The Charleston Advisor / April 2009 www.charlestonco.com 23 contribute to the user’s ability to locate needed information even without traditional searching capability. First, the subject areas on the left of the screen are relatively descriptive: under the broad headings mentioned above are several more specific categories: Military & Activity: Afghanistan; Iraq; Middle East International: Global Relations; Trade Specific; Top Ddevelop- ments; Emerging Markets Top Stories: Small Business; Business; Federal Watch; Finance; Industry; Country Education: U.S. News Computers: Virus Alerts; Security It seems that it would be simple to choose from that list of categories based on the user’s information need. For example, a businessperson interested in the climate of exporting to Iraq would possibly find use- ful information by clicking on Iraq under Military & Activity, since military events certainly dictate business events. The second feature that contributes to the user’s ability to locate rel- evant information without traditional searching capability is that the entries are quite well organized, and the database’s extensive use of bold and different sizes of fonts facilitate finding relevant informa- tion. For example, when I clicked on Afghanistan under Military & Activity on the left side, the information in the middle of the screen changed to that topic, and “Today’s Afghanistan Headlines” replaced the previous heading in the middle of the screen. The headlines that appeared were easy to browse: large, bold font was used for the head- line itself, and the brief details underneath the headline, including the source of the headline and the time/date stamp, were in a different font and size, making it easy to pick out the headlines I was interested in. Because the information given is very brief, it is relatively easy to pick out the articles of interest. However, it would be helpful if the times given were in the time zone of the user. As it is, the time given is Greenwich time. When I clicked on the headline for one of the entries, it took me di- rectly to the relevant article within that source. The one I chose was from The Independent World Web site, with which I am not familiar. I wondered about the source’s reliability and whether it was from a legitimate organization. I browsed through the entire site but could not find any statement about or list of the sources from which ITDN receives its information. I contacted the vendor, and they provided me with a spreadsheet of the sources that seemed much broader than the list of sources I compiled unscientifically from the database itself. For example, the spreadsheet from the vendor lists the categories Country Reports; Agriculture Related Reports; Other Reports; and Research Data Sources, with the sources listed for each. The sources seem pret- ty broad, though, including U.S. governmental agencies such as the Pricing Options An Educational Site License, based on the number of FTE students including both undergraduate and graduate students, is available to colleges and universities offering four-year degree programs. The rates are $.30 per undergraduate FTE and $.45 per graduate FTE, with a minimum annual cost of $500 and a maximum cost of $5,000 per each institution. Product Description The International Trade Data Network (ITDN) is part of a compre- hensive, full-service program provided by the Chafee Center for In- ternational Business at Bryant University (Smithfield, Rhode Island) and the Rhode Island Export Assistance Center (RIEAC). Developed by the Chafee Center in 1989, the ITDN serves as a data multipli- er that provides market intelligence from more than 50 data sources. This intelligence includes country- and industry-specific information, trade leads, travel advisories, a currency converter, cultural informa- tion, the political climate of a particular country, and news feeds from around the world. The only competitor for the database is the govern- ment site STAT-USA, reviewed by The Charleston Advisor (vol. 1, issue 4, March 3, 2000). STAT-USA is fee-based, although each fed- eral depository library receives one free concurrent user. Critical Evaluation SEARCH INTERFACE My first reaction to the main page at <http://www.itdn.net> is that it is quite busy. The screen is full of links to various information sources including Military and Activity, International, Top Stories, Education, and Computers, all under the broad heading Headlines on the left of the screen. Various Partners, such as Bryant University, The Hartford, Bank of America, APC, etc. are also linked on the right of the main page; I assume these are sponsors of the database. In the middle of the main page are Today’s Trade News Headlines. These headlines ap- pear to be very current. SEARCHING There is no traditional searching capability on the main page, but it is possible to “search text” within the “Industry Reports and News” and “Country Reports and News” modules. The searching option in those modules, however, is not obvious from the main page, where both Industry and Country are listed along the left side under Top Stories alongside other categories that lead the user only to a list of headlines (i.e., no searching capability). This leads me to believe that the ITDN must be used mainly as a current awareness tool. However, two things Composite Score: HHHH Reviewed by: Janice G. Schuster Phillips Memorial Library Providence College 1 Cunningham Square Providence, RI 02918 <jschuster@providence.edu> ADVISOR REVIEWS––STANDARD REVIEW International Trade Data Network (ITDN) Date of Review: March 10, 2009)