While scrolling through an IPUMS email or checking up on the latest IPUMS tweets you may have read about IPUMS Virtual Office Hours. You also probably wondered, “What even are virtual office hours?” Today we are here to answer that question.

In the wake of canceled conferences during spring of 2020, IPUMS wanted to create an opportunity to connect with data users about questions they might have when using the data–the kind of thing you might pop by the exhibit hall booth to ask. We found that we connected with both virtual attendees along our typical conference route as well as others that might not have had the opportunity to overlap with us otherwise. As in-person conferences resume, IPUMS continues to host virtual office hours quarterly to make them accessible for all IPUMS users.