Collection Spotlight: IMF eLibrary, OECD Publications and World Bank Documents and Reports, the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository and World Bank Open Data
by Winn Wasson, Social Science Librarian
Syracuse University Libraries’ databases menu and many of the Libraries’ Research Guides provide access points to open-access databases of reports and documents published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. These three intergovernmental organizations conduct policy-focused research on a variety of economic topics, including trade, development, public finance, health, education, energy, infrastructure and the environment.
IMF eLibrary contains publications that are largely focused on aspects of national and international economics and finance. The reports cover economic activity at the national level for over 200 countries (including UN member states and some de facto states and dependencies), as well as the regional and global level. The contents on IMF eLibrary include working papers on special topics related to economics and finance and major reports and forecasts, such as the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.
Like IMF eLibrary, OECD Publications has extensive national, regional and international coverage. Its collection of policy papers, books and podcasts focuses on aspects of national, regional and global economics more broadly. This includes some documents about finance, but also some about agriculture, education, energy, the environment and technology. The database also includes access to statistics collected by OECD.
World Bank Documents and Reports, the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository and World Bank Open Data, like the World Bank itself, have a strong focus on economic and social development, and like IMF eLibrary and OECD iLibrary, have extensive national, regional and international coverage. Beyond traditional economic topics, the documents and datasets on these portals also cover topics such as governance, water and gender.
Content from the IMF, OECD and World Bank can help researchers interested in global economic and social policy with their wide array of research documents and large repositories of data. The Libraries encourages SU faculty, students and staff to search and browse IMF eLibrary, OECD Publications, World Bank Documents and Reports, the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository and World Bank Open Data to see how these databases can aid them in assignments and research.
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