ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program --------------------------------------------------------------------- December 15, 1999 GP 3.16/3-2:20/18 (Vol. 20, no. 18) --------------------------------------------------------------------- New NTDB CD-ROM Issued The November 1999 National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) CD-ROM (C 1.88:, item 0128-L) will be the first issue using the new search and retrieval software. While the basic functionality of the software remains the same, accessing the data is totally different on the new discs. Documents can now include embedded graphics and tables and can be read in the way they were originally formatted, rather than as straight ACSII files. Documents can be accessed in one of three ways on the NTDB CD-ROM: * from the Table of Contents (corresponds to the "browse by program"), * via Quick Search (full text searching using Boolean operators), and * via Advanced Search (fielded search). Users can make bookmarks, tagging items to return to in later sessions, and add annotations, or "stickie" notes, to documents for future reference. There will be one disc instead of two, and the software must be reinstalled with each month's disc. The Commercial Service International Contacts, Merchandise Trade Data, and the State of Origin of Export (MISER) data have been dropped. The Merchandise Trade data are now being released on the USA Trade CD-ROM (item 0128-L-01, C 1.88/3:). STAT-USA has developed the NTDB Quick Start Manual, which will be loaded to an ftp server located at . This site cannot be accessed via Internet Web browser. Instead, use a stand-alone program like WS_FTP, available for free from . Use for both the user name and password to access the site.