Report of activities Cinterfor/ILO 2001-2002

In 2002, website visitors came from 126 countries. From January to April 2003 they were already from 146 countries. During the same period the hits recorded by the Server were over 6 million. If the number of visitors does not grow, towards the end of 2003 total hits will exceed the 2002 figure by 2 million. But there is an upward trend, so that another year of greater numbers of visitors and hits is to be expected.

It is generally considered that if a website is revisited more than once by 10% of its users, it has succeeded in capturing a relatively faithful audience. In the case of Cinterfor/ILO, 22.5% of its visitors have returned at least once. It has been estimated that from January to April 2003 over 220 thousand different visitors looked up the Centre´s website.

On the other hand, to adapt the site to the preferences and needs of users, a database system is being designed linking the different types of contents, subject areas and users’ preferences. This will enable the site to recognise visiting users and offer them an access page according to their requirements.

This constant increase in the number of hits, as well as that of subscribers to the various interests’ lists, endorses the Centre’s decision to be present on the Internet and allocate the resources necessary to keep the site updated with reliable information.

For that purpose, in 2001 the hardware and software were upgraded to ensure accessibility. A more powerful web server was incorporated doubling the bandwidth utilised and the environment migrated to macromedia tools (Flash, DreamWeaver, etc.). Scanners and optical text readers were added and all work stations were equipped with the latest generation of Windows 2000.

Likewise - as recommended in the last Technical Committee Meeting – in view of the need to make updated information on VT developments in the region available to English-speaking countries of the Americas and Europe, the Centre started to redesign its website and translate material already offered in Spanish, into English.

8.2 Information and Documentation Service (IDS)

During this biennium the Information and Documentation Service (IDS) has implemented an active dissemination policy for the benefit of Cinterfor/ILO constituents and users in different parts of the world. The constant exchange of information with ILO national and sub-regional offices, the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Central Library (CLD) in Geneva and other specialised departments at ILO Headquarters has been of critical importance in this respect, as well as exchanges with the ILO Bibamer Group.

The bibliographic record of ILO publications registered with the National Library of Uruguay has also been kept up to date.

Information dissemination

Dynamic relations of the IDS with users in different countries have been stepping up every year. The queries and consultations through various channels are an indication of this, as well the more than eleven thousand requests received personally, by phone, mail and e-mail, which proves that the Service is looking after a growing clientele.

Obviously, the permanent incorporation by the IDS of new mechanisms for spreading information has considerably increased feedback from users. The interest list of the IDS Bulletin has 305 subscribers, only three of whom have requested to be struck out in the period under review. The list circulates every two weeks the latest documents entered in the INFOR database, selected by subject matter, date, outstanding studies and research, innovative experiences etc. Many queries and exchanges originate from this listing.

The IDS also provides a “live support service”. It answers most questions received directly and only refers users to Cinterfor experts or competent institutions when so required. The IDS covers an average of 250 enquiries a month.

It has received requests from Universities, Trade Unions and Ministries for authorisation to reproduce documents published by Cinterfor/ILO for use in their respective training activities.

It maintains permanent exchange and co-operation links with various ILO Libraries in the region and with the CLD at Geneva. Along these lines it has regularly supplied statistical data to the ILO Panama Office, Uruguayans migration statistics to the ILO Migrations Department in Geneva, it has collaborated in the red card campaign child labour in Uruguay, etc.

Bibliographic research

Various requests were answered for bibliographic research in areas like training, conventions and recommendations, social and labour legislation of various countries, the environment, and others, on the basis of the following databases: INFOR – Bibliography (teaching material, books, journal articles); ILOLEX – ILO Conventions (full text); NATLEX – National social and labour legislations; LABORDOC – Bibliography of the Geneva CLD; IPEC – CDs and other products of the International Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour.

Channelling to other information sources

Agreements were expanded with other specialised Information Services on training, and with the Uruguayan National Statistics Institute (INE) in order to meet users’ needs for information. Links are constantly reinforced with the Libraries and Information Services of Vocational Training Institutions of the Cinterfor/ILO network.

Updating of bibliographic fund

Contacts were made with different institutions, enterprises, unions and government departments for the obtainment of information, which resulted in additions to the documentary fund. A large number of titles of teaching material in various formats and presentations were added to the Centre’s documental fund.

Review of collections

During the period under review, the ISD reviewed its collections through co-operation activities with the Information Services of Member Institutions that requested donations.

Periods of practice, visits, internships, talks

As the ISD specialises in practical work, it hosted a number of interns from the University of the Republic of Uruguay, the ORT University, the Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga Catholic University (UCUDAL), European Universities (Spain, Germany). Visiting students were guided in the use of information sources for their research projects and compulsory Academic Theses for their graduation.

Talks were offered at the Service and elsewhere on subjects of interest for Cinterfor/ILO, especially on “Eradication of Child Labour”, IPEC Programme, “Safety and Hygiene at Work”, etc.

IDS users continued to be coached in the use of the Cinterfor website and other usual sources of information.

Cinterfor/ILO publications

The IDS has done the bibliographic standardisation of all bibliographies included in publications issued by the Centre in the 2001/2002 biennium and has catalogued the sources of each one of them.

Co-operation with the Cinterfor/ILO website

The ISD sub-site is updated regularly. The INFOR database is updated every day. Bibliographical news by subject and the basic library are updated every two months.

The Service provides further co-operation to the website through constant standardisation of the various sub-sites and contributions in the form of abstracts and quotations from publications. It selects and processes a book of the month abstract, and keeps the Catalogue of Cinterfor publications permanently updated.

Links with other Information Networks

The Service has kept close links with different information networks like CEDEFOP, Telework Centre of the University of Buenos Aires, GLARP, CENEP/RELET, providing them with information and abstracts of Cinterfor/ILO publications for inclusion in their respective websites.

9. PUBLICATIONS

Publishing and disseminating material on training matters has always been one the Centre’s main tasks, enabling it to fulfil its role of promoting the development of vocational training in the region of the Americas and the Caribbean. In the period under review, publishing has extended the Centre’s geographical coverage reaching a significant number of training and research institutions and has disseminated the Centre’s publications among scholars and academicians dealing with these subjects.

Output in terms of number of titles published continues to be high: more than three titles are circulated every two months, including books, teaching aids (mainly manuals) and Cinterfor/ILO’s Technical Bulletin (that appears every four months).

In the last two years two new Series started publication: Sobre Artes y Oficios (On Arts and Crafts) (2002) and Sindicatos y formación (Trade Unions and Training) (2001).

The series On Arts and Crafts is intended to make known -in an orderly and systematic fashion- the most significant analytical studies on vocational training that researchers in the region have produced in the last few decades. The Centre‘s objective is to offer actors involved in training (governments, workers, employers, researchers) a variety of valuable contributions (often scattered in different articles and reports) thus helping to consolidate the task that training institutes carry out in the Iberian American region.

For its part, the series on Trade Unions and Training has been envisaged to include contributions, experiences and thoughts on vocational training that may be references or inputs for organised union action in that field. In the present-day context in which training plays an essential role in the world of labour and where its links with aspects like employment, wages, safety and health at work, occupational mobility and others are increasingly evident, trade unions have assumed the concern of ensuring equal access opportunities to training. Through this series, the Centre intends to offer support and reference material for union action in the field of training, and a medium for disseminating union views on vocational training issues.

More than forty titles were circulated in the 2001/2003 period. Some other titles that were out of print were reissued. On the other hand, the sale of publications in the 2000/2001 biennium exceeded US$ 60,000, as compared to US$ 27,525 in the preceding period (1998/1999). In the current biennium sales have so far exceeded US$ 22,000 (from January 2002 to June 2003).