and quantitative research, you may want to fill out a Rolodex card for the Electronic Data Center at Woodruff Library. The facility offers a range of services and hands-on assistance that only a few research libraries in the world can match.

Established in 1996, the center acquires data and statistics from international, government, and corporate sources on trade, business trends, government activity, and a full range of demographic information collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and various international organizations. Rounding out the collection are data sets from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, the largest social science data archive in the world. The center also stores a collection of code books for use with the data studies.

The data center is located in Room 217 of the Technology Centers, next to Reference/ Information in Woodruff Library. The staff, made up of active researchers (Patrick Moriarty, the center's coordinator, has a Ph.D.
in political science from Rice University), provides everything from consulting in survey design and quantitative analysis to instruction in data management and statistical programming.

When he works with students, "The Data Guy," as Moriarty is known, will help them identify the right data for their research, as well as provide counseling to those who still believe that all data on the Web is created equal. With experienced researchers, he can discuss various approaches and applications, including writing command files after the data has been properly identified, in advance of a scheduled visit.

At one of the center's four public workstations, students and faculty can access data stored on disk or CD-ROM (tape requires special assistance). Clients can also receive hands-on help with the latest statistical and database applications, and mapping software, including the popular GIS ArcView system. Experienced faculty, on the other hand, may prefer to have data delivered to their desktop via the on-line collection over the Internet. Most of the data collection is free from restrictions and open for use by members of the Emory community.

The center has on-line access to over three hundred studies, covering subjects such as crime, urban renewal, health policy, international relations, political behavior, and economic development. Popular data sets include cross-national time series, historical investigations, and clinical studies. Pressed to name a few recent examples of research at the center, Moriarty describes a study in the business school that looked at the effect of NAFTA on job displacement in the U.S. And then there was the public health study that used the gis software to map out the spread of cold strains throughout metro Atlanta (FYI the germs were extremely democratic and not influenced by socio-economic factors).

At present, many of the quantitative studies used by Emory faculty for teaching and research are available to download from the Electronic Data Center's Web site. In the future, Moriarty expects to see the center more involved in archiving campus data by becoming an active gatherer of data in addition to being a distributor. H.J.