Spring 2000

 

**********In this Issue:********

Lendac Happenings

XML in Perspective: FREE Seminar Series

Special Feature: Irish Content Databases

International Partnership News & New Products

Free LRSNet Trial:  ERIC from Silverplatter

 

Lendac Happenings

MEDICAL OPEN DAYS:  Lendac has been out and about in 2000.  In February, Meghan and Liam headed down to Cork for an Open Day Session at the University Hospital.  The features of the day were highlighted with demonstrations of electronic medical information. A great success!  We are hoping to hold similar Open Days around Ireland throughout the year.  Please contact us if you want to hold an Open Day at your organization!

 

You may have also seen us at the Waste Management/Recycling Seminar in the RDS two weeks ago, where we were featuring Health, Safety and Environmental electronic information products.

 

We will be exhibiting at the National Scientific Medical Meeting at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin on March 31-April 1. We are also excited about attending the LAI Conference at the Grand Hotel, Malahide in April. Pop by the stand for a free DEMO of LRSNet!

 

Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858: On Wednesday, March 22, Lendac and Eneclann held a launch of their latest joint venture CD-ROM.  Held at the National Museum in Dublin, the event was kicked off by Minister of Arts Sile DeValera.  If you would like to ORDER a copy of the CD-ROM, please contact our sales department.

 

DVD Authoring

Lendac Data Systems adds DVD authoring to our wide range of Multimedia and Broadcast services.  Utilizing DVD authoring software from Sonic Solutions, we would be happy to output your footage to DVD Video.  The software is also available for purchase from Lendac, and comes bundled with Matrox RT2000 and Matrox Digisuite DTV video editing hardware.   For further information, please contact Nuala Sullivan on (01) 6776133 or e-mail nuala@lendac.ie.

 

Matrox RT2000 Release available from LENDAC!!

The Matrox RT2000 Video Capture & Editing hardware is now available from Lendac Data Systems.  Matrox RT2000 is a real-time nonlinear editing solution for corporate and event video artists, that provides an impressive array of professional features at an unprecedented price.  The revolutionary Matrox Flex 3D architecture of RT2000 exploits the explosive 3D graphics performance of the award-winning Matrox Millennium G400 accelerator to provide broadcast-quality 3D DVE and 32-bit uncompressed animated graphics in a native DV editing environment. MPEG-2 output for DVD and web video streaming applications, along with 1394 and analog video output for tape distribution, rounds out the solution.  For further information, please contact Nuala Sullivan on (01) 6776133 or e-mail nuala@lendac.ie.

 

 

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XML in perspective:

 Series of FREE seminars from Lendac Data Systems Ltd.

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XML is the most important new standard for the creation, management, exchange and distribution of information on networks, intranets, and the internet. It has been adopted by many of the world's leading e-businesses, publishers and information rich organizations to: 

Reduce the overheads and costs of content creation and maintenance

* Create and manage more meaningful and therefore more valuable information

* Create responsive information products irrespective of the distribution formats internet, CD-ROM, intranet, paper etc faster than has ever been possible before.

 

Lendac data Systems is a leading solutions provider in the arena of intranet and internet applications with a proven track record of XML achievement.   If you would like to find out more about XML and how it may impact your business or organization we are holding a number of free seminars on XML and how to come to terms with it.  The following events are scheduled. If you wish to attend, please mark the event with an X and email XML@lendac.ie 

 

XML a general overview

This session will cover XML in its broadest terms, its relationships with HTML and SGML, what it is and why it's important.

____ I wish to attend XML a general overview seminar

on 27th April, 2000, 10am - 12pm, Davenport Hotel, Dublin (Day 1)

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XML and The Publisher

A session dedicated to the changes in publishing approaches being created by the adaptation of XML; its relationships with SGML and impacts on recent investments in HTML based technologies. This session is aimed at content publishers, and in particular those who are considering "single source" content production.

____ I wish to attend XML and The Publisher

on 27th April, 2000, 2pm - 4pm, Davenport Hotel, Dublin (Day 1)

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XML and the Information Professional

This session takes a look at the opportunities that XML presents for information professionals, with particular emphasis on data structures, information and the expanding role of knowledge management.

____ I wish to attend XML and the Information Professional

on 28th April, 2000, 10am - 12pm, Davenport Hotel, Dublin (Day 2)

 

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SPECIAL FEATURE  Irish Content Databases

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Lendac has compiled a quick list of Irish Content databases below. If you are interested in any of them, please contact info@lendac.ie

Context launches the Electronic Irish Reports: April 2000

The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for Ireland in conjunction with Context Limited will launch an electronic version of the Council's publications - The Irish Reports and Irish Digests. The product will cover over 80 years of Irish case reports.

The Electronic Irish Reports will contain the full text data of published cases from 1919. The Digests will provide a reference to each case reported in:

* The Irish Reports

* Northern Ireland Reports

* Irish Law Reports Monthly

* Irish Law Times Reports

* Irish Jurist Reports

* Irish Law Journal

The Electronic Irish Reports will run under the familiar JUSTIS 5 interface. Users will benefit from the J-Link feature, which facilitates links to the Electronic Irish Reports from references in e-mail, the Web and most other Windows-based applications.

The Electronic Irish Reports contain many references to the electronic Law Reports published by Context and the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England & Wales, all of which will act as linkable cross-references for all subscribers to the electronic Law Reports. 

Please contact info@lendac.ie if you are interested in further details on the above.

 

Irish Books in Print

- The Irish Book Database on CD-ROM from CLO

An Electronic Address Book of publishers and suppliers with links to websites. Thousands of Irish-published and Irish-interest titles at your fingertips!

- Listings from Books Ireland Magazine

- A newly updated CD every month

- - On screen presentations of selected titles

Irish Books in Print can be used on any PC with any version of Microsoft windows and allow you to:

- - Find any book by any Irish publisher, quickly and easily

- - Create your own lists of titles and print them in pre-formatted reports

 

Please contact Paula, Meghan, or Michael to order your subscription!

 

International Books in Print PLUS

from Silverplatter

The International Books in Print PLUS gives comprehensive coverage of English-language titles published in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Continental Europe, Latin America, New Zealand, Oceania and the Republic of Ireland. The database gives access to 260,000 English-language titles published outside the US and UK by over 8,000 publishers. Information includes price, number of pages, binding, publisher details and distributors.

 

EIU Investing, Licensing & Trading from Dialog & Silverplatter

Designed as a practical guide to regulations, operating conditions, and corporate practices in 60 countries, the EIU Investing, Licensing & Trading database from SilverPlatter delivers the world's most comprehensive global business reference publication on CD-ROM and via the Internet. This is vital information as competition in domestic markets intensifies and more organizations seek to expand their markets overseas. Updated monthly, with each individual report updated semi-annually, EIU Investing, Licensing & Trading describes regulations on capital movements, investment incentive, rules on foreign investment, labor conditions, export credits, local capital sources, competition and price control policies. EIU Investing, Licensing & Trading from SilverPlatter provides easy access to the practical information that you need to conduct business abroad. Actual case examples illustrate how leading multi-national corporations obtain government approvals, set up local companies, calculate corporate and personal taxes, and leap administrative and legal hurdles.

 

EIU Country Reports on Disc from Dialog & Silverplatter

EIU Country Reports on Disc is the most comprehensive database of country analysis offered today. EIU Country Reports on Disc provides a full overview of the latest economic, political, and market conditions for all regions of the world. Each disc offers country-specific data and analysis, including a summary of the latest business events; an analysis of recent political and economic developments; current and historical trade and economic data; an overview of major industrial trends; and a political and economic outlook.

EIU Country Forecasts on Disc from Dialog & Silverplatter

EIU Country Forecasts on Disc, from the Economist Intelligence Unit, is a vital planning tool that provides authoritative and objective forecasts of critical political, economic, and business trends for 58 countries. Now the EIU's authoritative global forecasts are easily accessible through CD-ROM and over the Internet. Each country profile contains an in-depth analysis of the current and future political, economic, and business environment; comprehensive five-year forecasts detailing GDP growth, population and income, inflation, currency and interest rates, external trade, foreign indebtedness and other important indicators; an appraisal of the country's prospects over the next ten years; five-year summary of historical data; quarterly alerts to recent developments affecting forecasts; and an executive summary and fact sheet. The format of all reports is consistent to facilitate comparison between countries. Country Forecasts on Disc is an essential resource for business professionals -- from information specialists and researchers to corporate planners and financial managers -- who need comprehensive forecasts of global business trends.  Country Forecasts on Disc includes the full text and tables from the EIU's well-respected print series and provides a comprehensive review of the future market trends for five major regions of the world!

 

OSH-IRELAND from Sheila Pantry and Silverplatter

Providing full text Health and Safety information from the following sources:

Acts of the Oireachtas;

All appropriate Statutory Instruments;

Health and Safety Authority's (HSA) current publications, reports annual reports;

 The Certificates of Exemption and Exception;

Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) health and safety guides and "Your Questions Answered";

National Standards Association of Northern Ireland (NSAI) health and safety standards;

National Safety Organization (NISO) guidance and advice;

Bibliographic content: References to the appropriate European Health, Safety and Environment Directives; Extensive list of references to appropriate National Standards Association of Northern Ireland (NSAI) OSH standards (other than those included as full text documents).

 

Book DATA!

BookWISE-CD

BookWISE-CD is the result of market research conducted with independent booksellers in the UK over a period of twelve months. It is designed to meet the bibliographic information needs of the domestic market, covering titles published in the UK, and imported titles where they are available.  BookWISE-CD is a database of over 1.3 million titles available in the UK and Ireland, and includes coverage of forthcoming, in-print and recently out-of-print titles. This is the key feature of the service. Coverage includes book titles, as well as audio cassettes, CD-ROMs, computer software, and other media items.

 

Chadwyck-Healy brings you...

 

A Bibliography of Nineteenth-Century Legal Literature on CD-ROM

An author and subject catalogue of law treatises and all law-related literature held in twelve major legal collections in Britain, Ireland and the United States.  A Bibliography of Nineteenth-Century Legal Literature (BINELL) is a rich resource for scholars of social, economic and political, as well as constitutional and legal history, containing entries for more than 250,000 items in a subject classification scheme with up to 1,000 headings.

"... should be found on the shelves of every academic library serving not only the law, but also politics and history departments with a strong interest in nineteenth-century law and the contemporary written evidence of influences for change. "

-The Law Librarian, December 1992

 

Wing: Short-Title Catalogue, 1641-1700

Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700, edited by Donald Wing et al.  Publication of the newly revised, enlarged edition on CD-ROM provides electronic access for the first time to this essential bibliographic database of thousands of extant books, pamphlets and broadsides printed in English between 1641 and 1700. Few reference tools have proved as useful to scholars, librarians and students of the seventeenth century - as well as to antiquarian booksellers and book collectors - as Donald Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (known universally as Wing). More than sixty years in the making, Wing enables researchers from all disciplines to discover and locate seventeenth-century printed works at over 200 libraries worldwide. In print, Wing consists of three volumes which are now combined and fully accessible on one CD-ROM for the first time.  This revised edition of Wing expands the 1972 edition with the restoration of lost entries, expansion of cross-references and the addition of new material. The CD-ROM contains over 100,000 entries covering all known material printed in English between 1641-1700 except serials. Each entry provides the author's name, the imprint, bibliographic information and the item's physical format and lists selected libraries and institutions that hold a copy of the work.

 

 

The W.B. Yeats Collection

Yeats's complete works, available for the first time in electronic form

W.B. Yeats was one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His works are included in all major anthologies of poetry and are widely studied in schools and universities. This database is the first complete electronic edition of Yeats's work and places his poetry in the context of his other writings. It brings together twenty-two printed volumes and includes critical and fictional prose, poetry and plays plus autobiographical works.

Using The W.B. Yeats Collection, students can unravel the history of the man and his writing. This database is an invaluable tool in the debate surrounding the revision and textual editing of Yeats's corpus. It enables users to search across the final published versions of his poems and essays and to trace the development of his ideas and techniques.

The W.B. Yeats Collection can be searched by genre: poetry, drama, non-fictional prose or fictional prose and by keyword, first line or title keyword or first publication date. On the World Wide Web, The W.B. Yeats Collection can be cross-searched with the Chadwyck-Healey Twentieth-Century Poetry and English Poetry databases, providing researchers with access to an unrivalled wealth of texts across a vast range of poets from the seventh century to the present day.  New subscriptions include FREE WEB ACCESS for one year!!

 

EEBO: Early English Books Online

 

A Bell & Howell Information and Learning Exclusive!

Imagine...

* Comparing Shakespeare's first and second folios online

* Building a collection on witchcraft that includes dissertations, eyewitness accounts of the Salem trials, and journal articles across the centuries

* Browsing every issue of Time from 1924 forward

Everything old is new again

In 1938 UMI (now known as Bell & Howell Information and Learning) opened its doors with a single product -- the Early English Books collection, filmed from the originals in the British Museum. Today, we're kicking off our new Digital Vault Initiative with Early English Books Online(tm), the same collection digitized for Web access. And that's just the first of the 5.5 billion page images we're converting from film to digital format.

The broadest, deepest content -- from microfilm to Web

Bell & Howell Information and Learning holds the world's largest commercial microfilm collection. Now we're using it to create the world's largest digital collection, with everything from the Gutenberg Bible to last month's issue of Time. Each year we add another 37 million contemporary pages, in many cases creating seamless online packages that combine both retrospective and current materials.

Easy Web access

Bell & Howell Information and Learning provides electronic access to Digital Vault Initiative offerings through online bibliographic databases; both keyword and boolean searching will be supported. Digitized periodicals will also include searchable tables of contents.

Early English Books Online reproduces the works listed in:

* Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue of printed materials published in the English language from 1475 to 1640

* Wing's Short-Title Catalogue of works dating from 1641 to 1700

* Thomason Tracts, a compendium of broadsides on the English Civil War printed between 1640 and 1661

 

Included are works by Michael O'Clery, John Cook, Confederate Catholiks of Ireland, Sir James Ware; and Frances Molloy, prayer books, pamphlets, and proclamations; almanacs, calendars, and other primary resources, all in full facsimile. Early English Books Online includes more than 96,000 early printed works. This incomparable collection meets the needs of the most exhaustive research requirements of scholars in English literature, history, linguistics, the fine arts, and the history of printing. Bell & Howell Information and Learning provides access to all 96,000 individual titles. Search fields include:

* Author

* Title

* Printer

* Publication date

* Type of illustration (e.g., maps, plates, coats of arms)

* Library of Congress subject heading and others as well.

 

Records are linked to the corresponding page images, downloadable in Adobe Acrobat format. Later phases of the Digital Vault Initiative call for full-text encoding, thus enabling users to search and browse through the complete text in ASCII format.

 

Bell & Howell Information and Learning began filming the STC collection in 1938 not only to preserve the rare and fragile original copies of these literary treasures, but also to serve scholars unable to study them onsite. The microfilm collection gave users around the world access to high-resolution facsimiles of the original material in compact archival format. Early English Books Online expands access to yet another type of user-the reader who wants easy and immediate access to the material over the Web. Even novice searchers can locate works of interest and call them up onscreen in a matter of moments. If your library already owns the microfilm edition, you can have it both ways-microfilm for in-depth research and archival purposes, online for the immediacy of Internet access. We'll give you access to the same materials on Early English Books Online for only a small incremental fee.

 

 

From Oxford University Press:

 

The Royal Historical Society Bibliography on CD-ROM

This is a comprehensive database of references to literature on the history of Britain, Ireland, and the British abroad. The database includes approximately 250,000 records detailing most of the books and articles on these subjects published between 1901 and 1992, and many from before then. The bibliography covers Britain and Ireland during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the 1980s. The CD-ROM allows you to search by author or title of work, by subject, by date of publication, or by period of interest to find references to sources including not only books, but also articles in journals, and articles in books (such as conference proceedings and festschriften). Different kinds of enquiry can be used together in a single search, and searches can be saved and combined, to carry out complex queries and find extremely specific information. Full search facilities are available for publications since 1945 (and some earlier publications, particularly those on Imperial and Commonwealth history). Bibliographical information about earlier publications can be searched at the same time as more recent material - an extremely useful function for those seeking material on specific individuals or places.

 

The Irish Times database from Dialog contains the complete text of The Irish Times, one of Ireland's best known daily newspapers. The Irish Times newspaper is published in Dublin, Monday through Saturday.

Published since 1859, The Irish Times has come to be acknowledged as Ireland's leading journal of opinion and information. There is a commitment to give special consideration to the views of minorities. A readership survey by the International Herald Tribune recorded that The Irish Times was in the top ten of the best daily newspapers in the world, reflecting the widespread international respect for the distinctive qualities of the newspaper.

The Irish Times is also famous for its Arts coverage; no other national newspaper provides the amount of space or the breadth of coverage. There are 6 supplements to the newspaper available throughout the week including Sport, Education, Property and Business. The Irish Times is read by 85% of Ireland's leading business decision-makers. The Irish Times covers the island, north and south, driven by a desire for accuracy, comprehensiveness and fairness.  Dates Covered: February 1999 to the present File Size: 12,000 records as of April 1999 Update Frequency: Daily. 

 

 

Lendac Publications:

 

FARMING SINCE THE FAMINE:   IRISH FARM STATISTICS 1847 -1996

Farming since the Famine provides the only comprehensive overview of Irish Agriculture since the Great Famine in the late 1840s. The CD-ROM contains authoritative commentary from leading professionals, researchers and academics in the field compiled by the Central Statistics Office of Ireland and is a must for any researcher, student, or business practitioner in this arena. Areas covered include:

* General Information and statistical methodology

* A statistical Perspective on Two centuries of Irish Agriculture 1672-1905

* The Extent of the Potato Crop in Ireland at the Time of the Famine

* Internal Cattle Trade Movements.

Not only does the product contain leading commentaries, but for the first time completes electronic statistical data is also supplied. National, regional and county information is available at the click of a key; all in easy to view and print table format. A complimentary paper publication is also included.

Tables include:

* Areas under Crops by year and by county 1847-1996

* Number of Livestock in the State and in each county June 1847-1996

* Numbers of Holdings classified by holding size by county in the State 1847-1996

* Northern Ireland Numbers of Livestock in each county by year 1847 - 1996

* Northern Ireland Number of Holdings classified by holding size June 1855 -1991

* State population by province and by county 1841- 1996

 

Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858

Irish Records Index Vol.1

Records at the National Archives of Ireland

Eneclann and Lendac present a comprehensive index to the Testamentary Records in the National Archives of Ireland (formerly the Public Record Office). Designed by genealogists, compiled by professional archivists, edited by historians, and using the very best search software available, this CD-ROM is the first volume in a new series of sources for Irish genealogy. This first volume covers all 32 counties for this poorly documented period.

It contains over 70,000 individual records with:

* over 100,000 names

* over 10,000 surnames and variants

* over 1,000 different occupations

 

 

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International Partnership News

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Bell + Howell Information & Learning and CHADWYCK-HEALEY

 

KnowEurope, a new Internet information service, was recently launched at the European Parliament in Brussels by the Vice President of the European Commission, Neil Kinnock. Created by Bell & Howell Information and Learning, KnowEurope provides information about the European Union (EU). It brings together 54,000 pages of authoritative, up-to-date information in one source, and is closely integrated with EU databases such as EUR-Lex and RAPID.

"KnowEurope gives direct access to a wide variety of authoritative European Union information, and as a consequence, contributes directly to the transparency of the Union and provides invaluable information about the Union," says Neil Kinnock, Vice President of the European Commission.

KnowEurope can be used by a wide range of people from students to executives, librarians to lecturers. Businesses are able to examine EU regulations directly and determine the impact of EU decisions on their industries. Government officials quickly find information about developments in the labor markets, regional aid, or spatial planning. Students can check out the Treaty of Amsterdam or find out the origins of the Common Agricultural Policy. Researchers around the world can stay aware of the latest developments with frequently updated reporting and commentary on events in the EU and Europe.

The information in KnowEurope is provided by the most authoritative sources available, including directory information from Landmarks and Euroconfidential; facts, figures, and analysis data from Penguin, OECD, and Eurostat; and news and current awareness material from European Voice and European Access Plus.

KnowEurope currently contains:

* A bank of over 54,000 records

* Over 14,000 news and current awareness items

* 4,300 facts, figures, and analysis records

* Details of over 23,000 people, places, and functions

* In excess of 8,000 further reading references

Bell & Howell Company (NYSE: BHW), headquartered in Skokie, Ill., is a leading information solutions and services provider to industries worldwide. In each of its businesses, the company transforms information through software and services, helping its customers operate more effectively and efficiently.

 

 

bigchalk.com, inc. (www.bigchalk.com), a new Internet education company dedicated to supporting the entire schools community on the Web, announced its formal debut. The company was formed when Infonautics, Inc. and Bell & Howell Company agreed to combine their K-12 education business units.  The formation of bigchalk.com dramatically changes the landscape of the interactive education market. With more than 40,000 schools in the USA, the combination of Infonautics' successful school business including Electric Library(R) and Bell & Howell's existing education relationships through its ProQuest(R) product line, creates a market leader with greater revenues, stronger capabilities and a more significant reach into the needs of the educational community. bigchalk.com will focus on the K-12 education Internet market and combine the services of ProQuest, Electric Library, WebEd and KOZ.com's Community Publishing System (CPS), which will be renamed bigchalkCommunity.

 

 

Feature Product: International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) Full Text

The International Index to Music Periodical Full Text (IIMP Full Text) is the ultimate music information resource on the World Wide Web. IIMP Full Text provides indexing, abstracting and selected full-text coverage of the most important scholarly and popular music journals published today. Not only does IIMP Full Text find relevant research articles through its thesaurus-controlled index, it also delivers the full text from many of the most important music journals - all at the click of a mouse.

IIMP Full Text is a growing database of bibliographic records including abstracts and selected full text. It contains more than 70,000 current records from more than 375 international journals, plus more than 165,000 retrospective citations from 142 periodicals. It also contains the complete runs of 29 titles from 1874 onwards. IIMP Full Text provides the full text of current articles, from 1996 onwards, from 42 of the most important music journals. The database is dynamic. An average of 2,000 new citations/abstracts and full-text records and 200 retrospective records are added each month, making IIMP Full Text even more valuable to researchers and students.

Call 01-677-6133 for pricing and trial of this exciting product!!!!

 

 

BOWKER-SAUR

BHI Archive CD-ROM 1962-1997

BHI PLUS was first published in 1962 in printed format, the CD-ROM has been available since 1989 and has proved to be an indispensable part of any current humanities serials collection, as well as an excellent historical reference.  Now Bowker-Saur is pleased to announce the arrival of the BHI Archive PLUS which will be available from April 2000. The New CD takes all the valuable searching criteria, display and output options from the BHI CD. However, the Archive CD will also incorporate all the data from 1962 to 1984, never before in an electronic format.

The BHI Archive PLUS, spans the years 1962 to 1997 on one CD-ROM and features over 600,000 records, which are easily accessible with user-friendly Windows software. With the powerful searching features of the BHI database, it is ideal for both novice and experienced users alike. The archived data, combined with all the information from 1985 to 1997, will give you an invaluable reference tool, allowing you to locate, print or download humanities information dating back to 1962.

 

ASSIAnet.co.uk

Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts on the Web is an essential tool for all social science serial collections. ASSIAnet is the Web version of Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts, the international abstracting & indexing tool for health & social science professionals, is available now.  As a current awareness resource for social sciences, ASSIAnet is second to none. It provides abstracts form around 600 UK, US & International journals. Coverage includes all branches of the applied social sciences, with over 240,000 records dating back to 1987. ASSIAnet is updated every two weeks to ensure that subscribers can retrieve the latest material on social services, health, economics, politics, race relations & education.  ASSIAnet with its unique subject coverage, is the only major abstracting & indexing service covering both sociology & psychology, making it the strongest single source for the caring professional. With an international focus ASSIAnet, pulls information from a wide selection of journals & other news sources from 16 different countries to offer readers an unparalleled level of coverage, acting as a complete social science tool for both practical & academic disciplines.

 

 

Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) the international abstracting and indexing database from Bowker-Saur has undergone a major review, and has been re-focused to ensure that it more closely meets the needs of librarians and information scientists on an international basis.  The changes that can now be seen in the database are as follows:

Fifteen relevant journals that are only available in electronic format will now be included, plus LISA has included selected archives of these titles.....Over 40 new titles have been included for selective abstracting.....Selected daily newspapers and business magazines will be covered, and appropriate articles added to the database, and finally, there will be a number of new subject focuses, including:

Life long learning

Information literacy

Knowledge Management

Information systems management

Management issues

 

LISA is available as a quarterly CD-ROM. 

 

 

CONTEXT

Human Rights on JUSTIS.com

Context will further broaden the JUSTIS.com Internet service with the addition of a comprehensive new Human Rights database. The new service is being produced following consultation between The Lord Chancellor's Department, The Court Service and Context. The new database will be available in May 2000, several months prior to the implementation of the Human Rights Act in October.  The database will encompass three key aspects of this increasingly important area of law:

* Case law from the European Court of Human Rights

* Conventions and protocols

* Relevant UK legislation

The first section will contain the reports of all cases from the European Court of Human Rights going back to the Court's earliest judgment in 1960. The text of the reports is in the same form as published by the European Court of Human Rights and will be searchable using the usual JUSTIS.com search fields, such as Court, Parties, Judges, Headnote etc.  The second section will contain European Human Rights Conventions including:

* European Convention on Human Rights and its 11 Protocols

* European Agreements relating to Persons participating in Proceedings of the European Court of Human Rights

* European Social Charter and its 3 Protocols plus the revised version

* European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its 2 Protocols

* European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

The final piece of the jigsaw will be the Human Rights Act 1998 c.42 presented in its consolidated form, incorporating any amendments made by subsequent UK legislation.

If you would like to receive further information closer to the May release date of the Human Rights database please send an e-mail to info@lendac.ie

 

 

OVID Technologies

 

Kluwer Academic Medical Journals Added to Journals@Ovid

Ovid Technologies and Kluwer Academic Publishers (KAP) announced the addition of five Kluwer Academic medical journal titles to Journals@Ovid. The five journals join a growing list of almost 400 electronic full text journal titles in Ovid´s aggregated electronic full text database, which is available exclusively via Ovid Online and LRSNet. Ovid will begin offering the journals via Journals@Ovid this Spring, beginning with the January 2000 issues.  The five KAP titles being added to Journals@Ovid are:

* Annals of Oncology - the official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology

* Breast Cancer Research and Treatment - a key source of communication for presenting pertinent treatment of and investigations in breast cancer

* Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy - an authoritative source of current and relevant news indispensable for cardiologists

* Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease - the official journal of the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism

* Journal of Neuro-Oncology - a multidisciplinary journal encompassing basic, applied, and clinical investigations in all research areas as they relate to cancer and the central nervous system

 

SILVERPLATTER

 

New Features and Enhancements Announced for SilverPlatter Information's SilverLinker!!

Several new features and enhancements will be added to SilverPlatter Information's SilverLinker technology, offering a complete solution for integrating bibliographic references with the corresponding full text.  Enhancements to be added to SilverLinker include filtering by journal title; links to a broader variety of electronic providers; links to select local collections; and the availability of the service on Internet and Partner Hosted Servers.  SilverLinker technology integrates links from SilverPlatter bibliographic databases to full text through web links to electronic journal online services; links to locally hosted electronic journal collections and Library Catalogs for queries of library holdings; and links to document delivery from select providers.   Customers can take advantage of SilverLinker whether they choose to access SilverPlatter databases via The SilverPlatter Internet Service; The Partner Hosted Internet Service or through The SilverPlatter Intranet Solution.

 

"Libraries can now customize use of SilverLinker link management tools in WebAdmin, implementing user-specific configurations. Administrators can filter online journal link displays by individual journal as well as by service provider," said Carol Meyer, SilverLinker Product Manager. "Each individual user, department or consortia member will only see links to journals to which they subscribe, or which are relevant to them. This means that researchers will not find themselves in a blind alley."   Ms. Meyer also explained that mirror site displays will also be fully configurable, so that institutions can specify the sites through which the journal is accessed.

 

"Administration of SilverLinker is very simple," said Jenny Walker, Technology Product Manager. "Libraries can upload electronic files listing online journal subscriptions to automatically filter links by journal, eliminating the need to enable each journal separately," she explained.   The newest release of SilverLinker will allow libraries to link to select local collections of electronic journals in addition to the existing ability to link to publishers' web sites to access journals.  SilverLinker features mean that collection decisions are completely within the librarian's control. Librarians will not have to spend money on titles that have no appeal or use to users. Many journal titles are available from multiple service providers, so librarians are free to make their best deal with publishers or agents, and then display only the links to the services that are accessible to their users.   "SilverPlatter's solution means that libraries do not have to devote technical resources to deciphering the meta data and URL structure of multiple journal sites," said Ms. Meyer. "And with nearly 100 databases now available with SilverLinker technology, (and many more on the horizon,) a broad range of subject areas is now available ranging from the humanities and social sciences to business, science, medicine and more."

 

The SilverLinker database contains more than 4,000 unique journal titles, and nearly one million unique article links.

 

NEW!!!!    EMBASE Evidence Based Medicine Available from SilverPlatter

 

The EMBASE Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) database will soon be available from SilverPlatter. This database is a subset of the EMBASE database from Elsevier Science. EMBASE is a comprehensive pharmacological and biomedical database renowned for extensive indexing of drug information. The new EBM product is designed to meet the needs of those needing access to proven clinical information to be used in treating patients and diagnosing ailments. EMBASE Evidence Based Medicine will allow researchers and clinicians to formulate a clear clinical question from a patient's problem; search the literature for relevant clinical articles; evaluate the evidence for its validity and usefulness; and implement useful findings in clinical practice.

The database, which is available only from SilverPlatter, will be updated quarterly, includes more than 400,000 records from journals, papers, presentations and conference proceedings from around the world.   EMBASE EBM will be available via the Internet, CD-ROM or on hard disk and is available for all SilverPlatter platforms. The database will also be SilverLinker enabled, which means that users will be able to link from the bibliographic citation to the article if the institution subscribes to that publication; or link to document delivery services or InterLibrary Loan (ILL.) The product will also make use of the EMTREE Thesaurus which makes searching the database for relevant material much easier.

 

 

DIALOG

 

IMPORTANT CORPORATE INFORMATION:  

At the behest of the London Stock Exchange, The Dialog Corporation Plc ("Dialog" the "Group") has made the following clarification statement:

Further to comment in today's press, Dialog can state that following an extensive strategic review, it is in advanced discussions to dispose of its Information Services Division ("ISD") to a third party purchaser for a cash consideration that will enable it to repay all of its outstanding debt obligations. In addition these discussions also involve a strategic alliance and equity subscription with the same third party together with license agreements for the Group's technologies and software as well as provision of content reseller rights. In addition Dialog has also secured agreement for a further equity injection from another third party with interests in global high technology developments.

Post the ISD disposal, Dialog is proposing to change its name to Bright Station Plc. and will consist of the E-Commerce ("ECD") and Web Solutions ("WSD") divisions. These divisions contain technology assets and brands such as InfoSort, Muscat, WebTop, WebCheck, Sparza, Office Shopper and Knowledge Management. Combined WSD and ECD revenues rose substantially in 1999 compared to 1998. In addition Dialog will form a new division, Internet Ventures Division ("IVD"), to leverage its technology assets, management experience and capital to support new Internet and eCommerce start-ups.

Assuming these proposals are secured, Bright Station will be focused on its ECD, WSD and IVD businesses with new equity investment from strategic partners, who will enable these divisions to be developed.

The discussion referred to above are at an advanced stage, and assuming their conclusion on satisfactory terms, also involve securing agreement with Dialog's Bond holders and the senior banking group. If these discussions are successfully concluded, details of the proposals will be sent to both shareholders and bondholders for their approval.

A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.

 

 

WHITAKER:   FREE DVD DRIVE?...FREE PC?!

Whitaker has chosen the first London Book Fair of the new millennium to launch Whitaker BookBank DVD - the first bibliographic product to use twenty-first century DVD-ROM technology. This new flagship bibliographic product is the latest in a long line of Whitaker technical innovations designed to give the book industry the tools it needs in an increasingly competitive environment.  Whitaker BookBank DVD utilizes the new technology to deliver even more bibliographic and descriptive content - including 100,000 jacket images - in a convenient and user-friendly format.  Whitaker is offering a free DVD drive to all BookBank DVD subscribers, so they can use the new BookBank DVD on their existing PCs.

Also...Customers  taking out a new two-year subscription to BookBank CD ROM or DVD can also get a free PC from Whitaker.  Call Lendac for further details on this EXCELLENT offer!!!

=======================================================================

 

ERIC FREE TRIAL

Depend on the authoritative resource in education.

The Educational Resources Information Center, founded in 1966, abstracts and indexes U.S. literature in education to create the ERIC database.  ERIC on SilverPlatter covers document and journal article literature.  Documents covered in the ERIC database include research and technical reports, conference presentations, instructional and curriculum materials, project and program descriptions, dissertations, and more.  Incorporating both Resources in Education (RIE) and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE), the ERIC database is the authoritative and comprehensive resource in education.  The database also includes the full text of ERIC Digest records.  These one- to two-page records, written specifically for teachers, administrators and other practitioners, provide an overview of information on a given topic and supply references with more detailed information. 

A powerful research tool for educational literature.

College libraries, university libraries, and school systems will find ERIC a powerful tool for research and teaching.  For libraries with ERIC Resources in Education documents on microfiche, ERIC on SilverPlatter is the key to locating documents in that collection.  With SilverPlatter's easy to use search software, practitioners, researchers, anyone with a need for educational information can access ERIC.

 

Starting today, 24 March 2000, Lendac is offering FREE ACCESS to ERIC from Silverplatter.

 

Here's what you do:

Goto http://lrs.lendac.ie

Click Login Here

Username:  enews6

Password: Irish

 

PLEASE Wait for page to download...We look forward to your feedback!!

 

 

OVID:

the electronic full text of The Lancet will no longer be included with our aggregated full text Core Biomedical Collection (CBC). Local Core Biomedical Collection customers will continue to have access to and receive updates for The Lancet as part of CBC through the year 2000. After this time, they can access their 1993-2000 Lancet archive by mounting earlier Core Biomedical Collection CDs and they will continue to have access to this electronic full text archive. For online customers, their subscription to the electronic full text of The Lancet on Ovid expires on their renewal date. However, at that time, they will gain access to Ovid's "The Lancet archive" database. The Lancet archive database consists of all issues of the journal from 1993 to 2000, and is included with their Ovid Online subscription. They will not be charged for The Lancet archive access.

 

Ovid Technologies and Kluwer Academic Publishers (KAP) announced today the addition of five Kluwer Academic medical journal titles to Journals@Ovid. The five journals join a growing list of almost 400 electronic full text journal titles in Ovid´s aggregated electronic full text database, which is available exclusively via Ovid Online. Ovid will begin offering the journals via Journals@Ovid this Spring, beginning with the January 2000 issues.

"Adding these important medical journals to Journals@Ovid creates an additional outlet for these titles next to our own Kluwer Online platform. This is in line with our strategy to continuously develop ways and opportunities to make our content available world wide in an efficient and timely manner to the researcher," said Caroline Vogelzang, Vice President - Commercial Services for Kluwer Academic Publishers in Dordrecht.

"We are very pleased that Kluwer Academic has decided to aggregate these five important journals with Ovid," said Leslie Hawke, Ovid´s Associate Director of Publisher Relations. "Our aggregated model lets end users search hundreds of medical journals from multiple publishers together, in one database and with one interface. When we add key titles like these, we obviously make Journals@Ovid more valuable to the researcher, but we also increase the value of the individual journals."

The five KAP titles being added to Journals@Ovid this month are:

* Annals of Oncology - the official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology

* Breast Cancer Research and Treatment - a key source of communication for presenting pertinent treatment of and investigations in breast cancer

* Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy - an authoritative source of current and relevant news indispensable for cardiologists

* Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease - the official journal of the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism

* Journal of Neuro-Oncology - a multidisciplinary journal encompassing basic, applied, and clinical investigations in all research areas as they relate to cancer and the central nervous system

Ovid Technologies (www.ovid.com), a Wolters Kluwer International Healthcare company, is a leading provider of electronic information to the scientific, technical and medical markets. Headquartered in New York, Ovid develops sophisticated search software for institutions and bundles this technology with full text, bibliographic, and summary content databases. Ovid software is used by thousands of prominent institutions around the world, including private and public universities, library consortia, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals and governmental organizations.

 

Following on the success of its aggregated, searchable journals database, Journals@Ovid, Ovid Technologies announced today a new content product, Books@Ovid. With a focus on medical, nursing, and drug-related content, Books@Ovid is a database containing electronic versions of important reference textbooks from multiple publishers, all aggregated and integrated under a single search engine and interface developed specifically to search, retrieve, browse, and display book content.

With today´s unveiling at the Online Information ´99 exhibition in London, Books@Ovid features 14 titles from two publishers: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and McGraw-Hill. The database is expected to grow substantially in coming months, with the addition of dozens more text reference titles from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and other publishers. Ovid is also working out an agreement with Oxford University Press for the Oxford Textbook of Medicine and other OUP medical reference works. By the end of 2000, Ovid expects to have 35 definitive text references available via Books@Ovid.

Ovid´s journals database, Journals@Ovid, was launched in June 1998 with 80 journal titles and now contains over 350 titles from 66 publishers.

As with Journals@Ovid, Books@Ovid customers can subscribe to any number of individual book titles in the database, title-by-title. Books@Ovid is a Web-based product and is availble exclusively via Ovid Online.

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Nine Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) titles will be available with the initial release of Books@Ovid. These titles offer a cross section of general medicine, nursing and pharmacy, including Kelley´s Textbook of Internal Medicine 3/E-a bestselling general reference; Nettina´s The Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice, 6/E and Carpenito´s Nursing Care Plans and Documentation.

Forthcoming Books@Ovid titles published by LWW will provide detailed and definitive coverage of medical specialties. Topol´s Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine,Yamada´s Textbook of Gastroenterology, Greenfield´s Principles and Practice of Surgery, and many others have set new standards for text references in their respective fields and are scheduled for addition to Books@Ovid early in 2000. Also, available in early 2000 will be Griffith´s 5-Minute Clinical Consult 2000 by Mark R. Dambro, the bestselling annual for quick reference and review in the clinical setting.

McGraw-Hill

Five volumes in McGraw-Hill´s "Currents" series are also available with the launch of Books@Ovid: Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment and four specialty editions: Current Diagnosis and Treatment in Cardiology, Current Diagnosis and Treatment in Gastroenterology, Current Pediatric Diagnosis and Treatment, and Current Obstetric and Gynecologic Diagnosis and Treatment. The "Currents" texts are widely used, prestigious sources for physicians, residents, and students alike.

Books@Ovid Searching, Navigation, and Interface FeaturesBooks@Ovid offers many searching and navigation features to end-users. Users can cross-search many titles-by title, author, subject, or keyword-under a single interface, and move freely between different texts to locate essential facts without losing their place. Books@Ovid also offers all of the high-quality photographs and illustrations in the print versions-both thumbnail and full size.

Several of the electronic textbooks in Books@Ovid will be updated as frequently as four times a year, ensuring that the Books@Ovid versions are the most up-to-date available. As textbooks are updated more frequently in the future, Ovid will work with publishers to load those updates using techniques and technologies similar to those that have been successful in providing a high degree of currency in the company´s 350-plus title aggregated journal product.

Ovid Technologies, a Wolters Kluwer International Healthcare Company, is a leading provider of electronic information to the scientific, technical and medical markets. Headquartered in New York, Ovid develops sophisticated search software for institutions and bundles this technology with full text, bibliographic, and summary content databases. Ovid software is used by thousands of prominent institutions around the world, including private and public universities, library consortia, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals and governmental organizations.

 

Ovid Technologies announced today that it has reached a licensing agreement with BMJ Publishing Group to offer Clinical Evidence, their bi-annual compendium of common clinical interventions. Ovid expects to begin offering this resource via Ovid Online and Ovid Biomed, Ovid´s UK server, next year.

Clinical Evidence is a six-monthly updated compendium of evidence on the benefits and harms of common clinical interventions. Unlike other evidence-based products, its contents are driven by important and common questions facing the everyday practicing clinician rather than the availability of research evidence. It provides concise summaries of the current information about the prevention and treatment of a range of conditions. Sections are based on evidence provided by a review of the medical literature and focusing on randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials. Each issue updates and expands the publication´s coverage, with emphasis placed on the common questions which a clinician faces every day. Clinical Evidence results from a rigorous process aimed at ensuring that the information contained is both reliable and relevant to everyday clinical practice. Topics and questions are based on a survey of frequently occurring clinical conditions and relevant responses. The literature is searched using the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE(r), EMBASE and, occasionally, other electronic databases, looking first for good systematic reviews and for primary studies with designs that are most appropriate for answering these questions. The conclusions are extensively reviewed by experts before inclusion.

"Getting information out to the practicing clinician with our Clinical Information Products, such as Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews, has been one of Ovid´s main aims for some time now. Clinical Evidence allows us to extend our coverage in this important area," said Diane Koen, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing.

Ovid Technologies, a Wolters Kluwer International Healthcare Company, is a leading provider of electronic information to the scientific, technical, academic, corporate and medical markets. Headquartered in New York, Ovid develops sophisticated search software for institutions and bundles this technology with full text, bibliographic, and summary content databases. Ovid software is used by thousands of prominent institutions around the world, including private and public universities, library consortia, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals and governmental organizations.

 

 

SILVERPLATTER:

SilverPlatterÒ Information and Science DirectÒ have announced an agreement to enable links from abstracts in SilverPlatter databases to the full text articles within ScienceDirect. This agreement gives customers seamless linking from abstracts to the full text in ScienceDirect at the article level. Utilizing SilverLinkerÒ , SilverPlatter's full-text solution, customers can access primary literature.

"We are thrilled that this agreement will bring access to important journals from Elsevier Science and from key independent publishers represented on the ScienceDirect site via SilverLinker," said Carol Meyer, SilverLinker Product Manager. "This represents the addition of more than eleven hundred journals spanning 14 fields of science. Our customers have repeatedly requested access to this critical collection. Customers will be able to link to the ScienceDirect web site," said Ms. Meyer. "This will bring the total journals linked to via SilverLinker to over 4,000."

Ms. Meyer also indicated that customers will soon have the ability to link to ScienceDirect Onsite, ScienceDirect's local collections, as that feature is in development and testing.

"Access to full text articles in ScienceDirect from the SilverPlatter collection of databases is a link our customers requested and we are pleased to provide," stated Pat Sabosik, Vice President and General Manager, ScienceDirect. "The access will help drive article usage which is an important metric for our authors and editors." ScienceDirect is the world's largest provider of full-text electronic databases of scientific, technical and medical information, and currently offers its subscribers desktop access to the full text of more than 1,100 journals representing more than 800,000 full text articles plus links to thousands more published by Elsevier Science and other leading STM publishers.

ScienceDirect is a unit of Elsevier Science and part of the Reed Elsevier PLC group, a leading provider of information to the STM, legal and business communities.

The ScienceDirect website is: www.sciencedirect.com

SilverLinker provides article-specific URL links within the bibliographic database that enable linking directly to the article the users wants, not just to the top level of the electronic journal. Links are available from more than 90 bibliographic databases, spanning all academic disciplines.

SilverPlatter combines breakthrough search, retrieval, networking and administrative technology with a comprehensive collection of scientific, business, medical and technical reference databases, providing flexible, effective solutions in Internet, client/server and CD-ROM formats. SilverPlatter Information publishes reference databases in electronic formats to provide librarians and knowledge workers in research-oriented organizations with excellent searching, accurate results and seamless links to full content sources. SilverPlatter's website is located at www.silverplatter.com

 

 

 

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) and SilverPlatter Information have partnered to provide links to several scientific journals hosted on AIP's Online Journal Publishing Service (OJPS) from SilverPlatter databases. The process utilizes SilverLinker, SilverPlatter's solution for linking from bibliographic references to full-text journal articles.

AIP's OJPS platform will include nearly 100 journals in 2000. Journals currently available include those of AIP, the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the American Vacuum Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, SPIE-International Society of Optical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and the Acoustical Society of America. These will be part of the SilverLinker agreement.

SilverLinker provides article-specific URL links that enable linking directly to the article the user wants, not just to the top level of the electronic journal.

"These prestigious physics titles will greatly enhance our engineering offerings," said Carol Meyer, SilverLinker Product Manager.

"AIP is committed to making the scientific and technical literature as seamlessly accessible as possible to the end user," said Tim Ingoldsby, AIP's director of business development. "Links from SilverPlatter databases to the journals of AIP and its OJPS clients are an important part of this effort. We are pleased to be working with SilverPlatter to bring this added value to its customers."

The American Institute of Physics is a not-for-profit organization that provides publishing services to scientific and engineering societies. AIP's Online Journal Publishing Service is home to many society journals on the Web. In addition, AIP publishes such core physics journals as Applied Physics Letters and Journal of Applied Physics as well as the magazine Physics Today. The AIP website is located at www.aip.org

 

Where can you find authoritative current information on BSE? How do you find out more about CJD, or GM foods?

Try the Food Safety Plus database title on CD-ROM or via the Internet for crucial, topical high-quality food safety research. The November 1999 update includes the latest full text of U.K. and E.U. research on BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) and genetically modified foods.

The Food Safety Plus CD co-produced with The Stationery Office, SilverPlatter and MAFF and published by The Stationery Office contains over 84,000 pages of information, plus related graphics. This quarterly database title covers the very latest information on food safety including relevant U.K. and E.U. legislation, appropriate Parliamentary debates and committee reports, and appropriate standards. Also included are MAFF's Food Surveillance Papers and Information Sheets, a large selection of guidance and advice documents, including the "Foodsense" series, and the MAFF Consumer Panel's discussion papers and minutes.

Food Safety Plus represents an essential tool to keep abreast of the latest developments in this important area of health and safety. Order a free 30-day trial or subscription under the Our Products section of this web site, and keep up-to-date with current food safety issues

 

BHIL:

of ProQuest CoursePacks(tm), an online service providing supplemental course materials to students. ProQuest CoursePacks enables professors to create customized, copyright-cleared reading materials to supplement textbook sources. The service taps into ProQuest(r), Bell & Howell's extensive online resource of newspaper and periodical databases, and delivers information to the desktop

Effective immediately, students whose professors have created or adapted packets from ProQuest CoursePacks may access these materials through the Internet. Since materials are delivered electronically to the desktop, all that is required is Internet access.

Professors choose from existing packs or create their own

ProQuest CoursePacks is being released with nearly 100 packs ready for immediate use, or faculty may create their own from scratch. The prepared coursepacks have been assembled by subject experts and are based on standard subject curricula. In coming semesters, hundreds more coursepacks are expected to be available from ProQuest CoursePacks.

ProQuest CoursePacks currently focuses on serving the needs of professors teaching business, humanities, and social sciences. Further subject expansion is planned to cover all subject areas.

Here is a sampling of some of the coursepacks currently available:

* Corporate Tax

* Investment Finance

* Human Resources Management

* Consumer Behavior

* Advertising and Promotion

* Organizational Behavior

* Strategic Management

* Global Economics

* Introduction to Psychology

* American Literature from 1945 to the 1960s

* Foundations of Democratic Education

* Survey of African American Literature

* Cultural Anthropology

* Educational Research

* Shakespearean Tragedies

Easy to modify and update

Each coursepack contains numerous articles on the subject and is organized by topic. Professors can easily add or delete articles and topics to meet the requirements of specific courses or create new coursepacks. This allows each professor to tailor the content to his/her course content and teaching style. In addition, professors can link the completed coursepack to their home page and other websites.

Controlling price

When creating packets, faculty know (and control) coursepack costs. And they can check the price as they assemble or adapt the coursepack.

In the coming months, professors will be notified by email of new articles on their subject so that they may track and incorporate the latest findings into their courses.

Many coursepacks also include instructor aids-background information, Web links, individual or group writing assignments, key points raised in articles, study questions, bibliographic citations, interpretive insights, and other tips. These resources simplify and speed the review process and enable professors to fine-tune their coursepack without having to find and read every available article.

Professors can create their own

In addition to the option of adopting an existing coursepack developed by an expert, professors may choose to create their own custom packet. Following a few simple steps, they search the ProQuest online service for relevant articles and quickly compile a unique coursepack to support their course.

Web delivery eliminates hassles of print coursepacks

With ProQuest CoursePacks, professors and students bypass the problems inherent with print coursepacks, including delays in printing, poor copy quality, and the need to go to the bookstore to purchase the pack. Studies indicate that most college students are spending an increasing amount of time logged onto the Internet. Making course materials readily available through a familiar medium will simplify access and speed acquisition. Students can purchase coursepacks via a website (which can be linked from a professor's own home page) and access it on the secured site throughout the semester. They simply enter a password to retrieve the coursepack. In addition, Bell & Howell Information and Learning tracks usage and pays royalties to publishers, so faculty and administrators are free from the time-consuming task of obtaining copyright clearance.

Quality content

ProQuest CoursePacks draws content from ProQuest, Bell & Howell Information and Learning's online information system, which offers access to more than 8,000 periodicals and newspapers. ProQuest databases include ABI/INFORM(r), Periodical Abstracts(tm), and other files familiar to academic library users. Documents will also be included from ProQuest Digital Vault(tm), an ongoing project that will contain more than 500 years of printed history. The collection, currently being digitized, will contain hundreds of thousands of newspapers, periodicals, literary works, research collections, and dissertations.

 

 

Fortune magazine has named the website for Bell & Howell Company's (NYSE: BHW) Information and Learning business unit (www.bellhowell.infolearning.com) a "notable website." The listing of eight top resources for education appears in the 1999 Fortune Technology Guide. Noting that "one of the most intriguing developments on the Net...is the emergence of educational institutions...that use cyberspace as a place for students and teachers to meet," the article highlights top resources for educators and students.

The company's ProQuest(r) Web-based information service provides access to more than 8,000 periodicals, newspapers, and news sources. In addition, users can access the company's massive archive of doctoral dissertations and masters' theses, plus full page images of rare books printed prior to 1700.

"We're delighted to have ProQuest recognized as a valuable resource to the educational community," says Joe Reynolds, President and CEO of Bell & Howell Information and Learning. "ProQuest is installed in thousands of libraries around the world, allowing us to serve students, faculty, public library patrons, and researchers. We've been supporting learning for more than 60 years by providing information in various formats to students and researchers.

"To further support education, we're currently releasing a new product offering tailored to the needs of college faculty and students," continues Reynolds. "ProQuest CoursePacks(tm) is a service that allows faculty to create electronic 'packets' of supplemental course materials, which students can purchase and access via the Internet." The packets, which replace paper coursepacks, contain up-to-date information and simplify the development of supplemental materials. Faculty may create original packets by searching ProQuest to build a custom packet, or modify a pre-defined packet created by an expert in the subject field.

ProQuest CoursePacks will be available beginning December 15th; more information is available at www.proquestpack.com.

Bell & Howell Company (NYSE: BHW), headquartered in Skokie, Ill., is a leading information solutions and services provider to industries worldwide. In each of its businesses, the company transforms information through software and services, helping its customers operate more effectively and efficiently. Additional information on Bell & Howell Company can be found at www.bellhowell.com.

Bell & Howell Information and Learning (formerly UMI) is the global leader in collecting, organizing, and distributing information worldwide to researchers, faculty, and students in libraries, colleges, and universities

Known widely for its strength in business, general-reference, humanities, and social sciences content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,000 publishers worldwide. Drawn from the world's largest commercial archive, materials range from 15th-century handwritten manuscripts to this morning's newspaper. Users access the information through ProQuest(r), the company's Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-Healey(r) electronic and microform resources, and UMI(r) microform and print reference products. In addition, the company develops innovative, Web-delivered educational products and curriculum materials that provide and support learning and research in college classrooms. In every product line, the company focuses on finding, developing, and bringing value-added, premium information to researchers, college faculty, and learners.

 

Clinical Headlines:

 

http://www.micromedex.com/hot_topics/hot-clinical.htm

 

Complementary & Alternative Medicine Series

Consumers, patients, and their healthcare providers are increasingly more interested in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. To support this interest, MICROMEDEX has developed the Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) Series, a reliable, comprehensive source of scientifically based information for complementary and alternative medicines. It presents different databases covering herbal medicines and dietary supplements, clinical protocols, patient education, and herbal/dietary supplement toxicology.

Within the CAM Series, the AltMedDex System...

Contains:

* evidence-based monographs covering herbal, vitamin, mineral, and other dietary supplements*

* referenced consults presenting critical areas of interest and general information pertaining to complementary and alternative medicine*

* historical uses for CAM therapies and those most commonly used among CAM practitioners

* fully researched data on administration, dosing, warnings, precautions, contraindications, and interactions

* clinically focused, scientifically sound data

Offers:

* the input and experience of both alternative medicine and traditional medicine communities including review by MDs, DOs, RPhs, RNs, and NDs

* answers to safety and efficacy questions

* regular updates incorporating the latest research available

* accuracy and appropriateness as a result of extensive editorial review of all information

* ongoing enhancements such as the addition of 50 new monographs each year

* the same integrity and quality as the other MICROMEDEX products on which you rely

MICROMEDEX has been delivering current, comprehensive information to the healthcare community for 25 years. Regular updates and extensive review by our international editorial board of practicing professionals ensures the accuracy and appropriateness of all data.

Sample Documents

 

Please see a sample monograph of St. John's Wort

 

 

AltMedDex(tm) Monographs (currently & soon to be available)

 

 

5- HTP

Acetyl-Carnitine Adonis

Adrenal Extracts African Stargrass Agrimony

ALA

Alfalfa

Aloe Androstenedione Angelica Root Anise

Arginine

Arnica

Artichoke Asparagus Astragalus Avena

Barberry

Bee Pollen Belladonna

Beta-Carotene Betaine

Betel Nut

Betony

Bilberry

Biotin

Birch

Bismuth

Subsalicylate

Bitter Melon

Bitter Orange Bittersweet

Nightshade

Black Cherry

Black Cohosh

Black Root

Black Walnut

Blackberry

Blackthorn

Bladderwrack

Blessed Thistle

Bloodroot

Blue Cohosh

Blue Green Algae

Bog Bean

Boldo

Boneset

Borage Oil

Boric Acid

Boswellia

Boxwood

Brewer's Yeast

Bromelain

Broom

Buchu

Buckthorn Bugleweed Burdock Root Butcher's Broom Cajuput Oil Calamus

Calcium

Calendula

Calf Thymus

Extract

Camphor

Cannabis

Caprylic Acid Cascara

Castor Oil Catechu

Catnip

Cat's Claw

Cayenne

Celandine

Centaury

Cernilton

Chamomile

Chaparral

Charcoal

Chaste Tree

Chenodeoxycholic

Acid

Chinese

Cucumber

Chitin

Chlorophyll

Choline

Chondroitin

Chromium

Cinchona

Cineraria

Maritima

Citronella

Cloves

Coenzyme Q-10

Coleus Forskolii

Colostrum

Coltsfoot

Comfrey

Coriolus

Versicolour

Cranberry

Crataegus

Creatine

Cysteine

 

Damiana Dandelion Deer/Elk

AntlerVelvet

Devil's Claw DGL

DHA

DHEA Digitalis Diosimin DMG

Dong Quai Echinacea EPA

Evening

Primrose False Unicorn Fennel Fenugreek Feverfew Flaxseed Fluoride

Folic Acid FOS

Fumaric Acid

Fumitory

GABA

Gamma

Oryzanol Garcinia Garlic

GBL

Gentian Germander GHB

Ginger

Gingko

Ginseng,

Panax

Ginseng,

Siberian

GLA

Glandulars

Glucomannan Glucosamine Glutamine Glutathione Glycine Goldenrod Goldenseal Gossypol Gotu Kola

Gou-ten

Grape Seed

Extract

 

Grapefruit

Seed Extract

Green Tea Guggul Gymnema

HER

Hesperidin

HGH

Hops

Horse Chestnut Huperzine A Hyssop

Inositol

Hexaphosphate

Iodine

Ipecac

Ipriflavone

Iron

Ivy

Jewel Weed Juniper

Kaolin

Kava

Kelp

KH-3

K hat

Khella Kombucha

Kudzu Lactobacillus Laminaria Lavender

L-Carnitine Lemongrass Licorice

Liferoot

Linden

Linoleic Acid Lobelia Lorenzo's Oil Lycopene

Lysine

Maca Root

Mace Magnesium Mahuang Maitake

Malic Acid Mannose Marshmallow MCP Meadowsweet

Melatonin

Melissa

Mercaptic Acid Methionine

Milk Thistle Mistletoe

Monascus Monkshood

MSM

Myrtol

NAC

NADH

Neem

Nettle

New Zealand

Green-lipped

Mussel

Niacin

Niacinamide Octacosonal

Olive Leaf

Onion

OPC

Oregano

Pancreatin Pantocrine Pantothenic Acid Papain

Passion Flower

Pau D'arco Pennyroyal Peppermint Periwinkle Permethrin

P eruvian Balsam Phenylalanine Phosphatidylcholine Phosphatidylserine Podophyllum Potassium

Potency Wood Proprionyl-L

Carnitine

Prunella

Psyllium

Pumpkin Seed Pygeum Africanum Pyruvate

Quercetin

Red Bush Tea

Red Clover

Red Yeast Rice Reishi

Rosemary

Royal Jelly Safflower

S AMe

Sassafras

Saw Palmetto Schizandra Scullcap

Sea Cucumber Selenium

Senna

Shark Cartilage

Shepherd's

Purse

Shitake

Slippery Elm

Bark

SOD

Sodium

Soy

Squalene

St. John's Wort Stevia

Sulfur

Suma Extract

Tea Tree

Thymic Extract

Tribulus Extract

Turmeric

Tyrosine

Undecylenic

Acid

Ursodeoxycholic

Acid

Uva-Ursi Valerian Vanadium Vitamin A Vitamin B-1 Vitamin B-12 Vitamin B-2 Vitamin B-6 Vitamin C Vitamin D Vitamin E Vitamin H Vitamin K

Whey Protein Wild Yam

Witch Hazel Yarrow

Yohimbe

Yucca

Zinc

 

 

AltMedDex(tm) Consults (currently and soon to be available)

 

 

5-HTP - Impurities

Adrenal Extracts

Adverse Events Associated with Ephedrine-

containing Products

AltMedDex(tm) Editorial Policy

Ambofilin

American Feverfew - Allergy

Angel's Trumpet - Lethal Poisoning

Anti-HIV Activity of MGN-3

Aristolochia

Arsenic Poisoning

Ashwaganda

Bai Zhi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Ban Xia - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Bee Venom

Blueberries - Antioxidant Activity

Botanical Safety Handbook Terms

-Definitions

Bovine Cartilage

Cang Er Zi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Cellasene

Chai Hu - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Chaparral-Induced Hepatitis

Chinese Herbal Medicines - Poisonings

Chinese Herbal Names

Chinese Herbal Remedies - FDA Warnings

Chitosan - Weight Loss

Chlorella - Mini-Review

Cho Low Tea - FDA Report

Chomper - FDA Warnings

Chuan Bei Mu- Chinese Herb Mini-review

Chuan Xiong - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Chuifong Tokuwan - Cadmium and Lead

Exposure

Colostrum

Cong Er Zi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Copper Supplementation - Effects on

Cholesterol

Cordyceps - Chinese Longevity Herb

Da Huang - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Deaths Associated with a Purported

Aphrodisiac

Deer Velvet - Mini-Review

Di Gu Pi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Dictionary - Complementary & Alternative

Medicine

Dihomogamma-Linoleic Acid (DGLA)

Dimethyl Glycine (DMG) - General Use

Fu Ling - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Fu Zi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL) - FDA

Warnings

Garcinia Cambogia - Antiobesity Agent

Ge Gen - Chinese Herb Mini-review

German Commission E - Approved Herbs

German Commission E - Unapproved Herbs

Glucomannan - Mini-Review

Gossypol - Contraceptive

Gou Qi Zi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Grapefruit Juice - Drug Interactions

Grapefruit Seed Extract

Gua Di - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Helichrysi

Herbal Fen-Phen - FDA Warnings

Herbal Supplements - Dosing

Herbal Supplements - Hepatotoxicity

Herbal Supplements - Quality & Efficacy

Herbal Supplements - Safety

Herbal Supplements

-Contamination/Adulteration

Herbal Tea - Anticholinergic Poisoning

Herbalife

Ho Show Wu - Chinese Herb Mini-review

 

Homeopathy - FDA Report

Homeopathy - What Is It?

Hong Hua - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Hou Po - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Hoxsey Treatment

Huang Lian - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

Hydroxyethylrutosides (HER)

Jerusalem Artichoke

Jin Bu Huan - Toxicity

Jui-induced Thrombocytopenia

Kirwin Mixture - Formula

Kombucha Tea - Unexplained Illness

L-Glutamine

Lead Poisoning - Folk Remedies

Liliverum - Treatment of Cancer

Lithospermum

Liver Extracts

Long Dan - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Ma Qian Zi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Medicinal Herbal Therapy of AIDS

Medicinal Leech - Availability and Use

Megavitamin Therapy

Metabolife

Modified Citrus Pectin - Mini-Review

Noni - Mini-Review

Nut Consumption Decreases Cardiac Risk

Nutmeg - Treatment of Diarrhea

Ornithine

PABA

Pancreatic Enzymes

Pantethine - Effect on Cholesterol

PC-SPES - Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Pennyroyal - Toxicity

Phenylalanine and Depression

Plantain - FDA Warnings

Pregnancy Risk Categories

Purple Grapes - Coronary Artery Disease

Pygnogenol

Rose Hips - Vitamin C Content

Saiboku-Tu - Efficacy in Asthma Patients

Sairei-To

San Qi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Seaweed - Labor Induction

Septicemia Associated with Rattlesnake Powder

Shan Zha - Chinese Herb Mini-review

She Xiang - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Sleeping Buddha Dietary Supplement- FDA Warnings

Smilax Officinalis

Spleen Extracts

Suan Zao Ren - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Sup-Herb Toxicity - FDA Warnings

Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) - Mini-review

Supplements Associated with Illnesses and Injuries

Sweet Clover

Taurine

Tea - Effects on Blood Pressure

Tian Hua Fen - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Titles and Degrees of CAM Practitioners

Triax - FDA Warnings

Tryptophan

US Government Sponsored CAM Research

Vitamin B15

Vitamins - Synonyms

Wild Yam - Mini-review

Wu Bei Zi - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Xuan Shen - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Yan Hu Suo - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Yu Jin - Chinese Herb Mini-review

Zhi Ai - Chinese Herb Mini-review

 

Dialog

1999 DATABASE CATALOG

http://library.dialog.com/dbcat/http://library.dialog.com/dbcat/

The Dialog Worldwide Database Catalogue now available as a PDF document (255 pages, 1,165Kb)--or in html. The 1999 Catalogue contains detailed descriptions of the databases available on The Dialog Corporation's Dialog and DataStar services. Also included is information about Web solutions, gateway services, and Dialindex/OneSearch categories and CROS groups.

 

 

EUR-OP

 

A statistical eye on Europe

The French, reputedly Europe's greatest wine-lovers, drink the equivalent of 14.1 litres of pure alcohol each per year. However this only puts them in second place behind the Luxemburgers (14.5 litres). The soberest of Europe's citizens, according to statistical evidence, are the Norwegians and Icelanders, who only drink 4.8 litres of alcohol per person per year. Meanwhile Greeks smoke an average of 3 020 cigarettes a year each, almost twice the EU average of 1 649. The Swedes (893) and the Finns (817) seem to have been the best at taking EU health directives on board. European women wait on average till the age of 29 to give birth. In Sweden 54% of live births occurred out of wedlock, with similar figures in Norway (49%) and Denmark (46%). By comparison, Greece (3%) and Italy (8%) are conservative. European woman bear an average of 1.44 children, far fewer than American women (2.06). And what about the European physique? We seem to be getting bigger. Comparisons between the average height of European men and women aged 15-24 and those 65 and over, reveal a growth spurt of 5 cm. The tallest Europeans are young Dutch men (182.35 cm), whilst the heaviest are middle-aged men in Luxembourg (84.6 kg) and Austria (83.2 kg). On average the EU citizen in full-time employment works a 42.1 hour week.

Eurostat yearbook - A statistical eye on Europe 1987 -1997: Cat.: CA-17-98-192-EN-C (+ DA,DE,FR), ± 535 pp., 34. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop5 January, 2000

More babies outside marriage

In 1999, the EU registered a total 375.3 million people, the third largest population in the world after China and India. Although population growth in the EU, at 2.0 % in 1998, is positive overall, it is still under a third of the growth rate recorded at the beginning of the 1960s. Fertility in the EU has reached an all time post-war low, the number of babies born in 1998 dropping to 4 million. Statistically Ireland lays claim to the highest crude birth rate (14.4 per 1000 population) whereas Italy has the lowest level (9.0) in the EU. Divorce is also on the rise in Europe, although southern countries recorded lower rates (less than 1 per 1000 population) than the EU as a whole (1.8). Life expectancy in many central European countries remains lower than in the EU, especially for men.

Demographic Statistics Data 1960-99: Cat.: CA-22-99-894-EN-C, ± 267 pp., 29. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop5 January, 2000

European Parliament

Fact sheets on the European Parliament and the activities of the EU offer a synopsis of the EU's achievements and the part played by the European Parliament (EP) in the development of the EU's institutions and activities. Easy-to-understand summaries cover the EU's institutional system, inter-institutional and external relations, financing and the whole range of EU policies: Cat.: AY-21-99-092-EN-C, (+ FR, other languages to follow), ± 349 pp., €14. http://www.europarl.eu.int/ A guide to the European Parliament explains its general workings: Free in all official EU languages from all EP information offices (see page 15), http://www.europarl.eu.int/presentation/en/default.htm Annual report of the European Ombudsman.

OJ C 300, 1999. The Amsterdam Treaty - a comprehensive guide: Free in all official EU languages from all EU information sources (see page 15), http://europa.eu.int/comm/represent_en.htm. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop5 January, 2000

Telecommunications: Liberalisation must continue

The Commission has launched a review of the current regulatory framework for electronic communications to improve Europe's competitive position in the information society. Mr Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for the Information Society, stated, 'We should not rest upon our laurels - more competition is needed, in particular at local level where traditional operators remain dominant. Only in this way will we be able to enjoy the full benefits of the development of the Internet in Europe'. One in four new jobs in Europe is created by the IT industry. A reform of the sector will remove market barriers and put an end to cumbersome licensing procedures. Mr Liikanen proposes to reduce the number of EU legal texts from 20 to 6. 'It is extremely important for Europe to be an inclusive information society. We need to guarantee access for everybody, everywhere, at affordable prices', says Mr Liikanen. The Commission is seeking feedback from all interested parties in constructing a new EU communications infrastructure which will cover telecommunications, satellite, cable TV and terrestrial broadcasting networks. National regulators will have to abide by principles of transparency, non-discrimination, proportionality and objectivity when handing out licenses to communications infrastructure services. The reform aims to achieve a harmonised licensing regime and to strengthen consumer rights. The Commission welcomes views before 1 February 2000.

Two years after the opening up the telecommunication market, Member States are experiencing accelerated growth rates, high numbers of market entrants and falling tariffs, states the fifth report on the telecommunications regulatory package. National markets were worth around EUR 161 billion in 1999, almost 7% up on 1998, whilst the value of mobile services has increased by 16%. The number of Internet hosts per thousand inhabitants grew by approximately 125% across the EU between January 1998 and July 1999. Residential tariffs for long-distance and international calls have fallen in most EU countries over the period 1997 to 1999, by an average of 40%. Business tariffs for similar calls are down by 25% over the same period.

COM(99) 539 fin., Jean-Eric de Cockborne, EC, DG Information Society, rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels, e-mail: 99review@cec.eu.int, IP/99/825 on: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/welcome.htm. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop5 January, 2000

Criterion for enlargement

1999 progress reports on each of the candidate countries examine the political and democratic criterion for enlargement. The former problem child, Slovakia, has made significant progress and the other candidate countries of central and eastern Europe have strengthened their democratic systems. All candidates need, however, to continue judicial reforms, fight corruption, and pay attention to the treatment of ethnic minorities, especially the Roma population. Each candidate country, except Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania, is considered to be a functioning market economy, able to cope with the pressures of a competitive marketplace. Judging the progress made in adopting EU law in force or acquis communautaire, the Commission concedes that all candidates have persisted in their efforts towards legal approximation. It is satisfied with the results in Hungary, Latvia and Bulgaria. Estonia, Lithuania and Romania have a mixed record with good progress in certain areas offset by delays in others. Poland and the Czech Republic are criticised for their slow adoption of Community legislation. The Commission regrets that no candidate country has set up yet systems to monitor public aid and environmental law.

Turkey's main problem continues to be its political system. Although the basic features of a democratic system exist, Turkey still faces serious problems with human rights and protection of minorities: torture is widespread and freedom of expression is limited. In recent months there have been several legal proposals and amendments which could have a positive impact. Apart from high inflation and fiscal deficits, the Commission noted that good progress had been made in all relevant areas.

Bulgaria: COM(99) 501 fin., Cyprus: COM(99) 502 fin., Czech Republic: COM(99) 503 fin., Estonia: COM(99) 504 fin., Hungary: COM(99) 505 fin., Latvia: COM(99) 506 fin., Lithuania: COM(99) 507 fin., Malta: COM(99) 508 fin., Poland: COM(99) 509 fin., Romania: COM(99) 510 fin., Slovakia: COM(99) 511 fin., Slovenia: COM(99) 512 fin, Turkey: COM(99) 513 fin. More information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/index.htm. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop4 January, 2000

Exchange rate interventions to reduce public debt?

The European Central Bank (ECB) has so far paid very little attention to exchange rate policy. A discussion paper written for the European Parliament analyses a framework for a unilateral policy to prevent an excessive appreciation of the euro vis-à-vis the dollar. The potential of the ECB to defend a depreciation of the euro is much more limited. However, the logic of sterilised interventions could be used for a bilateral arrangement between the US and the euro area. Under such an arrangement the ECB would set and defend an upper limit at, say, 1.20 dollar per euro, while the Fed would set and defend a lower limit at, say, 1.00 dollar per euro. Each central bank would take action only when their home currency was appreciating, and so they should always be able to defend their exchange rate target successfully against speculative attacks by the markets. The margins would have to be adjusted according to the prevailing interest rate differential. Experience since 1973 shows that this would have led to a very sensible exchange rate path. Compared with the situation in the early 1970s such cooperation in the field of exchange rate management would have the advantage that both central banks would follow stability-oriented monetary policies at home:

Options for the exchange rate management of the ECB, Working Paper of the EP, DG for Research, Cat.: AX-25-99-326-EN-C, 34 pp., 7; Another working paper from the European Parliament analyses all the issues related to the transitional period, the introduction of euro notes and the international development of the euro: The Euro as 'parallel currency' 1999-2002: Cat.: AX-23-99-370-EN-C, 100 pp., 14.50; To obtain the publications, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop4 January, 2000

Trademark protection

The Office of Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) is located in Alicante. Its task is to manage and register Community trademarks (CTMs) and, in the near future, designs. The CTM grants its proprietor a uniform right, valid in all Member States of the EU, by means of a single procedural system. This simplifies trademark policies at a European level. Before a trademark (word, name, logo, slogan or design) is registered, it has to be established that the mark concerned is eligible, which means that it must be available and distinctive. When registered, the CTM gives its proprietor the right to prohibit third parties from using identical or similar marks to those covered by the trademark. It also authorises transfers and licenses. The OHIM's budget is derived mainly from registration fees charged for the services it renders to companies and fees for the renewal of trademark protection. For more information: OHIM, Avenida de Aguilera, 20, E-03080 Alicante, fax (34) 965 13 11 73, e-mail: information@oami.eu.int, http://www.oami.eu.int.

Community Trade Marks Bulletin : Cat.: AH-AD-99-099-1F-C (1F=ES/DA/DE/GR/EN/FR/IT/NL/PT/FI/SV), annual subscription 1 500, single copy 50; Official Journal of the OHIM: Cat.: AH-AA-99-012-5D-C (5D=ES/DE/EN/FR/IT), annual subscription 200, single copy 20. Data furnished online, under a license agreement, 5 000 per year. Directory of Professional Representative: Cat.: AH-22-99-967-5D-C, 25; Selected instruments relating to the Community trademark: Cat.: AH-14-98-251-5D-C (FR), 25. National Law relating to the Community trademark, free in English only. 34. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop4 January, 2000

Railways losing out

Railways have been losing out steadily to road networks in the EU, figures from 1970 to 1996 reveal. The share of railways in freight transport has decreased from 32% to 14% over the past 25 years, whereas road haulage now constitutes 70%. All Member States have witnessed cuts in their stocks of rail goods vehicles, particularly in the UK (- 57%), Germany (- 42%) and Sweden (- 41%). In addition the length of railways in the EU has decreased by an average of 8%. The number of lorries on the road, meanwhile, has risen by 150%. The transport sector as a whole accounts for 4% of EU GNP and employs more than 6 million people. About 150 million people all over Europe travel to and from work every day. Each person in the EU covers an average of 35 km daily. The car is an increasingly popular means of transport for EU citizens: in 1996 there were more than 165 million cars on the roads. Italy and Luxembourg registered a higher car density than the USA, with 571 and 559 cars respectively per 1,000 inhabitants! The total length of motorway has increased dramatically, particularly in Greece (from 11 km in 1970, to 470 km in 1996) and Spain (185 km in 1970, 7 747 km in 1996). Yet 25% of EU households are still without a car. Germany has the greatest length of railway track in Europe, with 26% of the total network, followed by France (20%). The greatest length of high speed line is in France (52%) and the second greatest is in Spain (19%). Bus and coach use is highest in Italy (86.6 billion passenger km per year). The transport sector accounts for 30% of the total energy consumption in Europe.

Statistical overview of road, rail and inland waterway transport in the EU: Cat.: CA-22-99-757-EN-C (+DE,FR), 71 pp., 12.50; Transport business statistics, Data 1993-1996: Cat.: CA-26-99-085-EN-C, 46 pp., 7; To obtain the publications, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop4 January, 2000

The Community Plant Variety Office

Established in 1995, the CPVO is responsible for a new centralised EU system of plant variety patents and copyrights. Previously plant breeders were forced to make applications for intellectual property rights to the relevant authorities in each Member State in order to obtain EU-wide protection. Now any individual or company can make one general application to the CPVO and obtain the same level of cover for their product. Applications are first verified and then a technical examination is arranged covering the main criteria of distinctness, uniformity and stability. The Office is entirely self-financing and therefore a truly independent EU body. Further information: CPVO, PO Box 2141, F-49021 Angers, Cedex 02, fax (33) 241 36 84 60, e-mail cpvo@cpvo.fr, http://www.cpvo.fr/.

Annual Report 1997: Cat.: AV-19-99-001-EN-C (+DE,FR,NL), 32 pp., 11; The Annex 1997 to the Annual Report gives a list of protections granted: Cat.: AV-19-99-002-1F-C (1F=ES/DA/DE/GR/EN/FR/IT/NL/PT/FI/SV), 169 pp., 15; Annex 1998: Cat.: AV-20-99-002-1F-C (1F=ES/DA/DE/GR/EN/FR/IT/NL/PT/FI/SV), 190 pp., 15; To obtain the publications, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop4 January, 2000

Drinking water under pressure

The major threats to groundwater come from the use of agricultural chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides. Other major pressures are industrial sites or poor storage facilities, over-abstraction for drinking water and other uses. According to the first Pan-European report, groundwater is an important source of drinking water in many European countries, and environmental contamination limits are often exceeded. This is the case for nitrates and pesticides. Nitrates are a significant problem in some areas of Europe. At the regional level more than a quarter of the sampling wells exceeded the 50 mg NO3/litre limit established by Directive 80/778/EEC. Further problems are pesticides detected in Europe's groundwater, the most common being atrazine, simazine and lindane. There are also groundwater areas with chloride problems and the pollution of groundwater by heavy metals has likewise been reported. Groundwater over-exploitation is a major problem in many countries. The result of over-exploitation is damage to wetlands and saltwater intrusion. Over-abstraction is one of several factors causing the disappearance of whole lengths of rivers and the drying out of wetlands. The information and data were provided by 37 countries.

Groundwater quality and quantity in Europe: Cat.: GH-18-98-607-EN-C, 123 pp., 11. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

 

toptop4 January, 2000

A greater environmental commitment?

'There is still much to be done to set up a truly sustainable development policy', stated Margot Wallström, EU Commissioner for the Environment, during a presentation at the Fifth Environment Action Programme 1992-2000. EU environmental policy in recent years has not been rigorous enough to ensure progress towards sustainable development, mainly because there has been no clear commitment from Member States and stakeholders. The quality of the environment in Europe has improved nonetheless in certain areas. Problems early in the next century will include chemicals, genetically modified organisms, degradation, loss of soil and desertification. Growing consumption of products and services will increase pressures on the environment . The Commission hopes that this report will generate a major public debate on the environment.

COM(99)543 fin. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.

4 January, 2000

Cars, cars, cars

Did you know that ... the use of private cars surged ahead in the EU between 1970 and 1996? The average number of kilometres travelled per person per year in private cars more than doubled. However the number of kilometres travelled per person per year by train only rose by 29%. Austrians use public transport the most, Greeks the least. For passenger travel exceeding 100 km, the car is the most popular means of transport, accounting for almost 70% of all trips. The train is the second most popular means of long distances travel, but it accounts for only 10% of all trips. Visits and leisure are the reason for 50-60% of all journeys, while business accounts for 25-40%

Long distance passenger travel, Statistics in Focus, No 4/1999: Cat.: CA-NZ-99-004-EN-C, 7 pp., 6. To obtain the publication, please contact the sales agent nearest you.