Guides for Government Compact Discs (CD's)
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National Trade Data Bank
1. What is it?
- The National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) set contains more than 200,000 documents related to business, exporting, international trade, and foreign countries. It is a two-disc set that was published monthly.
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- The first disc has such titles as the 1994 General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, Background Notes on various foreign countries, Basic Guide to Exporting, Best Market Reports, Business America magazine, Country Commercial Guides, Country Reports on Trade Practices, Foreign Direct Investments in the U. S., Foreign Labor Trends, Legal Aspects of International Trade and Investment, Market Research Reports, Merchandise Trade, North American Free Trade Agreement, SBA News and Loan Programs, U. S. Foreign Trade Highlights, The Year in Trade, and more.
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- The second disc includes Army Area Handbooks for several foreign countries, Breaking into the Trade Game, a guide for small business, Country Analysis Briefs, Directory for Trading and Investment, Export Yellow Pages, foreign trade zone information, International Economic Review magazine, State of Origin of Exports (MISER), Trade Secrets: The Export Answer Book, U. S. Export Administration Regulations, World Agricultural Production, and more.
2. Who produces it?
- U. S. Department of Commerce, STAT-USA.
3. Are there guides to using it?
- Help is available from the initial screen, and from each search screen. A paperback guide to NTDB is filed under C 1. 88: T67/manual.
4. Is it updated?
- Library has 1991 - 2000 on CD. Newer information is online: http://rosi.unk.edu/record=b1234294~S0
5. Can the CD-ROMs be checked out?
- Yes.
6. Sudoc number (discs' call number in the Government Documents Collection):
- C 1. 88: (numbers)
7. Is there a paper equivalent in C. T. Ryan Library?
- NTDB contains thousands of publications, may of which this library has in paper form. You may look up a specific title or series in the Marcive WebDOCS index on the Library's online system.
8. Tricks:
GETTING IN:
- Select icon from screen; see partial title list, above to decide which disc you need. You may also view the complete title list on each CD by clicking on "Browse by Program".
USING IT:
- There are three types of searches: basic search, structured search, and free-form search.
- Basic Search:
- The basic search is a good starting point. Use the more advanced search options under structured or free-form searching if you are not finding what you need.
- Once the basic search is selected, you can pick which index you want to search:
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- "Text words" -- searches the full text of the database
- "Title" -- searches title of documents, chapters, appendices
- "Source" -- searches the names of agencies that issued the documents
- "Program" -- searches the program name or title of the collection; i.e., Background Notes collection consists of individual reports, country by country
- "Commodity" -- search by the type of goods or services
- "Location" -- search by country, region, state, city
- "Date" -- search by date of publication
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- Select one of the above indexes. Type in the word(s) you want to search.
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- To find out how many times a word is used in the database, select "Word List", type in the term and click on "Position". You may add a word to your search by clicking on "Add". When finished, select "Return" to go back to the Basic Search screen.
- If you want the words to be searched as a phrase, click on the small box at the bottom of the search screen.
- The next screen after the search is executed will have the first two titles retrieved; click in the title area to retrieve the text of the document.
Structured Search:
- This option allows you to search more than one index at a time, using multiple words. Boolean operators are available with "and" as the default. Select "Phrase" if your search terms must be found in the exact order they are typed in. Up to seven indexes may be searched at once and the same index may be used more than once.
- Example: "China" as a "Text Word" and "Background Notes" as a "Program".
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- Free-Form Search:
- The most advanced search option: Boolean operators (and, or, and not), proximity indicators, and phrase searching.
- Use the help screens to get search symbols to use and for the proper syntax. [Example: #BAND (book france)]
- Use this option for complicated Boolean searches.
- Browse by Program:
- Contains an alphabetical list of titles on each CD.
- Use this option for an overview of the contents or if you already know what you want to look at.
- Click on the folder to select a program, then on any folder listed under the main one. The "View Document" option will then be available. Click on it and the next screen will have a brief description of the document. Click in this area to retrieve the text.
General notes:
- When the computer brings up the set of documents found, click on the title area to get the text.
- There is no "go back" button. To return to the search screen after you've looked at the results, select the button from the tool bar for the type of search you were doing: "b" for Basic, etc. "P" returns to the Browse by Program search screen.
- The normal appearance of the results list only covers half of the screen. Pull down the View menu and select either "Zoom List Screen" or "Zoom Text Screen" to use the full screen. Buttons on the far right of the tool bar do the same thing also.
- Terms that you used in your search strategy are highlighted in the text. Move to the next appearance of your term by selecting the "Next highlight" button from the right side of the tool bar.
- Select "Close" from the "File" pull down menu to close a search; otherwise it stays open even if you conduct a new search.
PRINTING:
- Select the print icon ("Print text") in the middle right of the screen top. You may select a range of pages to print by typing in the pages desired.
- The pull down "File" menu also may be used to print.
DOWNLOADING:
- Select the disk icon ("Save text") in the center of the tool bar. Change the file type to "Word Files" if it is a text file. Change to "Comma delimited format" if it is a table or numeric file.
- Name your file next.
- Then scroll up in the drive window and select . The file will copy immediately.
GETTING OUT:
- Click on "X" box at top right.
- Click on "Exit" on main menu.
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Format courtesy of Robert Lopresti, Wilson Library, Western Wash. Univ., Bellingham, WA
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Diana J. Keith
Associate Professor
Government Documents Librarian
Government Documents Department
Calvin T. Ryan Library
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kearney, NE 68849-2240
Revised June, 2009
E-mail: keithdi@unk.edu
Phone: 308-865-8542