www.jewishdatabank.org the north american jewish databank (najdb): a rare population archive cindy...

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

The North American Jewish Databank (NAJDB): A Rare

Population Archive

Cindy TeixeiraCindy Teixeira

The Roper Center for Public Opinion ResearchThe Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

University of ConnecticutUniversity of Connecticut

IASSIST Conference 2005, Edinburgh, Scotland

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

Overview

• What is the NAJDB?

• Challenges

• Extend of the Collection

• Accomplishments

• Future Plans

• Website Demonstration

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

UCONN and the NAJDB

• Summer of 2004, NAJDB moved to the University of Connecticut (UCONN)– United Jewish Communities (UJC)– Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary

Jewish Life at UCONN– Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

(UCONN)

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

What is the NAJDB?

• Central Repository for data about the North American Jewry

• Established in 1986– Council of Jewish Federations (CJF)– United Jewish Communities (UJC)– Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)

• Website was established in the 1990’s• 2003 the NAJDB moved to Brandeis University

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

Goals

• Upgrade NAJDB datasets to today’s standards

• Increase the archival holdings

• Stimulate and facilitate research and teaching

www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

• Amount of materials

• Time constraints

• Website & downloading of datasets

• Type of usage

• Processing datasets

ChallengesChallenges

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

• US National studies (5)– NJPS 1971, 1990, 2000-01– NSRE 2000– NSRI 1990

• US Communities studies (97)

Extend of the CollectionExtend of the Collection

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

• While time was ticking away…– Website

• Developing pages• Implementation and development of dataset

downloading• Registration and user agreements

– Processing and Archiving• Addition of DDI elements to the Catalog• Confidentiality and data checks• Documentation and reports

Short-Term AccomplishmentsShort-Term Accomplishments

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

AccomplishmentsAccomplishments

• Website and website usage• Processing of Datasets and Reports• Newsletter• Increase knowledge of the NAJDB

– Conferences• ASA August, 2005• AJS December, 2005

– Faculty teaching– Bulletins

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

Future Plans

• Determining users needs

• Searchable catalog

• Electronic reading room– Regional, topical, and community size based reports

• Acquisitions– Over 100 documents being prepared for archiving– 38 Canadian reports

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

www.jewishdatabank.org www.RoperCenter.uconn.edu

Contact Information

• NAJDB website– www.jewishdatabank.org

• Roper Center website– www.ropercenter.uconn.edu

• Contact Info– cindy@ropercenter.uconn.edu