Published in two parts and as three products or databases, 1941‐1974, 1974‐1996, and the Annexes, Readex has just completed the first set of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports. Cooperating with the Dartmouth College Library, the Library of Congress, Tufts University, and Yale University, Readex has produced close to 10,000 Daily Reports issued in the 1941‐1974 set. A review of the more recent set was previously published in Reference Reviews (RR 2009/201).
The FBIS Daily Reports, printed from 1941 to 1996, have been the USA's “principal record of political and historical open source intelligence”: they are reports of events as they occurred from a local perspective. The broadcasts and articles in FBIS have been translated from sources worldwide. A list of languages is available and text may be searched by original language of publication. The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) was created in 1941 to monitor and translate foreign media (newspapers, periodicals, radio, and television) and was placed under the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947. The Open Source Center (OSC) now continues the work of the FBIS, providing “information on foreign political, military, economic, and technical issues beyond the usual media from an ever expanding universe of open sources” (see www.opensource.gov/). The World News Connection (see http://wnc.fedworld.gov/) from the National Technical Information Service offers access to current foreign news broadcasts. It receives its material from the OSC and subscription is via Dialog. Databases such as LexisNexis Academic and Factiva also offer translations of foreign news media.
Unlike the more recent set, which comprises eight separate regional Daily Reports, 1941‐1974 consists of a single cumulative or collective Daily Report publication (the White Book). According to the Product Description, “it was issued five days a week with but a few exceptions. Throughout its coverage from World War II to the Cold War the Daily Report was internally subdivided into an approximation of the later regional coverage. For example, in the early 1960s there is in each Daily Report four sections, each with its separate internally differentiated collation”. The coverage includes:
Daily Report: Asia and Pacific;
Daily Report: Communist China;
Daily Report: Eastern Europe;
Daily Report: Foreign Radio Broadcasts;
Daily Report: Latin America and Western Europe;
Daily Report: Middle East and Africa;
Daily Report: People's Republic of China;
Daily Report: Soviet Union;
Daily Report: USSR and East Europe; and
Daily Report: White Book.
The site's search page includes Search, Date, and Return search boxes. Search allows for text to be searched in All text (default), Title Source, Language, or FBIS ID. A second search field may be added by clicking on Add a Search Field. Date allows for Article or Report date searching. The Return box can sort results by chronological order (default), reverse chronological order, or best matches first. The search page is similar across most Readex databases. Phrasing at the top of these pages describing the database and offering a brief overview of search options would be useful.
Four tabs offer four limits:
- 1.
Countries and Political Entities;
- 2.
Article Types;
- 3.
Publication Series Title; and
- 4.
Events.
As the default, the Countries tab presents a clickable map of the world with eight regions. The regions also appear as an expanding outline, allowing for the selection of individual countries within each to search. When a region or country is selected, red stars appear on the map. Article Types includes Text, Excerpts, Summary (a summary of the article written by FBIS staff), Highlights/Reviews, Speeches, and Interviews. Series Title relates to the individual Daily Reports. These related to the latter FBIS set at the time of this writing. Events is very useful as it produces a list of articles when a specific topic is selected, such as 1941 – “Stalin speaks to the nation as German troops approach Moscow”, 1945 – “Japan surrenders”, 1945 – “Nuremberg trial of Nazi leaders for war crimes”.
When results are retrieved (now in the Results tab), the citation includes the place of publication and the date, title, “As published in”, FBIS Daily Report number and date, and descriptive or subject headings. Results can be viewed by the Article or by the Full Page on which the section occurs. A preview of the report is available to the right in the original font. The varying view options are useful, but it does take the new searcher several views in order to understand the organization. When viewing the article, the term(s) searched are highlighted; when viewing the page, they are not. When the article is opened in either view, the report is indexed on the left with the page containing the text in bold. Other pages and sections for this report/day may be retrieved. The reports have been scanned from the microfiche using optical character recognition. Any of the pages or the entire report may be downloaded in PDF or printed. Results may be further defined by using the other tabs.
Each report includes an Add to My Collection box, which, if checked, compiles a group of materials that can be viewed by clicking on View My Collection at the top right of the screen. View My Searches is another option here. The Help link in the top right menu bar opens a new window and yields an extensive list of topics for the database. Categories include Searching, Limit Search By, Search Operators, Displaying/Viewing, Printing/Downloading, Other Functions, Troubleshooting, Hints, Background, Helpful Information. Each page gives detailed information and includes links to the other available Help topics on the left for easy navigation. This is an excellent resource that explains how to search the material; the background/historical information is very useful as is the citation guide.
As written in the previous review, by digitizing this collection of FBIS Daily Reports, Readex has made available a set of primary source material for the second half of the twentieth century that offers a foreign perspective vital to students and scholars for this time period. The database is recommended for all academic libraries and research collections, especially those in political science and world history. Pricing and additional information may be obtained from Readex by phone or via their website.
