International Organizations and Foreign Governments (IOFG) Publications Web Resources Integration Service platform is build for integrating tangible publications and virtual web resources produced by major international organizations (such as United Nations) and some foreign governments in a comprehensive and systematic pattern. This all-in-one platform features functions of resources navigation, resources access and user interaction. It aims to indicate IOFG web resources through the comprehensive navigation; to promote special collections in NLC and fully realize the value of the literature; to adapt with the development of modern information technology, so as to provide one-stop information service for users.
IOFG publications is one kind of special collections in NLC, which has a long history and is rich both in amount and variety. In 1947, Peiping Library, the predecessor of NLC, has been entitled as one of depository libraries by UN. From then on, NLC has started to collect IOFG publications. After more than 60 years’ collection building, NLC is becoming the top library in this special collection area, no matter on account of its long history, great variety or huge number of collections. In 1961, NLC (named Beijing Library at that time) set up the ‘UN Materials Section’ dedicated to collect and manage the UN depository materials specially. Later on, the ‘UN Materials Reading Room’ has been established in 1973, providing a convenient stage for developing and utilizing UN materials. With the extending range of collection, the name of this reading room was changed to ‘International Organizations and Foreign Governments Publications Reading Room’. Nowadays, its collection includes: UN and its specialized agencies, EU, OECD, ADB, RAND, CIS, US Government, Government of Canada, etc. The diverse carrier format of resources ranges from printed, microform, electronic to online. The content involves politics and diplomacy, economics and finance, law and regulation, science education and hygiene, population and human rights, and other various statistic materials.
IOFG publications feature the stable source, high quality and authoritative content, so they are very popular among extensive scholars and researchers. Over the years, NLC has been providing valuable information support for readers to meet their study and research demand. However, with the rapid rise of the network information technology, more and more network information resources replace the tangible document. International organizations and other foreign governments, mostly unprofitable and working for the sake of public welfare, prefer to use the Internet to release all kinds of information. Most of important documents can be accessed free via network. Accordingly, the amount of tangible documents published by these agencies declined year by year. This trend affected the utilization of resources in NLC. In order to adapt to the changes of information environment and offer more effective information service for the public, NLC has constructed the web resources integration service platform after making in-depth research and integration on IOFG web resources.
This platform covers those agencies as following: UN and its specialized agencies, EU, OECD, ADB, RAND, CIS, US Government, Government of Canada, etc. In order to provide a comprehensive, distinct and effective navigation, this platform sets up the following main columns:
· International Agencies: introducing all international organizations and foreign governments covered in this platform;
· Resources: the core column; integrating all kinds of resources provided by “International Agencies”, including tangible and electronic forms; helping readers to know about all available resources in these agencies and access information from different channels according to document carriers; especially highlighting the important web resources database and integrating it independently, which will make easy access.
· Special Collections Reading Room: introducing the general situation and development history of IOFG publications Reading Room in NLC; recommending flagship publications of each agency and some classic publications researched by large extent of user group and in a high utilization ratio; providing a list of new arrivals at regular intervals and also recommending some resources with high research value.
· Depository Libraries: mainly introducing depository programmes and current situations in China.
· OPAC: directly linked to the OPAC system of NLC.
· The objectives of building this Platform are providing an effective integration of IOFG network information resources and promoting utilization. Hope it can meet users’ need to access all kinds of IOFG resources. Welcome to this platform.Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.
