The Information Resources Center

El Centro de Recursos Informativos

The Information Resources Center (IRC) supports the objectives and programs of the Public Affairs Section, as well as those of other Embassy sections, by offering current, trustworthy information about bilateral areas of interest, U.S. policies, legislation and social topics. Through its products and services, the IRC seeks to fill the information needs of a select public, thus contributing to the understanding of U.S. policies and the intellectual context in which they are developed.

Services

• Embassy web site
  
• Outreach
  
• Reference - The IRC staff can be reached with your questions about U.S. history, policies, legislation, bills in Congress, or regulations, via fax, phone or e-mail.

Outreach

The IRC offers several alert services for academic, government and business leaders. Articles offered through these services can also be printed directly from our web site.

Economics Articles Service (EAS) - quarterly list of up to 15 articles on economics-related bilateral hot topics. Each recipient requests those of personal interest and they are mailed to him/her. All documents on the list are current and some are translated into Spanish.

For Your Information Service (FYI) - bimonthly list of annotations about current articles and documents in English, sent to academic, government, business and artistic leaders. Recipients may request photocopies of the articles.

e-FYI Service - similar to the FYI Service; it is sent by e-mail approximately every two weeks. Also includes special issues on current issues.

Resources

In addition to a small library which includes books, magazines and CD-ROMs, most of our research is carried out online. We have access to a wide variety of data bases, as well as to U.S. Government offices and their documents.

Data Bases Available

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
Includes photos.

Books in Print
Bibliographic and commercial information about books currently available on the market and titles about to be published. Includes reviews of many titles.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
Important source of weekly information for professors and university administrators.

EbscoHost
Provides full text of approximately 3,200 scholarly journals covering academic areas such as social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, linguistics, arts, literature, medicine, and ethnic studies.

Editor & Publisher International
Provides access to lists of newspapers, editorial groups and manufacturers of equipment for publishers in the U.S. and Canada.

Encyclopaedia Britannica
Offers access to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and several web sites related to it, among them the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

ERIC
The Educational Resource Information Center is a national information system sponsored by the Department of Education, the National Library of Education and the Office of Research and Educational Improvement. Provides access to information in more than 1,000 journals and full text of more than 2,200 citations with summaries, references and additional information.

Factiva
A product of Dow Jones & Reuters which provides worldwide content, including news from Dow Jones, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, only available on this data base. Offers news in several languages, covering around 8,000 sources.

Facts on File Reference Suite
This unique collection of data bases includes World News Digest (full text news from October, 1940), Issues & Controversies On File (essential facts about current events, researched by professionals), Today's Science On File (the latest developments in sciences, health, medicine and technology, updated monthly), The World Almanac (continually updated), and The World Almanac Encyclopedia (updated monthly).

Federal News Service
Produces transcriptions bulletins issued by the White House, the departments of State, Defense and Justice; speeches and briefings by the leaders and political spokesmen, as well as testimony before Congress.

FirstSearch
Provides access to over 65 data bases through a unique interfase. This powerful tool increases the availability of reference information, facilitating access to bibliographic information, summaries and full text with graphics.

Foundation Center
Combines two data bases; one which includes the 75,000 largest U.S. foundations, and another listing the grants given by the 1,000 main foundations.

Gale's Ready Reference Shelf
Collects the 15 most popular general reference data bases owned by Gale Group, including access to more than 320,000 entries about associations, research centers, publishers, data bases, radio and television stations, as well as publications (including newspapers, bulletins and directories).

GaleNet
This data base, updated daily, combines biographical sources published by the Gale Group, such as Biography Resource Center, which includes full text articles from hundreds of periodicals, with InfoTrac OneFile, a source of news and periodical articles in a wide range of subjects: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environment, medicine, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, sciences, social sciences, sports, technology and many more general interest areas. Millions of full text articles, many with graphics.

Leadership Directories
Wide-ranging who's who data base de datos of U.S. leaders.

LEXIS
Very complete full text data base of federal legislation, historic and current, bills before Congress, state law, jurisprudence, law journals, etc.

Musical America
Source of commercial information for the performing arts.

NEXIS
Includes more than 6,000 sources and full text of published news, among them The New York Times, The Washington Post and Associated Press wires.

PDQ
Public Diplomacy Query, the multilingual data base produced by the Department of State, includes a wide range of texts, documents, speeches, publications, reports and other materials about U.S. foreign policy, as well as general information about U.S. government, society and culture.

ProQuest
ProQuest offers immediate access to an extensive collection of newspapers, magazines, journals, specialized publications, and other sources of information. Includes the full text of more than 400 periodicals. It provides access to over 400 full text periodicals in the following formats: citations, abstracts, full text, image and image/text. It also provides citations and/or abstracts of over 1600 periodicals and newspapers including The New York Times.

STAT-USA
The U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration supports this online information resource. It contains business and economic information produced by U.S. government agencies.

Treaties and International Agreements Online
Full text of U.S. bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements, updated monthly.

USA Trade Online
U.S. export and import information on more than 18,000 commodities world wide.

Periodicals Available

Through data bases as well as subscription, IRC staff have access to thousands of periodicals, among them:

American Artist - U.S. artists, art techniques, exhibits.

The American Economic Review - Published since 1911, its articles on economics are the result of members of the Association's presentations and attendance at meetings and committees.

American Heritage - Bimonthly dedicated to outstanding issues in U.S. history and current events.

American Libraries - The world of library science and the management of information: meetings, roundtables, articles, and working documents.

American Literary History - Commentary about writers, criticism, and reflective theoretical and historical articles by writers.

The American Prospect - Supports the democratic U.S. tradition, presenting a practical vision of the liberal philosophy, politics and public life.

Art in America - Presents new and constant changes in color and techniques of contemporary arts, painting, sculpture and photography.

The Atlantic Monthly - The best articles about U.S. politics, art and literature.

Current History -Study group formed by specialists to analyze the changing world events.

Federal Reserve Bulletin - Articles analyze economic development and banking regulations.

Finance and Development - World Bank publication which reviews the most important events in economic and financial areas, including social and human rights issues.

Forbes - Articles of global interest in the areas of business, technology, marketing and economics, for business leaders.

Foreign Affairs - Publishes articles about U.S. foreign relations, generated by leading figures in U.S. public, political and economic circles.

Fortune - Bimonthly business magazine of industrial and corporate news; produces the Fortune 500 list of most important companies.

Global Governance - Quarterly publication which serves as the forum for the creation of worldwide governance methods and structures to confront the problems of poverty, environmental degradation, human rights violations, globalization, social justice, militarism, debt and multinational corporations, etc.

Harper's Magazine - Explores political ideas, science and arts in a colloquial fashion.

Harvard International Review - International relations issues, business, science, technology and politics.

Information Technology and Libraries - Information technology, data bases, digital libraries, authority and authentication, electronic journals, intellectual property and other issues of interest to libraries.

Journal of American Folklore - Quarterly publication of the American Folklore Society, addressed to professors y professionals in the cultural area with essays, notes, book reviews, exhibitions and events, recordings, films, videos and commentary for the general public.

The Journal of American History - Research tool for the study and teaching of U.S. history.

The Nation - Views U.S. political and social problems with a critical eye.

National Journal - Weekly publication about U.S. politics, policies, government and society, emphasizing the activities of the presidente and Congress.

National Review - Analyzes White House and Congressional political activities, generating articles of wide-ranging interest.

The New York Times - Important newspaper with the highest circulation in the U.S.

New York Times Magazine - Published with the Sunday edition of the newspaper, it includes the most relevant events of New York City , its government, politics and society.

Policy Review - Democracy, human rights, politics and government are some of the subjects it covers.

Smithsonian - Arts, culture, events andy studies are some of the issues addressed in the articles of this Smithsonian Institution publication.

USA Today Magazine - Covers politics, government, health and technology.

Vital Speeches of the Day - Collection of speeches published biweekly since 1934: the best ideas of the best minds about U.S. current events.

The Wall Street Journal - Important U.S. economic newspaper.

Washington Post - Main newspaper published in the country's capital.

Embassy Web Site

The IRC manages the Embassy web site, which offers information about Embassy sections, as well as access to U.S. Internet resources. In addition to Embassy press bulletins, speeches by officers, documents and links to U.S. Government offices, the web site includes frequently asked questions about the U.S., telephone directories online, museums, foundations, associations, libraries, media, research centers and universities. It is also possible to register for other services via e-mail.

Current Information on Bilateral Issues

The IRC offers current information about bilateral hot topics between Colombia and the U.S.A. Contact the IRC to request specific documents not listed on our web site, or additional bibliography on these subjects.

Alternative Development
Corruption
Democracy
Drug Abuse
Economy
Environtment
Extradition
Human Rights
Intellectual Property
Money Laundering
Narcotics
Terrorism
Trade