www.bl.uk 4
Official Publications Collection
• Comprehensive collections of UK central and devolved government material going back to the Middle Ages
– Census Reports
– Electoral Registers
• Foreign Government Publications and population statistics
• Guides are available
– http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/index.html
• Social Science Reference desk are available to assist
www.bl.uk 5
Official Publications Collection:UK Census Reports
• BL holds statistical reports relating to each census
• Reports for 1921-1991 in the reading room on open shelves
• National and county aggregate reports for England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain
• Aggregate statistical information at each level for all census questions
• Compliments Histpop which has digitised reports between 1801 –1937 and Casweb: 1971 – 2001
• Some older reports can be found in parliamentary papers
Number of Households Lacking or sharing Amenities (England and
Wales)
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
1951 (Lack or
Share Flushing
Toilet)
1961 (Lack or
Share Flushing
Toilet)
1971 (Lack or
Share Inside
Toilet)
1981 (Lack or
Share Inside
Toilet)
1991 (Lack or
Share Inside
Toilet and/or
Bath or Shower)
2001 (Without
Sole use of
Toilet and/or
Bath or Shower)
1851 Population Pyramid
1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000
0-45-9
10-1415-1920-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-6465-6970-7475-7980-84
85+
Ag
e G
rou
p
Number of People
Male
Female
www.bl.uk 6
Official Publications Collection:Electoral Registers
• Electoral registers are lists of names of people entitled to vote, arranged by address
• The British Library has the national collection of electoral registers from 1832 to the present day
• The collection is complete from 1947 onwards, but partial before World War II
• Access to electoral registers is subject to restriction for 10 years after publication, to comply with legislation
• The registers are arranged by polling district within constituency
• Guide to Electoral Registers
1936 Electoral Roll for Brighton
– http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/electreg/electoral.html
www.bl.uk 7
Official Publications Collection:Foreign Government Publications
• BL holds a great deal of Foreign Government Official Publications
• These can include country census reports and official statistics
• Country Guides are available
– http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/offpubs/guides/govtguides.html
• Comprehensive historical population statistics are available for most European countries and many others across the globe
• Census of India is on open shelves from 1941 onwards, however earlier reports from 1871 are available in the India Office records
www.bl.uk 8
Also…
• Oral history and sounds
• News media
– Newspaper collection back to 1600s
– News broadcast media: From 2010, recording across 22
free-to-air news channels, ~60hrs a day
• Web archive
– Selective subjects as well as whole .uk domain
www.bl.uk 10
UK Data Service
• The UK Data Service holds a very wide variety of social science data:
– Surveys
– Qualitative data
– Longitudinal study data
– Census data
– Business microdata
www.bl.uk 11
Other resources
• The Mass Observation Archive – Material about everyday life in Britain.
Contains papers generated by the original Mass Observation social research organisation (1937-1950s) and newer material collected continuously since 1981
http://www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm
• A Vision of Britain through Time– Historical Maps, census reports, election
reports and other historical material, searchable by local area.
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/
• Charles Booth Online Archive– Archive material from the Booth
collections of LSE and the Senate House Library
http://booth.lse.ac.uk/
Images from The Mass Observation Archive
www.bl.uk 12
Other longitudinal data
• CLOSER: UK Cohort and longitudinal studies
http://www.closer.ac.uk/
• Timescapes: Qualitative longitudinal data
http://www.timescapes.leeds.ac.uk/
• UK Data Service longitudinal datasets
http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/key-
data/cohort-and-longitudinal-studies.aspx
www.bl.uk 13
Labour and Industry
• Management and Business Portal
http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/
• Nomis: official labour market statistics from ONS
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk
• Health and Safety Executive statistics
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/
• UK Government statistical reports, including DWP and HMRC
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics
• International Labour Organisation statistics
http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and-databases/lang--en/index.htm
• Online marketing statistics reports
http://www.clickz.com/category/stats
www.bl.uk 15
Sources of International Data – Open Data
• More governments are releasing open datasets onto dedicated web portals. Examples include:
– United Kingdom http://data.gov.uk/
– USA http://www.data.gov
– Spain http://opendata.euskadi.net
– Australia http://data.gov.au/
• Open data is also being made available by international organisations. Resources include:
– United Nations http://data.un.org/
– European Union http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
– OECD http://data.oecd.org/
– World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/
– IMF http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm
www.bl.uk 16
Sources of International Data – ESDS International
• http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/
• ESDS International disseminates and supports both aggregate and survey international datasets for UK FE and HE
• ESDS Services Include:– free web-based access to regularly updated international aggregate
(macro) datasets. Including web based analysis tools
– comprehensive support materials for macro datasets and teaching and learning resources
– introductory courses to raise awareness of international datasets and their research potential and an annual conference on issues relating to international data research.
• Major Datasets available from ESDS International include:– International Energy Agency Data
– European Union
– World Bank
– United Nations
www.bl.uk 17
Further sources of international data
• WHO Global Health Observatory
http://www.who.int/gho/en/
• FAO Stat
http://faostat3.fao.org/home/E
• CESSDA: Data from social science data archives across Europe
http://www.cessda.net/catalogue/
• Guardian Datastore: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/jan/14/all-our-datasets-index
www.bl.uk 20
Data Citation
It is important to cite the data you used
to make your work reproducible
You should include at least:
– Author or creator of the data
(may be an organisation)
– Title of the data
– Publisher of the data
(organisation making it
available)
– Date the data was published
– Link to the data online,
preferably with a DOI
Cangiano, A., Shutes, I. and Spencer, S.;
(2011): Migrant Care Workers in Ageing
Societies, 2008; Colchester, Essex: UK Data
Archive. http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-
6920-1
www.bl.uk 21
DOIs
The Digital Object Identifier is a persistent identifier that directs users to an object, even if it changes location.
If an object moves, the new location is given to the existing DOI, so that it directs users to the same object in the new location.
Where have I seen
them before?
DOIs are used to provide stable links to research articles, e.g.:
www.bl.uk 22
DataCite
• A Registration Agency for Digital Object Identifiers
• Addressing the challenges of:
• Identifying datasets
• Citing data
• Linking articles and data
• Supports researchers by enabling them to locate, identify and cite research datasets with confidence
www.bl.uk 23
How do I get one for my data?
• We’re working with UK Data Centres and institutions so that they can assign DOIs to the data that they manage and preserve
• You need to submit your data to one of their repositories to get a DOI
www.bl.uk 25
Data Management Planning
Many UK research funders now require Data Management
Plans
Data management planning is not just important for other
users of your research
Major points:
– What data will be created/collected and how?
– How will the data be documented?
– How will ethical and legal issues be managed?
– How will data be stored and backed up?
– Which data will be kept for the long term, and who will do this?
– How will the data be shared?
Image: Will Scullin | https://www.flickr.com/photos/wscullin/3770015991
www.bl.uk 26
ESRC data management: grant holder responsibilities
• Incorporate data management and sharing as an indivisible part of the research
project and address potential issues of confidentiality, ethical issues, legal
issues, time constraints and other issues
• If collecting or producing data, you are required to develop and implement a
data management plan at the earliest stages of project design and well in
advance of beginning fieldwork
• Seek advice and guidance from the ESRC UK Data Service at the outset of the
project to clarify how issues of confidentiality and sharing are to be addressed
• Report on the on-going implementation of the data management and sharing
plan through annual reporting to ESRC
• Formally offer any data created or repurposed during the lifetime of the award to
the UKDS within three months of the end of the award. If data were accepted,
the grant holder is expected to make them available to the UKDS for preparation
for re-use and archiving without delay
www.bl.uk 28
Think about how your own data will be cited!
• Make sure your data has:
– A title
– Appropriate list of ‘creators’
– A publication date
– A description and documentation allowing it to be reused
– Somewhere it will be looked after, preferably where it can get
a persistent identifier
www.bl.uk 29
Where should I put my data?
If ESRC funded, check with UK Data Service first, ukdataservice.ac.uk
Next should be your institutional repository
Image: Simon Webster | https://www.flickr.com/12496774@N02/8326447994