i)^^sist NEWSLETTER vol.1, no. 2 NEW ORGANIZATIONS/ REORGANIZATION AUSTRAL I A New Social Science Consortium in Australia An association of universities and colleges has been formed and has taken up Australian national membership of the Inter-university Consortium for Poli- tical and Social Research (ICPSR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The association, to be known after incorporation as the Australian Consortium for Social and Poli- tical Research Inc. (ACSPRI), will have nine members from 1 July 1976. These are the Australian National University, the Flinders University of South Aus- tralia, James Cook University of North Queensland, La Trobe University, the Universities of Melbourne, New South Wales, Queensland, and Sydney, and the Western Australian Institute of Technology. One or two more institutions may join soon after this date. Scholars at member institutions will have access to the data sets in the three ICPSR archives, and also to certain other ICPSR services related to the survey package OSIRIS and subsidized attendance at summer schools. As a consequence of ACSPRI 's national membership of ICPSR, all requests for ICPSR data sets from within Australia will in future be channelled through ACSPRI. All data sets obtained as a result of these requests will be copied, stored and catalogued by ACSPRI before being passed on to the persons origi- nating them. In this way a collection of social science data sets will be built up within Australia. In addition, it is hoped to include as many Austra- lian data sets as possible in the local collection. Investigators at Austra- lian universities and colleges are urged to deposit their data sets with ACSPRI. There they will be copied and the duplicates sent to ICPSR or to some other overseas archive for examination, and if the collection is regarded there as sufficiently important, for cleaning also. It is not envisaaed that a fully fledged data archive with its own cleaning facilities could be established in Australia for some years, but the ACSPRI collection will, in time, provide a foundation for such an archive to build on. In accordance with an agreement between ACSPRI and the Australian National University, the ANU Survey Research Centre will act as ACSPRI's agent in the es- tablishment of its collection, in the servicing of requests for data (either directly from that collection or from ICPSR) in furnishing the ACSPRI represen- tatives from the member institutions with the relevant documentation, and in acting as a channel for ICPSR services generally. Persons having data sets which may be suitable for depositing in the ACSPRI collection (most of those ac- quired as a result of PhD work will qualify) or who wish to know more about the ICPSR archives and other services are invited to contact the Secretary of ACSPRI, Mr. K.R.W. Brewer, at the ANU Survey Research Centre in the JCSMR Building, ANU, P. 0. Box 4, Canberra (Tel. Canberra 49 4400). The names of the official repre- sentatives of member institutions are also available from Mr. Brewer. 26. sist NEWSLETTER vol.1, no. 2 POLAND Polish Academy of Sciences Section on Data Processing and Data Archiving Krzysztof Ostrowski, lASSIST East European Secretariat, writes that the Polish Academy of Sciences has announced the establishment of a Section of Data Processing and Data Archiving within the Committee of Political Sciences. The function of the Section is to coordinate activities in computer- related data analysis for the political sciences. The Section intends to assist in the exchange of information, software, and computer documentation between various Polish research institutes and universities and establish contacts with research institutions and organizations abroad. Computer capability of the research institutes represented in the Section includes large and medium-size computers (IBM, CDC, RIAD, ICL, Odra) and stan- dard software packages (e.g., OSIRIS, SPSS, STAIRS). Mini processors such as Datapoint and PDP are being introduced, but small interactive programs are un- available. Experience in data archiving and secondary analysis is still limited. Dr. Ostrowski would like to initiate an exchange of information relating to data processing and archiving. He asks that materials which you have found relevant be sent to him. As lASSIST has as one of its objectives the fostering of international dissemination and exchange of information about social science data processing and archiving, this appears to be an occasion when lASSIST mem- bers can play a useful role. Dr. Ostrowski 's address is Komitet Nauk Politycznych PAN, Sekcja Przetwarzania i Archiwizacji Danych, skrytka pocztowa 12, 00-955 Warszawa. UNITED STATES Radcliffe College Data .Resource and Research Center With a grant from the Ford Foundation, Radcliffe College will establish the Radcliffe Data Resource and Research Center. This Center will become a base for the social scientific study of life patterns of educated women in American society. The Data Resource and Research Center is designed to provide a central location for the maintenance and updating of (panel) data to help obviate un- necessary and wasteful duplication of already collected data; to help guide future researchers in collecting new data which parallel already collected data so that well designed, well planned, longitudinal studies may be under- taken with comparable data; to provide technical assistance to aid researchers in problems of data reduction, retrieval, and statistical analysis relating to data reliability and validity; and, to ensure data usage by sponsoring research which will address a wide range of multidisciplinary investigations into chang- ing life experiences of women. 27. sist NEWSLETTER vol.1, no. 2 The Center will assemble data sets which include a wide range of informa- tion on the life patterns of educated women. More specific criteria will be detailed by the Center's staff in consultation with a Board of Scholars, re- searchers in several social science disciplines who have been selected for their experience and expertise pertinent to the empirical study of educated American women. The Board of Scholars will advise on the selection and methods of preserving, organizing, and maintaining the data. Members of archives and organizations involved in data gathering and dis- semination who wish to assist the Radcliffe effort should write to Ms. Marjorie Piatt, 10 Garden Street, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA. Ms. Piatt notes that comments and suggestions are welcomed. The Roper Public Opinion Research Center Reorganization The Roper Public Opinion Research Center, world's largest archive of opinion survey data, will have an expanded role as a result of a new affiliation with the University of Connecticut, Williams College, and Yale University. The Roper Center will be established as a separate non-profit corporation to be hosted by, and have special responsibilities to the three academic institu- tions. Under the new arrangement, the Roper Center, until now a component of Williams College, will become a non-profit corporation governed by a board of trustees composed of members of the present board of the Roper Center, plus equal numbers of University of Connecticut, Williams College and Yale University members. During the contemplated transition period of approximately a year, the Cen- ter will continue to function at Williams Colleqe as it has in the past. By the end of the transition year, it is contemplated that a set of the raw data will have been transferred to the University of Connecticut, where it will be physi- cally processed and kept. Another complete set of data and the bulk of the user services operation will be transferred to Yale. Other allocations of functions among the three educational institutions will be determined at future times. Professor Philip K. Hastings, who has divided his time between teaching at Williams College and being director of the Center for the last 25 years, will remain on the Williams faculty and continue to be associated with the Center as a member of its board of directors. All arrangements, contracts and understandings currently in effect between data suppliers, members of the Center's Library Association, and orqanizations which have made contracts with or grants to the Center will continue to be hon- ored in all respects. All requests for information and data should continue to be addressed to the Director, The Roper Public Opinion Research Center, Williams College, Will iamstown, Massachusetts 01267. 28.