Numbers Beyond Borders
Gail Golderman & Bruce Connolly rate intergovernmental information
by Gail Golderman & Bruce Connolly (netConnect) -- netConnect, 4/15/2005
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To see a summary and quick comparison of the databases featured in this article, see the table ataglance below. |
The array of resources evaluated here makes it clear, however, that IGOs are researching, compiling data, and publishing reports, articles, studies, and statistics on, quite literally, everything in the world. It's equally clear that this material has the potential to make vitally important contributions to research projects that have little or nothing to do with governments, international politics, or the workings of international bodies.
All these resources offer free trials. Take advantage, particularly if your patrons haven't previously had exposure to them. Most are relatively inexpensive compared with the more familiar commercial offerings, so subscriptions are generally a bargain.
Global Development Finance OnlineWorld Bank Publications
Contents: Global Development Finance (GDF) Online provides a detailed, country-by-country picture of external debt and financial flow data for the 148 countries and country groups that report public and publicly guaranteed debt to the World Bank. Time series for 217 indicators currently cover 1970–2003, with contractual obligations data until 2012. Series include external debt stocks and flows, major economic aggregates, cross-currency valuations, debt service, and restructurings.
An online subscription also includes access to topical country data and regional aggregates, showing time series in table and chart form, in the GDF Summary and Country Tables. Topics covered are external debt, aggregate net resource flows, net flows and transfers on debt, net financial flows from multilateral institutions, and international bond issues. The summary and documentation are available in PDF format, as are the nine GDF Group and 136 Country Tables.GDF Online is released in January and updated in April. The print edition consists of two volumes: Analysis and Summary Tables and Summary and Country Tables. Institutions can also purchase the complete print edition along with either the single or multiple-user CD-ROM. The CD-ROM contains the 217 time series indicators and the full contents of the print version.
Detailed text, providing country notes, definitions of indicators, and extensive source notes, is linked to each table in both the online and CD-ROM format. World Bank offers free access to a trial database, which includes a limited set of series and countries, using the same data retrieval system.
Searchability: Navigation is simple and clear. GDF Online follows a step-by-step process identical to the interface of World Development Indicators Online (see below), with tabs at the top of the screen for selection and viewing results. Users can opt for the "alphabetical list" or "tree view" (hierarchical view) to select both the countries and series in turn. A progression of "Select" and "Next" buttons allow users to follow the breadcrumbs to the results page, first for country selection, then for series and specific indicators, and finally for years. In addition to selecting from either a tree-view of GDF Country Classifications, or an alphabetical country list, users can choose from 12 aggregated groups such as "All developing countries" or "South Asia."
Searchers must choose at least one item from each tab to complete the query. The final step is the "View Results" tab; if you've forgotten a step along the way, the system clearly states what is missing. The results page is probably the most complex, although users have numerous options for viewing the data, which is a serious advantage. Users can change the scale, decimal places, and orientation (series or country) and export the data either as an Excel or ASCII file. Users can also display an index, percentage change, or chart by clicking on the appropriate button. The chart was just the visual we needed to represent our search strategy clearly.
Pricing: Individual subscriptions are available for $400. Discounts are available for developing country residents. Institutional pricing is based on population served for public libraries and FTE for academic institutions; it begins at $2580 for under 2500. Subscriptions can be added to the World Bank e-Library package (see below).
Who needs it? GDF Online is a practical database offering just the kind of compulsory data that our economic and political science students constantly seek. The presentation in one handy and easy-to-navigate package makes it even more attractive.
LexisNexis Statistical: Index to International StatisticsLexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions
Content: LexisNexis Statistical comprises three formidable components: American Statistics Index, Statistical Reference Index, and ourfocus, Index to International Statistics (IIS). IIS provides bibliographic coverage—enhanced by meticulously detailed abstracting—of approximately 2000 publications issued by 100 different international intergovernmental institutions, including the UN (and its subsidiary agencies), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Union, World Bank, and virtually every other player on the global stage. Coverage dates from 1983, and the range of research interests is all-encompassing.
Statistical content is the key qualifier for inclusion in IIS, but many of the reports, periodical articles, and documents are primarily textual. This means these sources are of value to a wide range of researchers.
Searchability: The first stop after selecting Statistical on the LexisNexis welcome page is a series of options that include Search Tables Base Edition, Search Abstracts, and a List of Links (including the UN Development Programme and UN Statistics Division). Search Tables gives the user direct access to a select set of 100,000 high-use Power Tables without having to wade through the abstracts.
Although the Search Tables template appears to be relatively basic, with a single search box, most of the system's sophisticated set of enhancements and limits are readily accessible. Looking for data on the debt relief in African countries, we constructed a strategy—africa! AND (relief OR forgiv!) AND "Foreign debts"—that employed open-ended truncation, Boolean operators, and nesting using a combination of keywords plus the controlled vocabulary term "Foreign debts." The search was run in All Fields by default, but a pull-down menu permits searching just the Table Title, Subject Terms, Table Text, or NAICS Code.
The options associated with Narrow Your Search include Geographic, Demographic, Economic, and Frequency of Data. Multiple variables may be selected simultaneously, and all are ANDed together. Searchers may Limit to documents with Excel spreadsheets. They can Select Period of Coverage ranging from All Available Dates to Previous Year, or can enter a specific date range. Finally, a searcher may Find forecasts and projections by clicking on that box.
Once a search is executed, the searcher may immediately decide to narrow by entering additional terms in the Search Within Results box. Alternatively, an Edit Search option takes the searcher back to the original strategy for more serious reworking.
The Search Abstracts mode incorporates nearly all of the sophisticated limits and capabilities of Search Tables, while adding two more search boxes to the template. Field searching options change to Title, Agency/Publisher, Author, Attachment Titles, Document Number, and Subject. Boolean and proximity operators are available via the pull-downs that separate the search boxes.
Price: Academic library pricing for LexisNexis Statistical Base Edition is figured by multiplying a specific rate by the school's total billable FTE enrollment. The base scale starts with a minimum FTE of 1500 and a payment rate of $1.79/FTE. The rate falls to 95¢ at 5000 FTE, falls again to 69¢ at 10,000 FTE, and bottoms out at 34¢ for 34,000 and up FTE.
ASI, SRI, and IIS are add-ons to the Statistical Base Edition. Subscribing to IIS adds another 77¢/FTE to the base rate at the 1500 FTE level, bringing the combined cost to $3,845. At the 5000 FTE level, the base + IISprice increases by 42¢/FTE to $6,848 and to $9740 at the 10,000 FTE level. At the top of the scale—34,000 FTE and beyond—direct academic subscribers would pay $15,655 annually for IIS.
The ASI and SRI modules are priced the same way, but consortial prices are significantly discounted. Combined base + IIS pricing for state and public library systems is structured on population. This starts at $2080 for service areas of 100,000 and under and steps up to $6,344 for systems serving over 500,000 people.
Who Needs It? It's hard to imagine any serious research setting that could not put IIS to productive use. The indexing and abstracting is of the highest quality, and the system is engineered to provide exquisitely precise results with little effort. Its value goes so far beyond just numbers. We use IIS first as a source of information and then as a source of data, and we incorporate it into any research effort with some international component. It's useful for collection development, and with so many IGO publications freely available on the web, it can be a sophisticated front-end to a Google search—tracking down specific documents or web sites that turn up first in IIS.
SourceOECDOrganisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD)
Content: OECD is in the business of "Building Partnerships for Progress" within its 30 member nations as well as some 70 additional countries. The OECD's primary tool for promoting global issues is the authoritative research it conducts on a broad range of economic, technical, and social subject areas, in its Country Surveys, and in its statistical databases and reference sources.
SourceOECD organizes this voluminous output into a full-text online library that consists of 20 thematic book collections, 24 periodicals, three reference titles, and 34 statistical databases—24 from the OECD itself and another ten from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The section for OECD working papers was not operational at the time of review, but links to working papers by the offices provided some access as an interim measure.
SourceOECD first came online in 2000, and a December 2004 open letter to librarians announced the "Public Beta" phase of its IngentaSelect-based upgrade. Subscriptions are available in comprehensive packages organized by format; in smaller, more coherent packages grouped by theme; or on a title-by-title basis. Except for the databases, subscribers may opt for print + online or online-only access. Subscribers are entitled to unrestricted simultaneous access.
Searchability: The SourceOECD welcome page presents a number of options for accessing the contents. The left-hand frame invites the user to connect to Our Top 12 Most Frequently Used Services, including thematic collections and statistical data. The main body of the site supports an extensive listing of new and forthcoming additions.
Tabs along the top facilitate browsing by format—Books, Periodicals, Statistics, Working Papers, and Reference—and hyperlinks directly below the tabs connect to News, the User Guide, the Price List, Email Alerts, and the main OECD homepage. Below this is a pull-down menu for browsing SourceOECD contents via numerous categories. Adjacent to this browse-by-format option is a keyword quick search option with a pull-down menu that permits limiting. The link to SourceOECD's Advanced Search mode resides directly below the quick search box.
A researcher has access to three search boxes in the Advanced Search template. Check boxes permit retrieval of an Exact phrase, an Exact match, or the Truncated version of the search term. A pull-down menu permits limiting retrieval to the Title, Series title, ISBN, Blurb/Abstract, Full Text (PDF), or to All Fields (including or excluding full text). A radio button between boxes in the search template enables Boolean searching.
There's more. Another grouping of buttons enable the searcher to direct the search to be executed within All publications, Only subscribed titles, Books, Periodicals, Statistics Databases, or within a specific Publication.
A search on natural disaster in the Title field with Truncated checked produced just one hit. Results lists in SourceOECD, however, display a number of options—Modify Search/New Search, Save Search as Email Alert, Search further in these results, Do new search, and View Marked List—above the actual search results. Modifying the search by selecting the Blurbs/Abstracts field (rather than Title) produced 31 hits.
This was a little illusory, however. One of the titles, Emerging Risks in the 21st Century: An Agenda for Action, appears 15 times. It's listed as complete text and as a chapter within the text, which is useful. But it also appears in the results list once for each of the thematic books collections to which it is assigned. Lack of "de-duping" does distort the results.
Data in SourceOECD are published in PDF and interactive formats, enabling searchers to construct custom tables containing the variables that interest them. The recent upgrade offers users the ability to save searches as email alerts and to create durable links; the availability of MARC records allows researchers to connect to documents directly from the library OPAC.
Price: OECD offers its online content in such a diverse array of packages that subscribers should be able to construct a suite of resources geared precisely to their needs. An annual subscription to its most comprehensive package—SourceOECD Books & Periodicals & Statistics—is priced at $18,895 for not-for-profit institutions in the print + online configuration and at $15,036 for online-only access. All of these component resources are available singly and in pairs and in print + online or online-only formats.
If a subscription to the complete SourceOECD Books online (at $8,009 for nonprofits) is too expensive or broad, the SourceOECD Book Themes could be an alternative. Here institutions can subscribe to OECD titles in 17 subject areas such as Emerging Economies.
Nonprofit subscribers may select periodicals on a title-by-title basis or opt for the full SourceOECD Periodicals package at $3290 annually for online access and $4700 with print added. The SourceOECD Statistics databases are priced at $5,577 for nonprofits. They are also available individually. Consortial discounts are available.
Who Needs It? OECD, like many governmental and international, intergovernmental agencies, is generous with what is freely available online. But SourceOECD provides a great deal of information not published on the web site. This is a product for any institution supporting political, social, economic, educational, and scientific and technical research that requires authoritative reports and accurate statistical data.
United Nations Common DatabaseUnited Nations Statistics Division
Contents: Just one of the several databases produced by the UN Statistics Division, the United Nations Common Database (UNCDB), considered to be the "largest and most authoritative compilation of United Nations (UN) and agency statistics ever compiled," includes data elements from more than 435 statistical time series and profiles for countries. The latter cover a wide range of economic, social, financial, and development topics. Coverage varies by series, and some data extend back to the 1940s. Most are current through 2000, and several projections extend to 2050.
The UNCDB aids users byproviding comprehensive footnotes and meta-information on sources, technical definitions, and standards for each series. A relational database lies behind the scene, so users have the benefit of continually updated and integrated material as new data become available.
Among the 30 selective international sources used in UNCDB are the Statistics Division's own databases in merchandise trade, national accounts, demography and population, energy, status of women, and industrial commodities production, plus statistics from the United Nations Population Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs' Project Link, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, and more. A complete list of sources and series presented, as well as countries covered, can be found on the UN Statistical Division web site.
Topics range from agriculture to financial statistics, from health services to social security and welfare services. Detailed data can be retrieved and exported for analysis in Excel or the user's own data analysis software.
Searchability: The hardest part of reviewing UNCDB was how to begin. Fortunately, main links on the left-side frame remain throughout the session, alleviating the guesswork. Organized within the framework of Data Query & Extraction or Metadata, navigation is clear, and users have numerous options based on query needs. "Basic View" is good if one wants facts, figures, or simple tables. Users can select a single data series for up to ten countries and up to 20 years. If more detail is required, the "Advanced Data Selection" mode is the ticket.
"Country Profiles" allows users to select from a list of 12 predetermined series grouped together with preselected years. Users can toggle from one country to another or from one profile to the next using the drop-down selection. There's also "Quick Data Extraction," with step-by-step options, and users can use data from saved selections, predefined selections, or input the desired country, series, or years from supplied lists.
For those who aren't sure of what they're looking for, there's the "Topics List." The number of series available for each topic is listed, as well as the UN defined code, and selecting the topic will display the series, which can then be selected for the "Advanced Data Selection" mode. Users also have the option to browse through the series in a single comprehensive list ("Series notes"), or list the series by source.
Simple query retrieval and viewing can be done in Excel within UNCDB, and larger or more complex queries can be exported as Excel or database files. A help index provides assistance for all types of searches.
Pricing: Subscriptions include a variety of models: individuals ($150); nonprofits start at $250 for single users; commercial use starts at $350.
Who needs it? United Nations Common Database seamlessly integrates a wide variety of statistical data using a common platform and interface and global statistical standards. Getting the correct data you need is relatively easy given the breadth and depth of the selected content. The retrieval and exporting options will please not only the novice but the serious researcher needing large statistics sets. And the price is right.
UN Commodity Trade Statistics DatabaseUnited Nations Statistics Division
Contents: UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) contains detailed annual trade data (imports, exports, and reexports) for 140+ UN members, equating to 90–95 percent of world trade.
Coverage varies by country but extends from 1962 to the most recent completed year. For each country, annual data can be searched and retrieved by commodity and trading partner. These data are processed into a standardized format, and all values are converted into U.S. dollars via exchange rates supplied by the countries, or derived from monthly market rates and volume of trade. Quantities are, if provided by the country and if possible, converted into metric units, and users can select countries, products, years, and measurements while searching. Commodities are arranged by both Harmonized System (HS) and Standard International Trade Classification (SITC).
UN Comtrade allows users to find information on just about any commodity from any of the reporting countries. It currently reports most data according to HS, version 2002, but the data are available in multiple classifications as well, and users have the option to select the desired classification when using the "Basic Selection" mode. Demographic and text-based information on countries and customs areas are also included and updated annually. UN Comtrade replaces the publication Commodity Trade Statistics and the CD-ROM database PC-TAS.Searchability:As with the UNCDB, UN Comtrade is accessible as "guest user," with some limitations. Guests cannot download data, create favorites or customized groups, save queries, execute sophisticated queries, and set alert notifications for batch processing but can still do a heck of a lot. Subscriber features include individual and site license options; saving frequently used commodities, queries, etc.; creating customized commodity and country groups; setting alert notifications; downloading the data using direct download; batch downloading (up to 25 million records); and much more.
Different modes are available for locating data based on users' familiarity with the UN trade system, including Shortcut Query or Quick Search for the novice (guess where we started?). As you start typing in Quick Search, a list of results based on even the first letter is displayed. Shortcut is useful for gathering information about one country, partner, or commodity.
The left-side navigation organizes access via Data Query & Extraction, Data Availability, and Metadata & Reference. Comtrade Explorer, listed under Data Query, is also a good starting place for the inexperienced, allowing users to enter the name of a country, commodity keyword, or year. Other options for locating data include Basic Selection, Express Selection, Country List, Commodity List, and Data Availability, with separate screens for Interactive, In Graphs, Reporters by Years, Commodities, Years by Reporters, and Recently Loaded Data.
Pricing: There are as many pricing options as there are searching options, so contact the producers. Rates typically start at $100 for commercial and nonprofit and go up based on downloading capabilities.
Who needs it? If you need data on world trade, the UN Comtrade is the resource. Searching and data extraction are well organized and straightforward. The pricing is excellent. Try the guest access, and you'll be hooked.
World Bank e-LibraryWorld Bank Publications
Contents:With e-Library, the World Bank provides access to "the premier collection on international, social, and economic development" via a fully indexed and cross-searchable interface.
Launched in 2003 and powered by Ingenta, e-Library includes the full text of 1400+ backlist titles and all current and forthcoming titles published by the World Bank. A nice bonus is that new titles become available online as soon as they appear in print. In addition, online subscribers have access to over 2000 peer-reviewed "Policy Research Working Papers" that disseminate findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues.
e-Library content is broken down geographically, with each collection having its own page and set of featured titles. Searching can be done for all titles or within collections, such as Labor and Employment or Private Sector Development. All current and recent World Bank titles, documents, and papers are available in PDF format. A small number of titles date from 1987, but the majority of the content extends from the mid-1990s to the present. Users can access and download (in Excel) metadata for World Bank Publications and Policy Research Working Papers.Libraries can access COUNTER-compliant usage statistics, and purchase options include e-Library, or e-Library plus WDI (see below) and GDF Online (see above). Libraries subscribing to the World Bank e-Library can add the e-Library Print Archive and receive one copy of each of the 200 or so books published annually at a discount.
Enhancements include an alerting service that notifies subscribers when publications are added. Subject Categories will be assigned to each title in spring 2005. Forthcoming features include e-Library content available through RSS feeds, MARC records, Reference Linking, and eventually the ability to purchase individual regions or subject collections.
Searchability: Content is organized (and color-coded) in regional collections. Users can easily navigate to all collections (or a specific one) from browse mode using the "Go To" menu box, to either a simple search with a "Find" in publication content, or to the Advanced Search. The search options are located at the top of the screen throughout the session and are available even when viewing a PDF file. A menu at screen top keeps users abreast as to where they are, and the links allow users to return easily to previous menus. With advanced searches you can select the collection(s) and search within specific fields: Keywords, Title, Author, Abstract, Full text, and Year. This mode was the most successful and retrieved the desired specificity.
Browsing publications was awkward in navigation. Users select a title from the list, which includes linked title, author, year, and collection. The linked title brings you to a "publication page," which includes all authors, keywords, and the first few sentences of the abstract, with a link to the contents. The "contents page" displays a Full Text link, authors and pagination, which leads you to the "abstract page," a listing of authors, keywords, and full abstract, with a link to the PDF file—which finally displays the full text! This needs to be simplified.
Navigation to Browse Publications, Help, World Bank Links, and TOC Alerting, for example, is available from a left-side frame throughout the entire session.
Pricing: Subscriptions are based on FTE and are available for institutional access only, starting at $4200 for under 2500. Options include print archive and e-Library package for all three products. Package price begins at $5880.
Who needs it? World Bank e-Library integrates timely material on international, social, and economic development within a no-nonsense framework. Some of the material is freely available, but it cannot be so easily gathered and in such a comprehensive manner. However, navigation issues need to be addressed, especially access to full text.
World Development Indicators OnlineWorld Bank Publications
Contents: World Development Indicators (WDI) Online, corresponding to the World Development Indicators in print, contains statistical data for nearly 600 development indicators and time series data from 1960 to 2003 for over 220+ countries and 18 country groups. It is an essential research tool for economists, sociologists, political scientists, the business world, and anyone else interested in globalization and world development. Countries are organized within the areas of Region, Income, Indebtedness, and 18 Aggregate Groups from "World" to "Least Developed Countries." Indicators are organized within the five thematic categories of People, Environment, Economy, States & Markets, and Global Links.
Data are updated twice a year; the spring update includes the latest-year data and coincides with the publication of the World Development Indicators in print. WDI is also available in a single- and multiple-user CD-ROM.
World Bank offers open access to Data Query, a subset of the complete WDI database. Data Query includes the latest five years available, 54 time series indicators for 208 countries and 18 groups.
Searchability: Data selection and navigation are simple and intuitive. WDI Online follows the step-by-step process identical to the interface of GDF Online (see above), with tabs at the top of the screen for selection and viewing results. All the features and functionality described in the GDF review are true for this product as well.
Pricing: Subscriptions are based on FTE count for academic institutions and range from $1890 for under 2500. Public library subscriptions are based on total population served and corporate accounts on number of authorized users. Individual access is $100. Subscriptions can be added to the World Bank e-Library Package (see above).
Who needs it? WDI Online is a value for institutions based on the multidisciplinary nature of the data. Its simplicity of interface coupled with the complexity of results is a powerful tool for both subject specialists and casual users.
| Audience | Content | Dates | Rating | |
| Global Development Finance (GDF) Online WEB World Bank Publications publications.worldbank.org/GDF | UG, SCH, SPEC | 217 Time series indicators, data for 148 countries, GDF Summary and Country Tables | 1970–2003, with projected data until 2012 | A |
| LexisNexis Statistical: Index to International Statistics WEB LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions www.lexisnexis.com | UG, SCH, SPEC | Indexing and abstracting of statistical documents from 100 international intergovernmental agencies, with limited full-text access to data tables and documents | 1983–present | A |
| SourceOECD WEB Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development new.sourceoecd.org | UG, SCH, SPEC | 20 thematic book collections, 24 periodicals, and 34 statistical databases | 1997–present | A |
| United Nations Common Database (UNCDB) WEB United Nations Statistics Division unstats.un.org/unsd/cdb | UG, SCH, SPEC | Data elements from more than 435 statistical time series and profiles; 30 selective international sources | 1940–present | A |
| UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) WEB United Nations Statistics Division unstats.un.org/unsd/comtrade/default.aspx | UG, SCH, SPEC | Detailed annual trade data for 140+ United Nations members. Includes links to Country Market Analysis Profiles from the International Trade Centre (ITC). | 1962–present | A |
| World Bank e-Library WEB World Bank Publications www.worldbank.org/publications | UG, SCH, SPEC | 1400+ backlist titles and all current World Bank publications organized by region, 2000 peer-reviewed working papers | 1987–present | B+ |
| World Development Indicators (WDI) Online WEB World Bank Publications Publications.worldbank.org/WDI | UG, SCH, SPEC | 600 development indicators, time series data for 220+ countries and 18 country groups | 1960–2003 | A |
| KEY ES: Grades K–5 MS: Grades 6–8 HS: High School UG: Undergraduates SCH: Scholarly researchers SPEC: Subject specialists | ||||
| Author Information |
| Gail Golderman (goldermang@union.edu) is Electronic Media Librarian and Bruce Connolly (connolb@union.edu) is Reference & Bibliographic Instruction Librarian, Schaffer Library, Union College, Schenectady, NY |
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