Cite & Byte

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Statistical Sources
An Overview

Statistical Universe, the newly acquired online index to U.S. government statistical data, now resides on the Library Gateway and can be used by any member of the Cornell community. Statistical Universe is the online version of American Statistics Index, which the reference division has both in print and on CD-ROM. Online access means you can search for the government data sets you need from the comfort of your own home, not to mention from all the computer labs and libraries on campus. To connect to this resource simply type its title, Statistical Universe, in the search box on the Gateway's Networked Resources page, and then click on the hyperlink which will appear there.

In addition to wider access, Statistical Universe (SU) offers many enhancements to the CD-ROM. It is so much easier to use that we think this will become a major resource for social scientists at all levels of expertise. For one thing, there is no need to juggle disks: the entire range of U.S. government statistical publications from 1973 to the present can be searched at once. The Web-based interface makes searching simple without sacrificing any of the power of the CD-ROM. The search result displays are easy to read and understand. At present a smallish proportion of the records link directly to the data, but this feature is one Lexis/Nexis, the new providers of SU, have promised to build upon, and they are committed to hotlinking to more than half the data over the next few years. This means that SU will not only index the material but organize access to the actual data, which is now hopelessly dispersed and disorganized on a hundred different Web sites. Some of the data has also been repackaged by SU to provide easily viewable and downloadable files.

By reviewing the history of statistical indexing we can see just how important Statistical Universe is. The first revolution in access to statistics occurred in 1973 when Congressional Information Service (CIS) began American Statistics Index (ASI). You will find the last ten volumes of this source in Olin Reference (on index tables in the middle of the Reference Reading Room). This brought together in a single index the widely scattered output of all the statistics-producing offices of the U.S. government.

The print version of ASI organizes its information in two volumes, an index volume and an abstract volume for each year. The current year comes out in monthly issues. The indexing is very detailed, with helpful cross-referencing and extensive special geographical and topical categories. The numbers in the index volume refer to the abstracts in the other volume. The abstracts describe each publication, and each table within the publication. CIS also produces a fiche set reproducing all the statistical publications organized by the numbering scheme in the abstract volumes. We do not have the fiche set because it seemed an unnecessary duplication of our almost complete depository set of U.S. documents. Occasionally, though, there will be a series we don't get and we will happily order the fiche through interlibrary loan.

The success of ASI led to the publication of Statistical Reference Index (SRI) in 1980 and Index to International Statistics (IIS) in 1983. SRI indexes state government statistical publications as well as statistics produced by associations, businesses, commercial publishers and independent research organizations. IIS indexes international statistics. These two are arguably the most underutilized indexes in our collection. The next time you have a question or research project involving statistics, please take a look at SRI or IIS.

Both products are also available on CD-ROM, now in our newly revamped CD-ROM room behind the information and reference desks. Note that SRI and IIS are not part of Statistical Universe. That means your only access to a cumulated index with keyword searching is through the CD-ROMs.

Statistical Workstation: I mentioned our reorganized CD-ROM room. In addition to moving the CD-ROM versions of our statistical indexes, we're also moving the Statistical Workstation to a more accessible location in the CD-ROM room. The Statistical Workstation CDs are going to be moved out of the file drawers and into a CD-ROM carousel. The CD-ROMs will be easier to see and easier to refile. We're also going to pull some statistical CD-ROMs out of the stacks and make them available through the workstation. In particular, we're going to bring together the subject summary tape file series from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing. This includes titles such as "Foreign-Born Population of the U.S." and "Earnings by Occupation and Education."

Historical Census Indexes: The reworking of our statistical sources will also encompass our historical census indexes. These, too, will reside in the carousel. We now have two distinct sets. One, from Automated Archives, includes indexes of U.S. Censuses of N.Y. State from colonial times through 1870 (for N.Y. City) plus the indexes to Social Security Records from its inception through 1995. The second set, which we just acquired, is from Family Tree Maker, the popular publisher of genealogical resources, and features indexes to the entire U.S. census through 1860 and selected counties through 1880. This is quite an amazing resource and one we're sure will get quite a lot of use this summer.

Robert Kibbee, Reference Librarian
rk14@cornell.edu

Statistics on the Web

How many potatoes are produced in Ireland? How many are eaten per capita? How many are exported? What's their value? How do these numbers compare with other countries? More and more students and faculty are turning to the Web for these kinds of statistics, with very mixed success.

There's a lot of statistical information on the Web. Increasingly, states, countries and organizations are using it to publish many of their statistics. Finding, evaluating and using this data is increasingly important to researchers throughout the university. Accessible as the Web seems, however, finding statistics can be difficult and frustrating. Once found, the lack of documentation may make the data impossible to interpret. And the variety of formats can make post-processing a time-consuming challenge.

We can't solve all those problems, but we can provide a few pointers, particularly for finding data. There are two basic tactics for finding information on the Web: general Web guides and search engines.

The popular Web guide Yahoo is not particularly well-organized for statistical research. The hierarchies can be difficult to maneuver through. Try a search from the top level on "statistics." This gives a fairly manageable 77 categories and it's easy to move through them looking for appropriate subject areas. It doesn't take too long, for example, to get to Ireland's Central Statistical Office (CSO) which you might think would have a lot on potatoes. But like many government sites, the CSO wants to make money selling the print versions of its statistical publications, not give them away over the Web. Potatoes are not even mentioned on the CSO site and the data for agriculture and trade are basically teasers.

An additional problem is that Yahoo is far from comprehensive. In fact, there are only two choices for Ireland. So where can we turn?

Another possibility would be to use a search engine to find a potato Web page using the terms we need. Try a search on AltaVista for "+Ireland +potato* +exports". Yikes! 806 hits! And none of the first 100 look even remotely relevant. These are typical search engine results, and the more the Web grows, the more difficult it is to refine searches to get meaningful results.

Another approach is to try to locate other, specialized pages of links. Once found, these are well worth bookmarking for easy access. You can use Yahoo to find these but we've tried to make it a little easier by bringing together links to some "meta" statistical sites onto a page of our own. This can get you quickly to pages with extensive, well-organized collections of links to statistical sites.

You'll be able to find this page more easily when we finish our redesign of the Reference Division's Web site. On our statistics page we've tried to reorganize the Yahoo statistical categories for easier searching, as well as link you to the "meta" sites.

From here, click on the University of Michigan Documents Center link. Once there choose "Agriculture" to connect to a list of about 15 agriculture-related Web sites. Midway through this list you’ll notice a link to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) page. By clicking on this link you’ll connect to FAOSTAT Data and the oddly named "Food balance sheet." This has exactly the data that’s needed, and fortunately it's in a format that can be moved easily to a spreadsheet program.

One word of warning! What's on the Web is still an infinitesimal portion of what's available in print. Use the statistical indexes to find and print Web material. See our lead article in this issue for more information.

Robert Kibbee, Reference Librarian
rk14@cornell.edu

Summer Activities In and Around Ithaca

Information about summer activities in the Ithaca area is available on the Web. Here is a very small selection of fun things to do and how to find out more about them.

Ithaca Attractions: Visit this Web site for information on Cass Park, Cayuga Nature Center, Circle Greenway, Cornell Plantations, the Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca Falls, Ithaca Farmer's Market, boat tours on Cayuga Lake, Sapsucker Woods Bird Sanctuary, the Science Center, and Stewart Park.

Festivals: The two biggest parties of the summer are: the Ithaca Festival, June 5 - 7 on the Commons and at Stewart Park and the Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, July 23 - 26 in Trumansburg.

Outdoor Activities: For swimming, hiking, boating, and picnicking, go to New York State Parks in the Ithaca area. Also nearby is the Finger Lakes Trail, part of the North Country National Scenic Trail that extends from the Adirondacks to the Great Plains. Cyclists will want to visit the Finger Lakes Cycling Club site and runners the Finger Lakes Runners Club site for information on rides and races.

Wineries: Visit the wineries around Cayuga Lake for free tours and wine tasting.

For More Information: For more summer activities around Ithaca, check the IthacaNet's Arts, Entertainment, and Sports links, Cornell's News and Events links, and Ithaca College's News and Events page.