DLI Research Paper Release - SHERLOCK: Five Years of Use of Survey Data from Statistics Canada's Data Liberation Initiative in Quebec Universities

"SHERLOCK: Five Years of Use of Survey Data from Statistics Canada's Data Liberation Initiative in Quebec Universities," by Gaëtan Drolet, is now available for downloading as DLI Research Paper 2E (http://dspace.hil.unb.ca:8080/dspace/handle/1882/935). Gaëtan is well-known to the DLI community through his work as DLI Contact at Laval University, as a DLI trainer and the moving force behind the extremely useful guide, How to Cite Statistics Canada Products (Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 12-591-XWE).

In this research paper, the author describes how the creation of the Data Liberation Initiative's (DLI) program allowed libraries from Quebec Universities to develop a common infrastructure (Sherlock) to facilitate access to Statistics Canada's Public Use Microdata Files (PUMF). The report presents five years of utilization of surveys' microdata from Statistics Canada in the Quebec Universities.

The author highlights survey data usage by the Quebec Universities community based on information from their extraction system Sherlock. Trends are observed and he presents the most consulted surveys based on four Sherlock functionalities (access to documentation and metadata, file transfers, extraction and analysis). In order to raise discussion, this document concludes in presenting potential avenues for contributing to the improvement of access to DLI survey microdata in the Quebec universities.

The DLI Research Paper Series includes analytical papers, reports and research relating to the use of Statistics Canada survey data files and documentation in research, teaching, and provision of data services to researchers, students and faculty.

Papers published in this series generally incorporate primary research, often as part of a broader program of research in progress, and include analysis of data training and education techniques and programs, evidence of secondary data use in knowledge transfer activities, secondary archiving and preservation issues as well as bibliographies and literature reviews.