NATIONAL TRADE DATA BANK (NTDB) with the FOREIGN TRADERS INDEX (FTI) DESCRIPTION The National Trade Data Bank puts the most recent trade promotion, "how-to" guides, and international economic data from 15 federal agencies into one source. These datafiles help American companies to compete in international markets by providing foreign trade statistics, news releases, market research, and trade analysis data. NTDB contains over 100,000 descriptive documents and statistical tables and is updated monthly. NTDB provides information useful to companies interested in exporting because it contains statistics and reports which track imports/exports. This data is helpful in revealing trends in international markets, as information is provided on many companies and products. The Foreign Trade Information database is a part of NTDB. Its purpose is to identify U.S. and international companies engaging in import and export activities and to assist U.S. companies in identifying export opportunities. Included in this database are the Foreign Traders Index and the Export Yellow Pages. The Foreign Traders Index contains vital information, including key contacts, on importers, agents, distributors, government agencies, banks, etc. in each country where the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service maintains a presence. The Export Yellow pages contains vital information for over 12,000 U.S. companies that produce goods and services available for export, or that provide services for companies wishing to export. THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO **This system differs from others in that it is not one, but a collection of databases (programs) concerning trade that are produced by the U.S. Government. **Help can be obtained at any time by pressing --When the option is displayed on the screen, it can be pressed to reveal information on the source agency of the currently active program, or will provide any necessary footnotes for the document. **The database is searched through a series of windows which guide the user from general to specific information. Lists of choices are presented through pull down menus. **Escape will restore the previous window. SEARCHING THE DATABASE Searchable fields are displayed at the top of the screen. Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice, then press enter. SOURCE = Select by the federal agency supplying the data. TOPIC = Select from a general list of broad subject areas. PROGRAM = Select from specific titles of individual reports or series. SUBJECT = Select from key words in titles of documents. ITEM = Select from document identification codes assigned each report. Once you have selected a search field, a pull down menu indicates search options. These menus vary with the different data programs. To focus your search, choose one of the options by highlighting it and pressing . **Personal names are searched last first with no comma. **To move directly to an entry, type the first few letters of the word--REMEMBER...SLOWLY IS FASTEST. **Select one or more of the entries by highlighting it and pressing . SEARCH LOGIC Pressing =LOGIC displays the default logic within a given field and allows you to change the default from "and" to "or" or "not." Pressing =PLAN allows you to view your current search strategy and alter it as necessary. TO VIEW DATA Press (View) Highlight the item you want with the arrow keys Press (View) again. **To move within the document, use the arrow keys, page up/page down keys, the home key to return to the beginning of the document, or the end key to move you to the last line. Data is often in a format wider than the computer screen. =ZOOM allows more data to be displayed on the screen. You may search for specific words in a document by pressing =FIND. TO MARK TEXT Place the cursor on the item or line that you want and press . A check will mark the item or line. Titles, agencies, topics, and lines within a document can be "marked." Marking highlights an item and allows you to select more than one item to be printed or downloaded together, rather than stopping to print or download each one individually. To unmark, press again. TO DOWNLOAD Press Select "Copy to File" and Select "Full documents" or "Titles Only" and Select "1. Current item" "2. All items" "3. All marked items" or "4. All unmarked items" and "Copy to:"--Files have already been assigned a file name so use the back space arrow to go to the beginning of the line and type in A:\filename for 3.5" disks or B:\filename for 5.25" disks then press . If a time series or matrix data file has been selected, the "Copy as" window will display 3 file designation options: Text File (ASCII), WK1 Spreadsheet, or WKS Spreadsheet. These last two options work with LOTUS 123 and other spreadsheet programs. NOTE: When copying to a subdirectory, that subdirectory must already exist on the target disk. BECAUSE FILES IN NTDB ARE LARGE, PRINTING IS ONLY PERMITTED FROM YOUR DISK-- The Microcomputer Lab is available for printing the data TO EXIT PROGRAM Simultaneously press and "Q" or press Highlight "Quit" and press FUNCTION KEYS Help Information about agency/document (includes address, phone #, and/or program description) View: displays available data or document text Zoom: allows more data to be seen on the screen Plan: displays current and/or/not search Copy: lets you download to a file No function Logic: lets you change search default boolean operator Find: lets you search for keywords in title Mark: selects items for downloading Item: displays previous item Find: searches for previous occurrences of keyword Item: displays next item Find: searches for the next occurrences of keyword Beth A. Pettit, Abell Library, Austin College