Relevant Databases in the Field of International Relations and Area Studies.

A Survey of Database Usage.

Petra Galle petra.galle@swp-berlin.org Tallinn, September 18, 2008

The structure of the presentation

Part I: The setting of the questionnaire

Part II:Experiences with databases at SWP (LIS)

Part III:

Results of the questionnaire

Conclusions open to discussion

Part I: The EINIRAS questionnaire

Questions about: Which databases are relevant to your

library? Which one is the most relevant? Are library catalogues relevant? Do you search factual / statistical

databases?

About 30 % response rate (15 institutes)

Questions and Answers

Part II: Experiences with databases at SWP (LIS)

Relevance is determined by

The content that has to meet the information need

The availability of online access The availability of fulltexts /

information about the location of the holding

The search and export tools a database offers

What is a relevant database to SWP?

Part II: Experiences with databases at SWP (LIS)

Search for literature: WAO / IREON portal ECLAS / Eur-Lex Policy Pointers EIU Country Reports / RGE Monitor

Search for news: Factiva / Lexis Nexis

Search for statistical data: Eurostat / Source OECD / IMF / Worldbank

Mainly used databases at SWP

Part III: Results of the EINIRAS questionnaire

Free access: EDN ISN WAO / IREON portal

Access for charge: CIAO Factiva JSTOR

Mainly used databases within EINIRAS

Altogether more than 50 databases were mentioned as being „relevant“.

Part III: Results of the EINIRAS questionnaire

Free Access: National or the European statistical bureaus

Access for charge: SourceOECD IMF databases World Bank databases

Main statistical databases

10 out of 15 answering institutes search statistical databases.

Part III: Results of the EINIRAS questionnaire

The institute‘s own database DCISM FIV-member institutes

National or supranational portals Greece: National Documentation Centre EKT Sweden: LIBRIS

Commercial journal databases EBSCO Factiva

Google

Central points of starting a search

Part III: Results of the EINIRAS questionnaire

Journal articles / newspaper articles EBSCO / LexisNexis

News compilations BBC Monitoring Service

Analysing reports Oxford Analytica Economist Intelligence Unit Country Reports

Relevant databases not being at an institute‘s disposal

Conclusions open to discussion

… does not exist in our field. Nor the super-portal.

1. The one-and-the-only database …

2. Existing databases and portals in our field

– as EDN, ISN and IREON –can yet meet only parts of the information demands

Conclusions open to discussion

3. Open Access repositories …

… yet do not play an important role. DOAJ and ISN are the only ones which were especially mentioned in the survey.

4. Statistical databases …

… are needed but expensive.

Conclusions open to discussion

… do EINIRAS institutes find by participating

in national subscription policies Subscription to EBSCO in the Czech Republic National licences in Germany

and in cooperations with parlamentary or university libraries to use their online access

5. A solution to this situation …

The End

Thank you very much for your attention!

The floor is open for discussion now!

Thank you very much for your attention!