Agency Liaison Reports

¾«¶«´«Ã½

Government Documents Roundtable of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½
Annual Meeting, June 2006
International Documents Task Force

Agency Liaison reports are presented at the IDTF Meeting during each Annual and Midwinter Meeting of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½. They are also available under IDTF Business on the IDTF we page, which is found on the GODORT page on the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ site. The Coordinator for the Agency Liaison Program is Susan Bennett White, who welcomes your comments and suggestions. She can be contacted at sbwhite@princeton.edu.

Agencies Included in this Report

Bernan
Canadian Official Pub
ESCAP
European Union
FAO
InterAmerican Dev. Bank
ILO
IMF
IOM
INSTRAW
Lexis - CIS
MyiLibrary
OECD
OAS
Readex
Renouf
The Stationary Office
UNCSW
UN Depository Libraries
UNIFEM
UNEP
UNHSP – Habitat
UN Publications
World Bank
WHO
World Tourism

Bernan

Bruce Samuelson <bsamuelson@bernan.com>. from Bernan Publishing will be at the 2006 Annual Conference IDTF meeting in New Orleans. Bruce invites ¾«¶«´«Ã½meeting attendees to stop by Bernan’s exhibit booth, #2235 to pick up their new catalog and see their special offerings. IDTF members might like to subscribe to Bernan’s Government Publication News, a free monthly email newsletter that focuses primarily on new and forthcoming international agency publications, as well as other activities of interest. Sign up online at , email gpn@bernan.com, call toll-free at 1-800-274-4447, or stop by Bernan’s booth at ¾«¶«´«Ã½and ask to be added to the distribution list.

Distribution and Agent News

Bernan is now an official distributor of publications from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The IADB was established in 1959 and it is the oldest and largest regional development bank. It is the main source of multilateral financing for economic, social and institutional development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. (See the Agency Liaison Report on IADB below.)

Bernan is now an authorized North American Sales Agent for the IGO electronic collection from MyiLibrary. MyiLibrary provides online subscriptions to the electronic content available from the ILO, IAEA, WHO, IOM, World Bank, OECD, and UNAIDS. Bernan continues to be a sales agent for various online subscriptions from the UN, OECD, World Bank, World Tourism Organizatoin and the PAHO. Contact Bernan for a demonstration and/or to set up a free trial of any of these services.

For those of you in the New York City area, Bernan will be hosting a free half-day presentation in August 2006 where representatives from most of these IGOs will be demonstrating their services and answering questions. Contact Bruce if you are interested in attending.

E-books from Bernan Press

Bernan Press titles are now being offered on Ebrary, as well as through netLibrary, the Gale Virtual Reference Library, and MyiLibrary.

UNESCO Online Service

The UNESCO online service is planned for distribution by Bernan. UNESCO is continuting to develop the project at the present time, and issues of content delivery and packaging are being worked out at the present time. Plans are being made to offer subscriptions to particular subject areas, as well as to a package of the entire UNESCO electronic resources. te UNESCO works

Report submitted by Brett Cloyd, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 brett-cloyd@uiowa.edu

Brett Cloyd is at the University of Iowa Libraries

Canadian Official Publications

Increasingly, official Canadian government documents are distributed in electronic format. Such access makes them easily accessible to the public, non-depository libraries, and depository libraries through the Weekly Checklist on the web at ( ). This weekly listing of book and serial government publications is produced by the Depository Services Program (DSP) in both electronic and paper versions. Only depository libraries can order from the list but others can find price information and links to the documents by using the browse version. Two examples from the checklist are the citation for Parliamentary Debates which leads to the web page for the current Senate Debates and the link to Canada and Rwanda: Together for Rwanda’s Development at retrieves an individual publication.

Statistics Canada began making their electronic publications free as of April, 2006 at . The Daily section of the web site is the official release bulletin now available as a free subscription RSS feed. It offers links to a wide range of statistical reports plus a “New Products” section. Particularly noteworthy are statements on copyright and permission, an archive of previous issues of The Daily, and a guide for students writing an article using statistical information found here. The DSP continues to catalog and list these e-publications and archive them on their server.

Report submitted by Linda Johnson, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 Linda@cisunix.unh.edu

Linda Johnson is at the University of New Hampshire Library

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific - ESCAP

This report was prepared based on a list of questions which Agency Liaison James Church drew up to ask of the Chief of the UN ESCAP library in Bangkok, Thailand, Ms. Evelyn Domingo-Berker. The questions are numbered and Ms. Domingo-Barker’s responses follow.

On ESCAP Gray Literature

James Church:

1). Please address the increasing difficulty libraries have in obtaining tangible copies of ESCAP gray literature: material that is not available via the United Nations Sales office. For example, ESCAP division publications listed on your site that indicate the hard copy is free but do not seem to offer a means of obtaining them. Also, please indicate to us whether ESCAP has any plans for implementing a “print on demand” service similar to what the ILO and other UN agencies have recently implemented.

Ms. Evelyn Domingo-Berker:

In many cases, divisional publications were produced for a limited and targeted audience, e.g., participants at a specific workshop, selected distribution to governments, NGOs, universities and others which had cooperated in one way or another toward the content of the publication. Since publication budgets have become increasingly scarce, the distribution lists for free publications has also been limited, even to the selected groups of recipients. A certain number (usually around 250 - 500, depending on past records or potential popularity) printed locally in Bangkok, is dispatched, requested by the New York sales office for sales purposes at its New York and Geneva sales outlets. Frequently, once the supply is exhausted, it is not longer reprinted.

Although at the moment these practices are quite fluid, we are now working on a greater reliance on electronic methods of distribution, including a “print on demand” for selected publications which is currently at a business case stage in the process. There has also been higher levels of target audience use of the Official Document System (ODS) for parliamentary documents and conference documents. The UNESCAP Library inputs the ESCAP material at that site . In addition we publish and distribute, by email, lists of the conference documents. If libraries are interested in the latter, please request to be added on the mailing list for the distribution of ESCAP MEETING DOCUMENTS. The email edition is published irregularly and there is also available an annual compilation.

Another possible solution for the increased demand/ reduced supply is making full use of the various UN depository libraries. We hope to get some concrete action on the latter in cooperation with other organizations which face similar challenges as we do, including the Asian Development Bank (with whom I had a dialog a few weeks ago) and the World Bank. This is an important part of the UN’s outreach programme which was formulated about 20-25 years ago and is now in dire need of a general overhaul: we are currently seeking ideas on how to approach this issue, as linked to the general UN reform programme.

On Regional Institution Publications

JC:

2). What more can you tell us about ESCAP Regional Institution publications?. For example, publications from the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) and the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (UNSIAP).

EDB :

In the medium-term, the publications programme for the regional institutes will be harmonized and in line with the general UNESCAP publications policy. We held, last year, a meeting of their information officers and they are highly interested to become more active participants in implementing new strategies to align with the “parent” organization, as well as greater networking aspects such as a common intranet platform. Please note that their publications are also broadcast through their own web sites as well as cumulated in the annual Asia-Pacific Publications Catalogue prepared by the Library, the latest being 2005 and available online

On Permanent Retention of Digital Copy

JC:

3). What if any plans does ESCAP have for permanent retention of digital copy? Do you have a retention policy for these? Would you be open to collaboration with digital preservation repositories in this area?

EDB :

This is one challenge which the UN libraries are facing. We have a Steering Committee for UN Libraries, and this is one of the sub-committee areas which we use as a channel to search solutions for. In our own situation in Bangkok, we have a most immediate and special problem, associated with storage of paper/glue/ink in tropical climates. When we made our massive renovation, and last year, we were horrified to see older official documents crumbling, unstuck, half-consumed by insects (although the covers were intact), fading ink on mimeograph paper. Since the technology available to us at the moment is not geared for high volume preservation, we try, bit by bit, to save these into pdf files, and we recently made an inventory of the highest casualty cases which will need immediate attention. With reduced budgets, we are hoping we could rely to outsource this task of converting the damaged pages into electronic copies, through unutilized funds within our organization. Documents on ODS started only in 1992 when electronic copies were made the norm for their production.

Support from strategic partners would be most welcome, and we could open a dialog on this and other related matters For instance, we would welcome “interns” or “trainees” to help us in this venture, either to help us with this labour-intensive work, or discuss some ideas how to do it better. The issue of permanent storage is another matter, and our knowledge about high volume storage is quite limitedfor instance, we rely on CD ROMs but are aware of the limited shelf life in the longer term.

JC: Ms. Domingo-Berker, on behalf of the International Documents Task Force, Thank you very much.

Report submitted by James Church, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006, jchurch@library.berkeley.edu

James Church is the International Documents Librarian at the University of California at Berkeley

European Union

This spring I attended an advanced training seminar for European Union librarians which was held in the U.K. Several who attended and others are working to have advanced training provided here in the U.S. The complexities and richness of European Union materials can be daunting, but they really are a treasure-house to help understand the new Europe.

Report submitted by Mary Gay Anderson, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 <andersom@fiu.edu>

Mary Gay Anderson is the International Documents Librarian at Florida International University

Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO

Recent highlights from FAO include the following:

AskFAO

On the web: On its 60 th anniversary, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched an interactive facility to provide direct access to both the formal and tacit knowledge of its staff and technical experts around the globe. AskFAO is a service driven by user information needs, providing answers to queries related to the organization’s areas of expertise. It is a mechanism to communicate directly with technical experts. It gives access to frequently asked questions and their answersit serves as a knowledge portal, providing subject-based access to the wealth of information and data available within the FAO’s World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT). The site will soon be available in all official languages. There is a complete list of questions in the “question index” or you can review frequently asked questions in each of 11 categoriesyou can also search by keyword in either the entire database or by category.

FAO Publications and Documents

On the web: Your options for searching for FAO publications are “Search the Publications Catalogue” to find all FAO titles in English, French and Spanish available for sale or downloading, or “Search the Corporate Document Repository to get full text FAO publications in the five official languages for either viewing or downloading.

FAO Best Practices

On the web: In November 2005 FAO introduced a new model based on a determination to learn from the Organization’s experience, to provide incentives for staff of different disciplines, working on related themes but in different units or locations, to work together collegially towards the development of best practices and the achievement of shared goals. As part of the stronger focus on knowledge sharing, FAO introduced the Best Practices Web site that provides a series of summaries introducing some best practices in FAO’s areas of expertise.

Report submitted by Sandra K. Peterson, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 sandra.k.peterson@yale.edu

Sandra Peterson is the Government Information Librarian at Yale

InterAmerican Development Bank - IADB

The Inter-American Development Bank’s Research Department ( ) has two new services this year.

Labor Compass ( ) is a resource for data on labor trends. The current countries profiled are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. The data is expressed mostly in charts or graphs and includes such information as unemployment, underemployment and unregistered workers. Using household surveys, they plan to track not only employment distribution but also price and quantity variables. By clicking on the label of each chart, a pop-up window is activated with the definition of terms and the source of the data. This looks like a very convenient source of information.

The other new addition to services of the Research Department is Sociometro ( ). This “is a high-quality dataset of social indicators designed to provide insight into socioeconomic conditions in Latin America�The indicators are derived from household survey data compiled from a series covering 21 countries and running from 1990 to 2004. There are 5 main types of indicators: demographic, education, labor market, housing, and income, the majority of which can be further disaggregated by age, gender, geographic residence, education, and income quintile.” - from the home page.

The interface allows you to choose by country, by trading block or by region. You may ‘select all’ but be warned that the chart that will appear will be unreadable. It doesn’t matter, just click on the X and you will be able to download the information in Excel format. Or look at data on two or three countries at a time. Be prepared to wait a bit as it loads slowly, but it looks like it will be worthwhile.

Report submitted by Diane K. Campbell, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 , <dcampbell@rider.edu>

Diane Campbell is at Rider University

International Labour Organization - ILO

Notes from Reliable Sources

  1. Some ILO titles are now available as “Print on Demand” instead of being kept in stock.
  2. Standing orders can be set up by contacting the following staff:: Edyta Mrozinska ILO Publications, International Labour Office, 4, route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Fax: 41 22 799 6938, Email: Mrozinska@ilo.org
  3. Renouf provides a full range of ILO publications, including backfiles, while Bernan and Brookings Institution Press offer some titles for sale
  4. ILO does not a separate exhibit at ¾«¶«´«Ã½annual conference. Instead, see booths of Renouf, Coutts, and UN Publications.

E-News

  1. ILO publications which are available in electronic format can be ordered from Ebrary electronic text service, and subscribed to through the MyiLibrary service from Coutts Ebrary contains a selection of priced publications, while MyiLibrary coverage is comprehensive for both priced and free publications.
  2. A recent introduction of Pathfinders such as the one for ILO Statistics is very useful, since many ILO resources are located in one or more of a variety of sources. For example, under “Global (Worldwide) Statistics,” we are advised to “ See the ILO's [hot linked] database for Economically Active Population Estimates and Projections.”
  3. The World Day Against Child Labour, observed each year around June 12, featured for 2006 on the ILO website at

Found here is a key publication, free for download in pdf format: The End of Child Labour: Within Reach, Global Report. International Labour Conference, 95 th Session, 2006, Report I.(B), 100 p.

  1. Important databases freely available on the ILO web site include: :, the Database of International Labour Standards and , the Database of National Labour Legislation

Recent Titles of Special Note:

  • Decent Working Time. New Trends, New Issues. Jean-Yves Boulin, Michel Lallement, Jon C. Messenger, François Michon (Eds) 2006, 464 pp. ISBN 978-92-2-117950-4 US$39.95.

Employees the world over are increasingly having to cope with not only excessively long working hours but also very erratic work schedules, which can offset the benefits of more and better paying work Unbalanced work schedules can create serious problems in employees' health, and also in their safety. All nations should consider these matters if they want to have a healthy and productive workforce. This study suggests that what is required are policies that will encourage work-life balance, something increasingly skewed at the present.

  • Employers' Organizations Taking the Lead on Gender Equality. 2005, 85 pp., ISBN 92-2-117277-5, US$19.95 Based on case studies from ten countries, this volume suggests that

employers and their organizations can benefit from being proactive in promoting gender equality in the workplace, An announcement of this publication in the International Labour Review in October 2005 (Vol. 144, No. 4), states that there is “a common thread which emerges from analysis of the case studies namely that, when employers act together they can influence reform in a way that is beneficial both to themselves and to society as a whole, rather than having it imposed upon them.”

  • Labour Migration Policy and Management: Training module., 2005, 180 pp. ISBN 92-2-116701-1 US$27. Labor Migration is a critical policy matter in nations the world over. This volume suggests that workers in the Asian region are increasingly mobile, posing immense challenges and opportunities for the growth and development in countries of the whole region. However, with proper management, a mobile labor force can be a real asset to an entire region.
  • Positive Action: Reducing poverty through social dialogue. A guidebook for trade unions and employers' organizations Rosalind Harvey and Chang-Hee Lee. 2005, 88 pp. ISBN 92-2-116151-X US$15.95. Even when workers have jobs, poverty can still be a serious issue. This publication suggests that organizations which support workers such as trade unions and employers organizations can play a vital role in combating the negative mindset and the practical effects of poverty.
  • Violence at Work. 3 rd Edition. Duncan Chappell and Vittorio di Martino. 2006, 360 pp. ISBN 978-92-2-117948-1 US$19.95. Covers a broad range of workplace violence in many countries including homicides, assaults, sexual harassment, threats, bullying, mobbing and verbal abuse, also terrorist and mass murders. Identifies occupations and situations which are most at risk. Not just from deranged persons, workplace violence is a complex issue relating to wider economic, employment relationships, and organizational, gender and cultural factors. Points out workplace anti-violence measures and responses, and looks at the existing international initiatives and recommendations to prevent workplace violence.

Report submitted by Susan Bennett White, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 <sbwhite@princeton.edu>

Susan White is at Princeton University Library

International Monetary Fund - IMF

  • JOLIS(the online catalog) lists the holdings of the eleven libraries belonging to the Library Network at the World Bank Group and IMF Headquarters in Washington D.C. The libraries within this group are listed in . Some are exclusively for the use of the IMF/World Bank staffs, others, such as the IMF’s Language Services Library and the IMF’s Law Library provide links to their own websites and resources, e.g. on the Language Services site, online dictionaries, a financial terminology database, foreign newspaper links, etc. and on the Law Library’s site one can find themost recent Legal Digest, a selective list of its new acquisitions.

JOLIS also features particular events or resources. Of particular note is the research guide produced by Anita Johnson: Resources for Librarians in Developing Countries dated April 2006.It features free websites/databases: scholarly resources full text journals, full text open access institutional repositories, full text institutional repositories focusing on development, free statistical data sources focusing on development topics, free citation databases, scholarly journal document delivery support services for developing countries, and open (free) courseware.

  • The IMF Institute, which provides training for officials of the IMF's member countries and for Fund staff makes its Institute’s recent conference papers available online . Recent examples are: Labor and Capital Flows in Europe Following Enlargement, a January 2006 conference held in Warsaw and a March 2005 Seminar on Foreign Aid.
  • Financial Soundness Indicators: Compilation Guide. Published April 4, 2006. 300 p. ISBN 1-58906-385-6 US$32.00

Report submitted by Vida Margaitis, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 margait@fas.harvard.edu

Vida Margaitis is at Harvard

International Organization for Migration - IOM

With migration issues dominating the public agendas in local and national governments around the world, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a key international organization producing critical information in this area. The IOM is not a part of the United Nations system, but instead is affiliated with and works with several UN operational agencies. Their publications are listed on their website and they publish an annual publication catalog. The individual titles can be purchased directly from the agency, and are also available through major international publication vendors, including Bernan, Renouf, and even the United Nations Publications online bookstore.

A sampling of recent IOM monograph titles include:

  • Handbook on Establishing Effective Labour Migration Policies in Countries of Origin and Destination (2006)
  • Migrants' Remittances and Development: Myths, Rhetoric and Realities (2006)
  • Labour Migration in Asia: Protection of Migrant Workers, Support Services and Enhancing Development (2005)
  • Essentials of Migration Management: A Guide for Policy Makers and Practitioners (2005)

IOM Key Serial Publications include:

  • World Migration.
  • IOM Migration Research Series. ISSN: 1607-338X
  • International Migration Law Series
  • International Migration. ISSN: 0020-7985

Report submitted by David Oldenkamp, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 <doldenka@indiana.edu>

David Oldenkamp is the International Studies Librarian at Indiana University

International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women - INSTRAW

On the web at:

INSTRAW is the only United Nations entity mandated at the international level to promote and undertake research and training programmes to contribute to the advancement of women and gender equality worldwide. By stimulating and assisting the efforts of inter-governmental, governmental and non-governmental organizations, INSTRAW plays a critical role in advancing the global agenda of gender equality, development and peace. INSTRAW is funded entirely through voluntary contributions from UN Member States and donor agenciesthe Institute does not have a regular UN budget.

Both INSTRAW and the UNCSW are to all indications fully integrated into the main UN bibliographic stream. The few publications they produce can be purchased from UN Publications and their documentary materials are available from standard sources: their own websites, the Official Documents System and UNBISnet. They are both indexed in AccessUN as well. There are no particular flagship publications, nor are they significant producers of data. Given their respective missions, however, this makes sense.

Report submitted by Amy E. West, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 westx045@umn.edu

Amy West is at the University of Minnesota Library

Lexis - CIS

Lexis, through its former CIS connection, provides valuable indexing and full text on microfiche for many international agency materials in the Lexis Statistical component. An interesting new international source is the following on terrorism.

SITE Institute on Lexis/Nexis offers Insight into Terrorism

After 9/11, when it became apparent that the terrorists had participated in discussions of their plans on the Internet, the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute ( ) ramped up its coverage of terrorist websites, message boards, and other types of online forums that it then translates into English for governments across the globe. Now available as a source on LexisNexis® Academic, subscribers can access SITE Institute translations of official communiqués of terrorist groups who are taking credit for, or threatening, attacks, as well as translated transcripts of audio and video messages of top terrorist leaders, descriptions of terrorist videos, and other terrorist propaganda.

SITE Institute was recently profiled in The New Yorker magazine, see the article by visiting and searching for ‘Rita Katz.’ Accept the default search field (Headline, Lead Paragraph(s), and Terms), and the default date (Previous six months). The SITE materials are used by researchers across the globe, including government personnel who rely on the timely translations to keep them updated on possible terrorist activities. SITE is accessible on LexisNexis Academic on the Search Path: Guided News | World News | Middle East/Africa Sources. For a direct link, go to .

Lexis Summer Sale

Special sale prices of up to 75 percent off are available for CIS and UPA titles this summer. Significant formerly classified or unpublished foreign government documents are offered in the UPA collections. This sale is an opportunity to complete or enhance print and microform collections. For more information, email academicinfo@lexisnexis.com or call 800-638-8380 or 301-654-1550.

Report submitted by Suzanne L. Holcombe, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 <suzanne.holcombe@okstate.edu>

MyiLibrary

MyiLibrary, part of the Coutts Information Services, provides access to the electronic publications from an increasingly comprehensive body of United Nations and related agencies, including World Bank, ILO, UN, UN AIDS, WHO IOM, OECD and IAEA. MyiLibrary is not comprehensive but aims to be in the future. While MyiLibrary duplicates SourceOECD coverage, it is in a different format.

Consortium pricing plans are available. Coutts, the North American distributor for MyiLibrary, will be at the 2006 ¾«¶«´«Ã½Annual Conference in New Orleans. Their contact is: Steve Forrest, sforrest@outtsinfo.com. MyiLirary is on the web at

Report submitted by Jackie Druery, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 drueryj@post.queensu.ca

Jackie Druery is at Queen’s University in Ontario

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

SourceOECD

The OECD is preparing a new version of SourceOECD (Version 3) with an expected launch date of early 2007. (SourceOECD is the OECD’s online service providing access to all OECD materials in PDF format from 1998 onwards as well as access to all OECD statistics, many with information going back to 1960.) Toby Green, the Marketing Manager from the OECD Headquarter Paris, France and the person behind the developments of SourceOECD recently visited Washington, DC. He held two sessions, with area librarians, presenting the new wire frames and requesting feedback on the new design.

As OECD continues the developments of version 3, staff is interested in hearing from Librarians offering ideas and input for improvements and changes to the service. Please contact Suzanne Edam at the OECD Washington Center 202 822 3865 suzanne.edam@oecd.org if you would like to offer your input.

Reports

Recently released titles from the OECD include:

  • OECDFactbook 2006, the second annual gathering of OECD statistics on all areas of work for the Organization, a great compilation and perfect first entry point into the vast collection of OECD statistics for the undergraduate level.
  • Environmental Performance Reviews: United States with statistics on recent developments in environmental protection.
  • International Migration Outlook presents statistics on Immigration flows from an international angle and the African Economic Outlook, now in its fifth year provides statistics on African development.

Customer service

All reports from Turpin indicate that fulfillment for the United States is working well, but if anybody is experiencing problems with delivery times, pro formas or for the General Standing order clients billing issues, never hesitate to contact the Washington Center.

Report submitted by Lynne M. Stuart, IDTF Agency Liaison

January 16, 2006 <lstuart@jhu.edu>

Lynn Stuart is at the John Hopkins University Library

Organization of American States - OAS

René Gutiérrez, the Documents Librarian for the Organization of American States’ Columbus Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. reports the availability of the following:

  • Updated microfiche collection of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights documents: the latest collection covers 1995–2004 (includes index);
  • Updated microfiche collection of Inter-American Court of Human Rights documents: the latest collection covers 1995–2004 (includes index);
  • Just released: Volume 4 of the Official Records the Office of Summits of the Americas.
  • Just completed: Volumes LIII (2000), LIV (2001), LV (2002), and LVI (2003) of Sintesis de las decisiones tomadas en las sesiones y textos de las resoluciones aprobadas[of the Permanent Council] (i.e. “Synthesis of the decisions taken in the sessions and texts of approved resolutions”).

If you are interested in purchasing OAS publications, you can call or email Mr. Gutiérrez at (202) 458-6037 or rgutierrez@oas.org.

Report submitted by Jeffrey Knapp, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 jknapp@psulias.psu.edu

Jeffrey Knapp is at Penn State University

Readex Publications

From a conversation with August Imholz, Readex’s Vice President for documents, we have learned that there are not new international documents offerings right now. Three international documents collections which continue to be of interest, however, especially since they are supported by strong indexing, are the U.N. Development Program legacy documents, the historic Foreign Documents found through the FBIS product, and the United Nations Documents fiche and index which begins with 1945 and comes up to the present. However, there may be some news on the horizon for additions to both FBIS and United Nations collections. Mr. Imholz can be contacted by phone at (301) 572-5626 or by email at imholtz99@atlantech.net.

Report submitted by Jeffrey Knapp, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 jknapp@psulias.psu.edu

Jeffrey Knapp is at Penn State University

Renouf Publications

Gordon Grahame, president of Renouf Publishing Co. Ltd., will be at the IDTF meeting in New Orleans at the 2006 Annual ¾«¶«´«Ã½Conference. He is available there by appointment to meet with individual librarians. Renouf will also have a selection of new publications from international organizations on display at the Combined Book Exhibit, booth #1515. Gordon will be stopping by the exhibit to collect messages and can also be reached at ggrahame@renoufbooks.com.

The April-June 2006 Renouf Highlights for International Organizations will be going to press shortly, and Information on some 42,000 publications can be found on Renouf’s web site: .

Online Publications, including introduction of iGoStats

Renouf has been supporting and distributing on-line publications from the OECD, UN, World Bank, PAHO and the World Tourism Organization since their inception. Renouf offers discounts of up to 33% to new subscribers.

Renouf will soon be offering online products developed by MIMAS at the University of Manchester. MIMAS has developed a common database of international statistical information using Beyond 20/20 - which is also used by SourceOECD. Called iGoStats, it will be made available internationally. Current offerings include many of the statistical databases from OECD, UNIDO’s Industrial Statistics & Industrial Demand Supply Statistics, World Bank’s World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance, UN Common Database, Eurostat New Cronos, ILO’s Key Indicators of the Labour Market, and IMF’s Direction of Trade Statistics, International Finance Statistics (IFS), Balance of Payments Statistics and Government Finance Statistics.

iGoStats has been in use by a number of Renouf’s online customers on a trial basis. Overall, reports have been favorable. Although some have been disappointed that not all of OECD’s databases are available (currently, only 9 of 21 are), people are particularly happy that IMF’s databases, including IFS, are available across a common platform. Base price for 2-5 concurrent users for the four IMF databases is $5,000. Renouf will be selling the product under its consortia discount plan and based on initial response, it will be introduced at $4,600. Pricing of other components is still under negotiation with the IGOs. If interested in a trial, or if you have questions about the product, please contact Renouf’s serials department at serials@renoufbooks.com or toll-free (888) 551-7470.

World Organization for Animal Health

Renouf has become an official distributor for the World Organization for Animal Health, based in Paris. The organization collects, analyses, and publishes the latest scientific information on control methods for animal diseases. It also develops standards for use by its Member Countries. A list of titles can be viewed on Renouf’s web site. New publications of note include.

Terrestrial Animal Health Code 2005 (ISBN 92-9044-635-8)

Aquatic Animal Health Code 2005 (ISBN 92-9044-650-1)

Selected titles available from Renouf Books

  • World Health Organization - WHO

Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic: an UNAIDS 10 th Anniversary Special Edition(ISBN 92-9-173479-9). 600 page report provides a wealth of data and information on HIV/AIDS, including overview of the current state of affairs and historical perspective of the disease. SARS: How a global epidemic was stopped( ISBN 92-9061-213-4). Written primarily by public health officials close to the center of the outbreak, this title tracks ways the virus is spread, how close it came to breaking public health systems, and how in the end a global coalition stopped it.

  • UNESCO

Water, A Shared Responsibility: The United Nations World Water Development Report 2(ISBN: 92-3-104006-5). This is a joint undertaking of 24 UN agencies in partnership with governments and NGOs around the world. This title provides an update on the growing and serious water crisis facing the world today.

  • International Labour Organization - ILO

Competing for Global Talent (ISBN 92-9014-776-8). Title examines the indirect ways talent crosses borders and the policies and programs governments use to attract skilled talent. Merchants of Labour(ISBN 92-9014-780-6). Many migrant workers use agents to assist them in finding jobs abroad. This book examines best practices in regulating agents - many of whom are involved in the underworld of smugglers and traffickers.

Report submitted by Brett Cloyd, IDTF Agency Liaison

January 14, 2005 <brett-cloyd@uiowa.edu>

Brett Cloyd is at the University of Iowa Libraries

The Stationery Office - TSO

This update focuses on a current awareness feature available from The Stationery Office's Online Store:

Brian Tierney <brian.tierney@tso.co.uk>continues as our TSO contact.

Librarians can sign up for e-mails in html or plain text, or printed advance information on TSO publications .

To sign up, click "free updates" at the top of the shop's homepage, or go directly to

From there select from a topic list which includes subjects such as Business, Education, and Health as well as topics which focus on governmental levels such as Central Government, Regional Government, or International Publications. TSO's privacy policy is included on the page as well.

Report submitted by Andrea Singer, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 singer@indiana.edu

Andrea Singer is at Indiana University Library in Bloomington

United Nations Commission on the Status of Women - UNCSW

On the web at

The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was established as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946 to prepare recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. The Commission also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights.

The Commission on the Status of Women as is INSTRAW is part of the main UN bibliographic stream. Their publications are limited in number, and can be purchased from UN Publications and their documentary materials are available from standard sources: their own websites, the Official Documents System and UNBISnet. This is consistent with their mission as with INSTRAW

Report submitted by Amy E. West, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006, westx045@umn.edu

Amy West is at the University of Minnesota Library

United Nations Depository Library System

The United Nations depository library program (DLP) is carried out by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library (DHL) under the direction of the Department of Public Information (DPI). The Department’s mandate, as stated in the General Assembly’s 2008-2009 budget proposal, is to help fulfill the aims of the organization by informing the world of its work and communicating its concerns regarding global issues (A/61/6 Prog.23, p. 2). In order to distribute information on these topics as widely as possible, the Department uses “intermediaries,” such as the news media, nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies. The mission of the DLP, in practice, is to draw attention to the UN’s information resources primarily in two groups of intermediaries—institutions of higher learning and national libraries.

In January 2006 the General Assembly (GA), using language provided by its Committee on Information, expressed strong support for the program, recognizing “the importance of the depository libraries in disseminating information and knowledge about United Nations activities.” But it also called for change, urging the Dag Hammarskjöld Library “to continue to take the initiatives necessary to strengthen [these] libraries by providing regional training and other assistance and by improving their role with the aim of strengthening their support to users in developing countries” (A/RES/60/109 A-B, p. 14). The continuing endeavor the resolution refers to is the DHL’s effort to ensure that all UN depositories have the information infrastructure and training needed to access UN masthead documents and Official Records electronically, thus eliminating the need for their distribution in print. In Modernization and Integrated Management of United Nations Libraries: Update on New Strategic Directions, the Secretary-General pointed out that, due to a lack of funds, the Library is pursuing external funding for this purpose (A/AC.198/2006/2, p. 11).

The UN Publications Board has not yet decided what role print materials will play in the DLP once all depositories have access to ODS. No one suggests that the distribution of sales publications in print will end, though a growing number of UN bodies are making these titles freely available online. But many libraries have discontinued their receipt of Official Records, and still more have opted for only electronic access to masthead documents. In view of the costs of physical distribution and the fact that the Dag Hammarskjöld Library lacks the funds needed to provide depositories in developing countries with the information infrastructure they need, it is unlikely that any library, with the possible exception of those willing to pay the full cost of printing and shipping these materials, will continue to receive masthead documents in print two year from now. The free distribution of Official Records, which are produced with less expense than masthead documents because they are far less voluminous, may continue. However, the DHL is calling for depository libraries to follow in its footsteps and, as Anatoli Sidorenko, Chief of the DHL Outreach Support Unit, states “to change their role from being traditional repositories of UN materials to becoming important focal points for outreach activities of the United Nations at the local level.” Sidorenko goes on to state that depository libraries will promote UN information resources, train users, and be called on “to actively participate in promoting global issues on the UN agenda” (Via e-mail, June 14, 2006).

The Dag Hammarskjöld Library will use data gathered through a questionnaire administered to all 405 depositories in July 2006 to help refocus and reorient its depository library program.

Report submitted by David Griffiths, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 dngriffi@uiuc.edu

David Griffiths is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library

United Nations Development Fund for Women - UNIFEM

On the Web at

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality. Placing the advancement of women's human rights at the centre of all of its efforts, UNIFEM focuses its activities on four strategic areas: (1) reducing feminized poverty, (2) ending violence against women (3) reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls, and (4) achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war.

UNIFEM doesn't publish a tremendous amount, but they sure make it easy to get the materials they do publish. They use an RSS feed to alert customers to new titles. The default publishing platform is electronic, with print versions sometimes offered. They provide standard descriptive information for publications indicating type, language (English appears to be most common), publication place, fee if any for hardcopy, page length and electronic format. They also offer customers purchasing options through 3 vendors:

UN Publications

Kumerian Press

Women, Inc.

UNIFEM publications and documents are indexed and/or available full-text in the standard sources: AccessUN, Official Documents System and UNBISnet. Recent content is available from the UNIFEM website, but no information on length of content retention is provided, so the website can't be considered an archival source. Their main publication right now is Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Work & Poverty - .

Report submitted by Amy E. West, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 <westx045@umn.edu>

Amy West is at the University of Minnesota Library

United Nations Environment Program - UNEP

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established in 1972, is the voice for the environment within the United Nations system. UNEP acts as a catalyst, advocate, educator and facilitator to promote the wise use and sustainable development of the global environment. To accomplish this, UNEP works with a wide range of partners, including United Nations entities, international organizations, national governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and civil society.

  • The UNEP includes the following divisions:
  • Division of Early Warning and Assessment
  • Division of Policy Development and Law
  • Division of Environmental Policy Implementation
  • Division of Technology, Industry and Economics
  • Division of Regional Cooperation
  • Division of Environmental Conventions
  • Division of Communications and Public Information
  • Division of Global Environment Facility Coordination

Via its web site, the UNEP provides specific resources organized for Government Officials, Scientists, Business Persons, Journalists, Civil Society, Children and Youth.

The Publications section of the web site includes a UNEP Publication Database Search Engine (unavailable at the time of this report). Other access points include:

EarthPrint.com, UNEP’s official online bookstore for its publications, so titles can be purchased online. It has general keyword search capability, but can be searched by topic including Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Chemicals, Climate, Desertification, Environmental Law, etc., which list UNEP publications in each of these subject areas. Bestsellers are featured in the middle of the page, such as Challenges to International Water: Regional Assessments in a Global Perspective. Titles feature a brief synopsis. Global Deserts Outlook featured on the main Publications page at the time of this report and other titles featured below are available full-text online. Publications offer both reports and statistics.

What’s New Best Sellers Latest Reports

Annual Reports (2000 forward in full-text .pdf or .html format),

Periodicals ( Our Planet, vol. 16 - forward available full-text online)

Newsletters, most full-text online, including:

  • Poverty and Environment Times
  • Chemicals Newsletter
  • Confluence - Dams and Development Project Newsletter
  • Global International Waters Assesment (GIWA) Newsletter
  • Sustainable Consumption Network (SC.net)
  • BREEFings - Coral Reef Unit Newsletter
  • Electronic News Centre of the Caribbean Environment Programme
  • Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) Newsletter
  • Urban Environment Newsletter
  • OzonAction Newsletter
  • Environmental Emergencies News

The News Centre gives access to Press Releases, Speeches, Photos.

The agency web site is very well-organized. As the international producer of information in the critical area of the environment, international documents librarians can keep abreast of all UNEP publications through the various access points on this web site.

Report submitted by Suzanne L. Holcombe, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 suzanne.holcombe@okstate.edu

Suzanne Holcombe is at Oklahoma State University Library

United Nations Human Settlements Programme - HABITAT

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT (UNCHS) <;, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. Cities are now home to half of humankind, and sustainable urbanization is one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community in the 21st century.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration recognizes the dire circumstances of the world’s urban poor. It articulates the commitment of Member States to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020 - Target 11 of Goal No.7 - a task mandated to UN-HABITAT.

UN-HABITAT runs two major worldwide campaigns - the Global Campaign on Urban Governance, and the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure. Through these campaigns and by other means, the agency focuses on a range of issues and special projects which it helps implement. This includes the Cities Alliance program with the World Bank and the Safer Cities Programme, also major projects in post-war societies such as Afghanistan, Kosovo, etc.

The UNCHS web site includes a publications section that features its Publications Catalogue available in text or .pdf format. The Catalogue is organized

by subject categories (Disaster Management and Mitigation, Economic Development and Finance, Infrastructure, Urban Management, etc.), and features the organization’s flagship publications and periodicals. Titles can be purchased online and some are in electronic format. Periodicals are available online in full-text at no charge.

The organization’s key publications are the Global Report on Human Settlements and the State of the World’s Cities, both annual.

The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date assessment of the conditions and trends in the world's cities. It is an essential tool and reference for researchers, academics, public authorities and civil society organizations around the world. The preceding issues of the Global Report on Human Settlements have addressed such topics as An Urbanizing World Cities in a Globalizing World and The Challenges of Slums.
The State of the World's Cities charts the progress and the challenges we face in this rapidly urbanizing world. With contributions from some of the world's leading urban scholars, writers and experts, this report carries extensive examples, illustrations and facts that are of use to experts and non-experts alike. First published in 2001, this flagship report of UN-HABITAT now published every two years, represents a further milestone in the efforts of the United Nations to gather, promote, and disseminate information for policy makers and the public at large.

Periodicals include Habitat Debate Urban Governance Urban Environment Urban Observer Newsletter, and Water for Cities.

The UNCHS web site is very well-organized as is its Publications Catalogue. Publications offer both reports and statistics. As the producer of information in the area of populations in urban areas, international documents librarians should be keep abreast of UNCHS publications, namely the Global Report on Human Settlements and the State of the World’s Cities which vary in their focus each year. Additional titles can be searched and purchased according to topic.

Report submitted by Suzanne L. Holcombe, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 suzanne.holcombe@okstate.edu

Suzanne Holcombe is at Oklahoma State University Library

United Nations Publications

United Nations Publications (UNP) has continued to improve its web site (). It now features an assortment of entries for popular printed titles called The List. Though nearly all of the thirty-two items it highlights could be considered reference sources, the creators of this page did not attempt to identify the organization’s most important reference tools. (If they had, they would have included the Statistical Yearbook and Demographic Yearbook, for instance.) Instead, they point out interesting and diverse titles that all institutions of higher learning—and many public libraries—must have. This should be useful to any selector who is unfamiliar with UN information resources. New selectors in this field will also find the UNP page highlighting more than 70 publications related to the Millennium Development Goals to be helpful.

I recently learned that librarians in UN depositories sometimes find it difficult to get the standard discount on UN publications. As the Dag Hammarskjöld Library web site makes clear, many categories of UN publications are not available on deposit, and these may only be acquired via purchase (see ). For depository libraries the cost of these nondepository titles is lessened: they may receive a twenty-five percent discount on all orders from UN sales offices. However, UNP Sales and Marketing Coordinator, Mohamed Faiz, informed me via telephone that only depositories using one account may receive the standard discount (he emphasized that this is not a policy under his control). Otherwise, it may appear that multiple departments within the same library are attempting to obtain the discount. The supposition underlying this policy seems to be that departments within libraries, rather than whole libraries, are the depositories in the depository library program.

Report submitted by David Griffiths, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 dngriffi@uiuc.edu

David Griffiths is at Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

World Bank

World Bank representatives will be present to report on new programs and initiatives at the IDTF meeting at ¾«¶«´«Ã½Annual Conference in New Orleans. World Bank also has a booth at this conference.

Contact Information

World Bank Online Resources: Pricing information and free trials, consortia relations, contract queries:

Triinu Tombak, Electronic Sales Manager

ttombak@worldbank.org

pubrights@worldbank.org

P:202-473-5149

F:202-522-2631

World Bank Publications:

Jose De Buerba, Sales Manager

World Bank Publications

1818 H Street NW

Washington DC 20433

jdebuerba@worldbank.org

P: 202-473-0393

F: 202-522-2631

Report submitted by Jackie Druery, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 drueryj@post.queensu.ca

Jackie Druery is at Queens University in Ontario

World Health Organization - WHO

Forthcoming World Health Organization Publications of Special Interest Include the Following:

  • Pesticide Residues in Food – 2004, Evaluations 2004, Part II – Toxicological, Pesticide Residues in Food, No. 20. 2006, 723 pp. ISBN 92-4-166520-3. $63. The monographs in this volume summarize the safety data on 13 pesticides that could leave residues in food commodities.
  • Helmets: How to Implement and Evaluate Interventions. 2006, 100 pp., ISBN 92-4-156299-4 $18. This manual is aimed at road safety practitioners who want to implement a helmet use program, in order to reduce the high number of fatalities and injuries that are associated with increasing use of two-wheelers in many countries.
  • Road Traffic Injury Prevention: Training Manual. 2005, 120 pp., ISBN 92 4 154675 1, $23.50

This manual provides guidance to professionals working on road traffic injury prevention.

  • Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality. Third Edition. Addendum to Volume 1 2005, 52 p ., ISBN 92 4 154674 3, $18. Provides a detailed list of all changes to the Guidelines that have occurred since the Third Edition was published in 2004.
  • Protecting Ground Water for Health 2005, 650 pp., ISBN 92 4 154668 9, $144. This volume is intended to facilitate understanding hazards to groundwater quality, assessing the risk they may cause for a specific supply, setting priorities in addressing these, and developing management strategies to safeguard drinking-water quality.
  • WSH CD-ROM Water, Sanitation and Health Electronic Library, Fourth Edition 2006, ISBN: 92 4 056024 6, $351. The updated edition of this electronic library provides a wealth of information on water supply and sanitation, recreational / bathing waters, achieving the Millennium Development Goals on water, sanitation and hygiene, drinking-water quality, water resources management and health-care waste. Includes some 220 documents consisting of over 19,900 pages of new and current publications which are made up of full text books and guidelines, facts sheets, facts and figures, posters, advocacy materials and other information products.

WHO Web Resources of Direct Interest to Documents Librarians Include:

  • The WHO Book Shop

( )

Offers links to free reports and publications from the WHO, a “just published” page for new publications, and “forthcoming key titles.”

  • Access to WHO Reference Information( )

Offers links to a detailed page instructing how to locate and order WHO documentation and links t o online versions of WHO periodicals.

  • World Health Organization Statistical Information System (WHOSIS)

( )

Provides links to an array of WHO statistical sources, including informational pages devoted to special subjects of interest, statistics broken down by country or region, and updated core health indicators.

Report submitted by Jeffrey A. Knapp IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 jknapp@psulias.psu.edu

Jeffrey Knapp is at Penn State University Library

World Tourism Organization

The World Tourism Organization has changed its web address from to . What would be of most interest would be to know if any of our IDTF libraries are subscribing to the WTO elibrary subscription that is offered, and to know the level of satisfaction with it. While print materials are still offered through the UNWTO Infoshop, the organization is promoting its elibrary service which contains "all official documents, reports, and studies since 1999." It also

contains 700 books in Spanish, English, French, Russian, and Arabic since 1975, and content is continuously updated. The WTO is utilizing 35 servers worldwide. Subscriptions vary in price depending on whether networked access or single access is requested, and on the type of library

subscribing. The UNWTO offers a quick-paced demo of its elibrary on the website

Report submitted by Mary K. Fetzer, IDTF Agency Liaison

June 16, 2006 fetzer@rci.rutgers.edu

Mary Fetzer is at Rutgers University Libraries

Last updated 11 July 2006

[End of Annual Conference 2006 IDTF Agency Liaison Reports]