Developments in European information issues: Networks and relays – Services – Products, September 2002

SCAD records in ECLAS

The Central Library of the Commission has announced that the incorporation of Sector C of the old SCAD database, articles from periodicals, has been completed and all the material is now available for consultation, though work is still continuing on the records to reformat them into the ECLAS style and revise the subject descriptors. With the inclusion of the SCAD records and the addition of new references, together with ECLAS's existing article references, there are now some 137,000 article references in ECLAS. To search the database visit http://europa.eu.int/eclas/

Labourline

The Brussels based European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Trade Union Technical Bureau for Health and Safety (TUTB) have last month launched a joint database containing more than 30,000 references based on the resources of their Documentation Centres. The ETUI part of the database has c.18,000 records on industrial relations and related issues, while the TUTB part contains c.12,000 references on health and safety. Labourline can be accessed at http://www.labourline.org/

The 'My folders' option and the photocopying service from the Documentation Centres' holdings are aimed at internal users, but the contents of the database can be freely searched using either the simple or the advanced search template. In the simple search option, search terms can be combined with Boolean operators &, / and # representing AND, OR and NOT. A language limit can be specified and the references can be sorted by author, title or year. There is automatic right-hand truncation, but you can use the @ symbol to truncate a search term on the left as well. The advanced search also works from a straightforward template but offers more options and greater flexibility. Combinations of author, title and keywords can be searched and the publication year can be set to greater than, less than, equal to or not, by selecting from a drop down list.

When the results are displayed, there is the option of showing a detailed list. This includes the keywords assigned to the record as well as the bibliographic details. Records can be printed, sent by e-mail or selected into a basket for later action.

The author and keyword index can also be consulted and the selected records displayed. Simply type your search term in the box and click OK - the search is not case sensitive. A list of hits will be shown from which you can select. The author index search picks up, for example, Adam Smith Institute and Rojas-Smith as well as all the other hits under the surname Smith and indicates the number of records available against each entry listed. Clicking on a name will display the results. Some slight tweaking of the database may be required here. Where the name searched is not included in the index, it is not immediately apparent that there are no results as the database appears to continue to search but produces no list and the Clear button does not work at this point.

The ETUI Labourline and the TUTB Labourline, though a common database, are searched separately. There is a link at the top right of the page to the other site. The TUTB site has a French interface as well as the English language one and the search engine also searches the full text of TUTB documents such as conference proceedings and articles published in the TUTB Newsletter. Included in its information sources are references to c.1,400 technical standards relating to health and safety which can be separately searched through a screen reached from the Technical Standards link on the top menu bar.

Other useful features of the database are the What's new or News links which give details of the latest acquisitions and the Subject Guides which provide current bibliographies of additions of the last one to two years on key topics. These cover areas such as arrangements for working time and leave; migration; older people; social policy, social protection and social security; labour law and human rights, women at work; asbestos; risk assessment; ergonomics; occupational accidents; stress; and safety of machinery. If you use information on any of these topics, Labourline is well worth exploring.

Multinationals Database on CD-ROM

Shortly after the adoption of the 1994 Directive on European Works Councils the European Trade Union Institute began work on a list of companies that fall within its remit. The fourth update of this inventory was published in 2002 on CD-ROM and has a number of new features. The database is based on Microsoft Access 2000, though users do not need to understand Access to use it as the database software offers a search interface, ways of filtering the results and a print facility. The data can be searched either by parent company, subsidiary, or European Works Council Agreement. The filter can be used for example to identify parent companies with subsidiaries in specific countries. The latest update now contains over 38,000 searchable names and acronyms. 1874 companies have been identified as falling within the scope of the directive and of these over 700 already have Councils in place. As well as the original search alternatives, there is now a new “Find any company” button. One of the new tabs on the search screen is merger information, which as well as providing brief information also offers a hyperlink to DG Competition for the full text of the decisions. In the European Works Council Agreements section, new data fields have been added to provide extra details such as the length of the agreement, number of meetings and the law applicable. The output can be formatted in a number of ways. The CD-ROM can be ordered from ETUI at a cost of 300 Euro. Visit http://www.etuc.org/ETUI or e-mail etui@etuc.org

Framework Programme 6

The new Framework Programme 6 to support research and innovation was adopted in June 2002. Before the first calls for participation, expected in November 2002, the specific programmes and rules for participation have still to be agreed. Pending the launch of the FP6 service which will be the main source of information about the Programme, CORDIS has established a gateway page at http://www.cordis.lu/fp6/ to provide access to the information currently available and news of the status of the negotiations. The full service is expected to go live in mid-September 2002 at the same address.

European Day of Languages 2002

The European Year of Languages 2001 to support language diversity and encourage language learning was organised jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Union. In total 45 countries participated and the highlight of the year was the European Day of Languages celebrated on 26th September 2001. Because of the success of that event and the continuing need to promote languages it has been decided that the European Day of Languages should be an annual event. Information on last year's and this year's activities can be found on the website of the Council of Europe at http://www.coe.int/. The Council of Europe has also set up a database hosted at http://www.ecml.at/edl/ which includes examples of events in 2001 as well as those planned for 26th September 2002. Organisers can submit details of their own plans for inclusion in the database. More information on the UK angle can be found at the website of the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research at http://www.cilt.org.uk/edl/index.htm/

Presidency Conclusions

For some time it has been possible to find the texts of the Conclusions of the Presidencies from 1994 to date on the websites of the Council and the Commission. The addresses are http://ue.eu.int/presid/conclusions.htm/ and http://europa.eu.int/council/off/conclu/index.htm/. The European Parliament has now launched a site offering the Conclusions from 1985 to date at http://www.europarl.eu.int/summits/index.htm/. A useful addition to the texts is the speech given by the President of the European Parliament to the European Council. The Conclusions of 1985-1993 have been scanned in from the paper copies of the Bulletin of the European Parliament. The quality of the image is in some cases far from good, though still legible. Language availability too is limited. Because these documents are scanned images, it is not possible to focus in on a section of the document by carrying out a keyword search within the file. Nevertheless the convenience of availability in electronic format far outweighs these minor drawbacks and easy access to the early texts is a welcome development. For French speakers the European Parliament also offers a link to the site of the Strasbourg based Centre Universitaire d'Enseignement du Journalisme which has mounted even earlier texts, but only in French. Conclusions of European Councils 1975-1989 can be found at http://cuej.u-strasbg.fr/forma/euroj/euro_ser/cons_01_42/01_42_sce.html/ and those of 1990-1999 at http://cuej.u-strasbg.fr/forma/euroj/euro_ser/cons_43_63/43_63_sce.html/