APLIC-International, The Communicator, Spring 1997, Issue #64
International Census Sources
Summary of Gera Draaijer's presentation on International Census
Sources
By Sarah Kolda, Assistant Librarian, Population Research Library, Princeton University
[Click for the full text of Gera Draaijer's presentation]
Gera Draaijer, from the University of Texas
Population Research Center
[http://prc.utexas.edu/lib/libr.html] began her discussion with an overview of
the International Census Collection. It is the mission of the Population
Research Center to seek out and collect international censuses, and the
center is considered the clearinghouse for censuses among APLIC-I member
libraries. The Center has approximately 85% of all known census
publications from countries around
the world, in paper, microfilm, or CD-ROM. The acquisition of these
censuses is quite difficult because:
- There are no published catalogs
- The censuses are always printed in limited numbers
- There are often no specific publishing plans or schedules
- The value of currency fluctuates greatly
Various methods are used in the attempt to acquire these censuses. Gera and
her staff analyze publishing patterns (e.g. - is a census produced every
5,7, or 10 years?) and write to the countries with their requests. Some
census are received on exchange. About 50% of the time they receive an
invoice. Sometimes they receive no answer at all, and sometimes, after
numerous unanswered requests, they will receive a census 5 years after
their last correspondence!
Payment brings its own difficulties. In the past, countries accepted
American dollars; now they require payment in their own currency. These
currencies can be difficult to get in the middle of Texas!
The Center's census holdings information is available through the WWW
(click here)
[http://prc.utexas.edu/lib/icc/icc.html]. The
holdings are organized by continent, United Nations geographical regions,
and country. A feature which Gera hopes to add is the ability to search
the contents of volumes, possibly by scanning in the table of contents of
each volume and making them available.
Some future concerns mentioned by Gera:
- Conservation of older materials
- Electronic formats are the future - can developing countries afford to
make census available in this format, and can we afford to collect them?
Respectfully submitted by Sarah Kolda / kolda@opr.princeton.edu
Population Research Library
Office of Population Research
Princeton University
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