International Statistical Data: Trends, Sources and Issues Bobray Bordelon Princeton University July 9, 2000 GODORT Program - American Library Association Annual

We will examine: n Examples of Commercial Publishers n When one should turn to commercial publisher n What to look for

Missions of International Organizations n If you look at organizational missions such as those of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, UNESCO, OECD, and the Asian Development Bank, you will find that most do not mention supplying free documents as part of their mission. Their misssions are typically to provide documentation and data to its member organizations to aid in their decision making.

Depositories (United Nations and partners) n United Nations - 44 in the USA n FAO - 14 in the USA n ILO - 2 in the USA n UNESCO - 2 in the USA n World Bank- 3 in the USA

Asian Development Bank Depository Program n “introduced in January 1994 in response to a growing public demand for information about its activities. Under the program, selected ADB publications are deposited regularly in key libraries in its member countries.” (8 in USA)

Types of Commercial Services n Distributors n Indexing/Abstracting/Full text n Repackagers n Aggregators

Distributors (select examples) n Oxford University Press (African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, UNIDO, UNDP, UNEP) n Bernan (various UN, IMF, UNESCO, World Bank, ILO, EC, OECD publications) n Edward Elgar (UNIDO’s International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics)

Indexing/Abstracting/Full text n Congressional Information Service’s Index to International Statistics/Statistical Universe –States what publication is about –Indexes and identifies source –Provides a consistent accession number –Documents presented “as is” –Currently no full text online - this begins to change August 2000

Repackagers (a select list) n Chadwyck Healey n Congressional Information Services n EuroMonitor n Oryx Press

Chadwyck Healey n Gathers publications and puts them into large sets (primarily microform but some electronic) n “as is” publications n primarily historical

Chadwyck Healey (select products) X African Official Statistical Serials, X Annual Reports of the World's Central Banks X British Government Publications Containing Statistics, X European Official Statistical Serials, X Latin American and Caribbean Official Statistical Serials, X Yugoslav Statistics,

Congressional Information Services X Current National Statistical Compendiums on Microfiche –“Comprehensive” collection of international statistical yearbooks

EuroMonitor X International Marketing Data and Statistics X World Consumer Income and Expenditure Patterns X World Economic Factbook X China Marketing Data and Statistics

Oryx Press X Statistical Handbook on Poverty in the Developing World

Aggregators (a select list) n RDS - TableBase n DRI University Program n Datastream International n Economist Intelligence Unit n Country Watch

RDS - TableBase n Pulls together many different publications (over 1,000 sources) n fully indexed by specific categories with keyword searching also available n problem: finding original sources sometimes tricky since name of table and not article is often given

DRI University Program n Fully identifies source in online and printed documentation n On screen only gives databank item is derived from n Allows mixing and matching of many sources n Allows user to download into multiple formats

DRI University Program n Very strong on USA coverage n Contains a number of IGO sources n Contains few sources directly from countries n time series do not go away

Selected DRI Databases n DRI International Economic Database n DRI Canadian Primary Source Database n IMF International Financial Statistics Database n IMF Direction of Trade Database n IMF Balance of Payments Database n OECD Main Economic Indicators Database n OECD National Accounts Database

DRI contains data directly from the following countries: n Belgium, France, Germany n Italy, Netherlands n South Africa, Spain n United Kingdom n United States

Datastream International n Strong country coverage n Limited IGO data n Allows complex downloading through the use of macros n time series do not go away

Datastream International n Minimal source identification n pay per simultaneous user n different versions allowing differing degrees of user friendliness and manipulation

THIS PROGRAM ENABLES THE MNEMONIC FOR A REQUIRED ECONOMIC TIME SERIES TO BE DETERMINED COUNTRIES AVAILABLE: 7 CANADA 89 EUROLAND (EUROSTAT & ECB) 29 FRANCE 30 GERMANY 31 ITALY 49 JAPAN 55 JAPAN - IBJ/NIKKO DATABASE 58 SWITZERLAND 1 UNITED KINGDOM 6 UNITED STATES 70 OTHER COUNTRIES A TO M 71 OTHER COUNTRIES N TO Z 77 GLOBAL AND MISCELLANEOUS INDICATORS 82 FORECASTS - CONSENSUS ECONOMICS 84 FORECASTS - EIU 86 FORECASTS - OECD 88 OECD HISTORICAL DATA 80 WIIW EASTERN EUROPEAN DATA 97 IMF DATA SELECT COUNTRY REQUIRED:

Some of the other countries covered includes n Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru,Venezuela n Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka n China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam n Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe n Cyprus, Greece, Turkey n Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia n Israel, Jordan

Economist Intelligence Unit n compiled from many different sources as well as their own researchers n source identification varies; always identified but sometimes only the agency n services available in paper, on CD, and via the WEB n superb packaging but very expensive

Country Watch n compiled from many different sources as well as their own researchers n source identification varies; always identified but sometimes only the agency n available via the WEB n very inexpensive

What to look for in a commercial product n $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (Cost of original versus repackaging) n Can you get it otherwise? n Reputation

What to look for in a commercial product n Does it add value? n Interface or medium of presentation n User Friendliness

What to look for in a commercial product n Standardization n Manipulation of data n Downloading capabilities and formats n Is Data kept or does it roll over?

What to look for in a commercial product n Documentation n Identification of original source n Methodology n Customer Service