The information needed for informed decision making and planning by institutions of higher education can be made available through the establishment of carefully constructed databases. This handbook outlines the characteristics of databases, the needs databases meet, the key factors around which they must be organized, the advantages they offer,…

These four papers were presented as background at a national symposium exploring the relationships among law, ethics, and technology as they relate to the individual's informational privacy. George B. Trubow's "The Development and Status of 'Informational Privacy' Law and Policy in the United States" discusses privacy as it relates to the…

Describes LOTUS 1-2-3, an advanced spreadsheet with database and text manipulation functions that can be used with microcomputers by librarians to provide customized calculation and data acquisition tools. Macro commands and the menu system are discussed, and an example is given of an invoice procedure. (Author/LRW)

The need for information controls for college records management programs and the elements of program organization, planning, and management are discussed. Conditions at institutions that indicate a flaw in information control are identified, along with the benefits of a sound records management program. The management of an information and…

A national symposium was held October 4-7, 1981, to explore the relationships among law, ethics, and informational technology as they relate to the individual's informational privacy. The introduction to this report describes the conference format; discusses the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Freedom of Information Act; and offers definitions of…

In 1978 the U.S. Congress passed the Control of Paperwork Amendments to control education-related paperwork and reduce unnecessary reporting. A study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) found that by 1981 the requirements of the law had yet to be met. According to the GAO, the Secretary of Education should reactivate the Federal Education Data…

This paper presents information directly related to the activities of those individuals and organizations engaged in developing and delivering short-term client-responsive syntheses/interpretations. The paper has four main sections: 1) a selective literature review, 2) the results of a survey of state and federally funded organizations engaged in…

Seven institutional research maxims based on research and theory about how people cognitively process information are discussed: more may not be better; augment humans with models; chunk data wisely; know decision-makers; heuristics are not always helpful; arrange tables by patterns; and accept negative evidence and new hypotheses. (Author/MLW)

Building on previous discussions of Federal information inventory locator systems (FILS), this report explores issues related to FILS and identifies policy and implementation options that can best meet the competing rationales and requirements for FILS. The concept of a Government-wide Information Inventory/Locator System is explored, and it is…

Planning for educational programs in agriculture/agribusiness demands knowledge of future employment demand for various occupations. At present, a functional and comprehensive occupational information system for agriculture/agribusiness does not exist. Systems that do exist, such as the Occupational Information System (OIS) and the Dictionary of…

The Interagency Conference on Child and Family Statistics was organized around seven groups that were asked to develop specific recommendations for improving the federal statistical database on children and families. This booklet is a report on the recommendations made at the conference. The first part of the report distills and synthesizes the…