World Development Sources is a series of CD-ROMs, published quarterly, that offer access to reports from the World Bank dealing with a variety of international development issues. The dates of publication range from January 1996 to the present. Using WDS enables you to find full bibliographic records and abstracts for these reports, and also the full text in image form.
When you start a search on WDS you will find a scrollable list of all the reports currently available, in alphabetical order by title (currently about 500). You can either browse this entire list, or narrow the focus of your search by using the drop-down lists that appear above. By clicking on the main box for a particular category you will bring up the drop-down list for that field, and can then click on a particular item in the list in order to narrow your search.
For example, say you are looking for reports on agriculture in Eastern Europe. Instead of browsing the entire list of available reports, you wish to narrow your search. So you begin by examining the drop-down list for "Region" and selecting Eastern Europe. Next, you select "Economic Sector" and choose Agriculture. Now, instead of the entire list of available reports, the Report List will only contain those items that meet your current search criteria, ranked by relevance.
There are a number of criteria by which you can narrow or filter your search. In addition to "Region" and "Economic Sector", you may also select Country, Economic Subsector, Title Words, Publication Date, Report number or type, volume, and several other criteria. You have the additional option of filtering the full text of reports by particular words or phrases.
Once you have your list of results, you have several additional options. By selecting "Print Report List", you can print the full list of your results. Or, by clicking on and highlighting an individual item in your list, you can view or print either the full text of that report or its bibliographic record and abstract.
Printing abstracts or full text from WDS is extremely simple. After selecting an item from your report list, click on "Print Abstract" to print the abstract and bibliographic information, or "Print Report" to print the full text. You may also elect to "View Abstract" or "View Report", and then select the respective print option from that screen. One important point to note is that in order to view or print the full text of a report, you must have the CD containing it in the CD-ROM drive of your computer. You do not need the CD, however, to access the abstract.
For further information about World Development Sources, you can contact the World Bank at the following address:
Tel: (202) 473-4641
Fax: (202) 477-2934
E-mail: iunit@worldbank.org
Web: www.worldbank.org/sources/
David M. Durant
University of Michigan Documents Center
203 Hatcher North
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 764-4010
ddurant@umich.edu
January 7, 1999
rev. November 26, 2002
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