WHAT IS THE NATIONAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA BANK? The NESE is a CD-ROM database produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It contains over 65,000 documents, including books, reports, serials, and statistical tables that gives information on the U.S. economy, education, health, criminal justice, the environment, and other areas of public policy concern. The information on the NESE comes from 18 U.S. Government agencies such as: Congressional Budget Office Federal Reserve Bank of New York Department of Education Environmental Protection Agency Bureau of Justice Statistics WHY USE THE NESE? The NESE will allow you to quickly find current and comprehensive information on U.S. domestic and public policy issues. For example, the Small Business Administration has "State Business Profiles" on the NESE. These profiles provide a wide array of information about the business climate in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. WHERE CAN YOU USE THE NESE? You can use the NESE through Sage. Also, you can use the NESE at the appropriate computer terminals in the Documents & Maps Department (B/H Library 009). HOW DO YOU SEARCH THE NESE? BASICS Search the NESE by moving through a series of menu choices displayed in "windows" that direct you from general to specific information. Carefully read the instructions on the screen within each window because they will guide you through your search. Note the function keys that allow you to VIEW [F3] or COPY [F5] information. SEARCHING HINTS Remember to use the HELP [F3] key. It may be pressed at any time during a search to provide instructions on the searching options available. SEARCHING OPTIONS The NESE provides five ways to search for information. SOURCE: Allows you to search by the name of the federal agency that supplied information to the NESE. TOPIC: Allows you to search by a general topic such as "business statistics" or "demographics." PROGRAM: Allows you to search by the name of a specific government information or publication program such as "Capital Punishment, 1990," "Decennial Census Summary, 1990," or "U.S. Industrial Outlook." People familiar with government publications may find this method of searching useful. TITLE: Allows you to search by specific keywords in the title of documents and tables such as "profitability" or "Vermont." (HINT: Try alternative words when searching by title. Misspellings, abbreviations, and synonyms commonly appear in these documents. For example, the abbreviation "VT" will help you locate information on Vermont.) ITEM: Allows you to search by a document's identification code. Only advanced users of the NESE will find this searching method helpful. HOW DO YOU BEGIN A NESE SEARCH? Ask a D&M staff member to load the NESE on one of the CD-ROM workstations in the department. The first two screens that you see will describe new and updated information in the database. Press any key to continue. The third screen will give the Primary Selection Menu. At this menu, select the method by which you want to search the database . . . SOURCE, TOPIC, PROGRAM, TITLE, ITEM. You can also select the option to QUIT. Select any of these options by placing the shaded bar over the option that you want and press [ENTER]. Move the shaded bar by using the left / right arrow keys. After you select a search option, a list of sources, topics, programs, titles, or items will appear. Scroll through this list by using the up / down arrow keys or the Page Up / Page Down keys. You also can type in a word and let the database's software automatically take you to that place in the list. HOW DO YOU LOOK AT (VIEW) INFORMATION? When you find a record that you wish to see, mark the record by pressing [ENTER]. (To unmark a record, press [ENTER] again.) Then press [F3] to view the record. You can scroll through a record by using the up/down arrow keys or the Page Up/Page Down keys. The HOME key takes you to the start of a document; the END key takes you to the end of a document. HOW DO YOU PRINT/DOWNLOAD INFORMATION? PRINTING A NESE DOCUMENT To print a document, press [F5]. Two options will appear, COPY TO FILE or PRINT. Place the shaded bar over PRINT by using the right arrow key and press {ENTER}. Please limit your printouts to twenty (20) pages. DOWNLOADING A NESE DOCUMENT Insert a DOS formatted 3.5" or a 5.25 " disc into the appropriate drive. Press [F5] and place the shaded bar over COPY TO FILE. Press [ENTER]. Follow the instructions given. Type the drive and filename that you want. For example, type A:NESE and press [ENTER]. BE SURE TO COPY YOUR FILE TO DRIVE A or B. DOWNLOADING OPTIONS All TEXT files will be given a .TXT extension automatically and downloaded in ASCII. You can download TIME SERIES and MATRIX datafiles into 3 formats. 1. Textfile (ASCII). 2. Worksheet (.WK1). Use this if you will use LOTUS 2.x or higher when you work with the data. 3. Worksheet (.WK). Use this if you will use LOTUS 1.x when you work with the data. Use arrow keys to move the shaded bar over the downloading option that you want and press [ENTER]. HOW DO YOU BACKUP OR QUIT? You can always backup one screen at a time by pressing the [ESC] key in the upper left corner of most keyboards. You can always get back to the Primary Selection Menu by pressing two keys simultaneously, [ALT]/[Q]. At the Primary Selection Menu, place the shaded bar over QUIT and press [ENTER]. WHERE CAN YOU FIND MORE INFORMATION REGARDING THE NESE? Ask for the "National Economic, Social and Environmental Data Bank User's Guide" at the service desk in Documents & Maps. This is a detailed guide that will help you understand and use the advanced features of the NESE. For example, Chapter 9 of the guide, "Plan/Logic" explains how to use the boolean operators "and", "or", and "not" in searching the database. Chapter 8, "Copy and Print Features," explains how to quickly copy several records to one file or to individual files. SUMMARY OF COMMANDS F1 (HELP): Displays HELP information for the current screen. F2 (INFO): Displays source information for the data associated with the highlighted entry. Includes footnotes and date codes. F3 (VIEW): Displays (shows) the available data. (BULLETINS): At the Primary Selection Menu, provides information about the current disc. (ZOOM): Displays items using full width of the screen. F4 (PLAN): Displays the current search logic. (HDRS): Provides definitions to column codes in matrix files. (ATCH): Displays the spreadsheet attachment. F5 (COPY): Allows the printing of documents or the downloading of documents to a 3.5" disc. (Please download documents to the A or B drive.) F7 (LOGIC): Displays and allows you to change the search logic. Also allows you to search for a word or word string within a document. (FIND): Allows you to search for a word or word string within an item. F8 (MARK): Allows you to mark a range of selections at once. F9 (UPITEM): When viewing a series of documents, allows you to move to the previous document. F10(DNITEM): When viewing a series of documents, allows you to move to the next document. DEL: Unmarks the current highlighted entry. ALT/Q: Returns you to the Primary Selection Menu. ENTER: Highlights selected items and continues. Un-selects a currently marked item. HOME: Moves the cursor to the first entry or the top within an entry. END: Moves the cursor to the last entry or the bottom within an entry. PgUp: Moves the current window toward the top. PgDn: Moves the current window toward the bottom. ESC: Allows you to close the current window and return to the previous window. UP-ARROW: Moves the cursor toward the top of the window one line at a time. DN-ARROW: Moves the cursor toward the bottom of the window one line at a time. L-ARROW: Moves the cursor to the left by one entry. R-ARROW: Moves the cursor to the right by one entry. D&M QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE #4 Patrick J. Wilkinson, University of Vermont, 1/94 * Documentation provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce used in part.