Developing a Social Science and GIS Data Service in a Predominantly Undergraduate Library: Past, Present, and Future

At Ryerson University (in Toronto, Canada) social science data collection and service began in 1997. The data librarian was also the map librarian, so geospatial/GIS data became her responsibility as well. Data services (including geospatial data) to faculty and students have developed from the past (1997-2003: when they were Library centred, low profile, minimum resources for staff, equipment or computers) to the present (2003-2006: where they are university centred with a Geospatial, Map and Data Centre, full time technician, server space and Web delivery of some data) to the future (2006-200?: where they will hopefully be provincially centred, with the possibility of centrally archived and networked delivery of social science and geospatial data to Ontario universities). Techniques used at Ryerson to give data services sufficient profile to attract funding, and future scenarios being considered by the Ontario universities Data and Map librarians' groups for province wide delivery, will be examined.