AUSTIN, Texas (November 25, 1998) -- You may never need to know details about the population of 18th-century Iceland; the number of native versus expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia; or the composition of ethnic minorities in Nepal; but if you do, this type of information and much more can be found in the International Census Collection within the General Libraries Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL). The Collection was begun in the 1960s within the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin and became a part of the General Libraries in August 1998. It is one of the major collections of worldwide census information, with only the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library having similar coverage.
With acquisitions and staff funded originally by the National Institutes of Health, the Collection now contains 85% of all known population censuses in the world, from microfilm of selected 16th- and 17th-century population counts to the most recently available census data from small Third World countries. The emphasis was on acquiring information on population and housing censuses. In some instances, particularly for countries with a lack of census materials, statistical yearbooks and surveys were acquired.
In the span of just a few weeks this International Census Collection Web site has received queries from information seekers around the world. Draaijer points out, "The Collection is used by a range of researchers including demographers, statisticians, historians, geographers, economists, marketing and business groups, and city planners, to name a few." She adds "Because the data contain no individual names, they are not useful for genealogical purposes." Approximately 25% of the users of the materials are affiliated with business and marketing companies, rather than with institutions of higher education.
The Collection is temporarily available for onsite use only within the Perry-Castañeda Library. Once all the information on the materials has been added to the General Libraries online catalog, they will be fully integrated into the collections of the Perry-Castañeda Library and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. The materials may be borrowed through interlibrary loan by libraries in the United States, except when materials are fragile or in cases where The University of Texas at Austin holds the only known copy. Users should contact Gera Draaijer for assistance in accessing the Collection.
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For more information contact:
Gera Draaijer, Librarian
The General Libraries
(512) 495-4270 or draaijer@mail.utexas.edu
General Libraries news releases are located on UT Library Online at:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/newsreleases.html
