Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

MEL’s Database of the Week for 2/12/10

February 16th, 2010

Welcome to Database of the Week — a feature from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). These database snapshots will give you basic information about our most relevant and beneficial online resources.

This Week’s Featured Database: FAOSTAT, from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Link: www.lib.purdue.edu/mel, in the pull down Quick Access to Business Databases alpha list right below the Libraries’ search box.

Description/focus: FAOSTAT provides data on production, prices, and trade on food and agriculture around the world.

Start with this hint: The FAOSTAT home page has no general search box.  Instead, it is a portal to datasets and databases that let you view canned charts or build customized spreadsheets and reports.  Begin with the list in the blue banner across the top:  Production, Trade, Food Supply, etc.  Select one to see the further options in that subject area.  For example, if you click on Resources, the options in the green field become ResourceSTAT and PopSTAT.  Click on ResourceSTAT to see links for data on Fertilizers, Water, Labor, Machinery, and others.  You can then select Water to see the information about and link to AquaSTAT.  For another example, go back up to the blue field and select Trade, then select TradeSTAT, then select Crops and livestock products.  This brings up the lists of parameters so select from each, being sure to scroll across to include the years.

Why you should know this database: FAOSTAT supplies data on over 200 countries.  The databases that are prominently displayed across the top of every web page are supplemented by links on the Home page to other food and agriculture databases and information from the UN, such as a wastewater database.

How this database can be integrated into the curriculum: FAOSTAT databases let students compare the agriculture, food, and livestock production of a country to other countries as well as see changes in a country’s production across time.

Cost: Paid by the Libraries annually. For more information contact mdugan@purdue.edu.

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Database of the Week comes to you from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). Our intent is to give you a brief introduction to a database that you may not know. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact kranlib@purdue.edu. Database of the Week is archived at https://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/mgmt/database/. For more Purdue Libraries news, follow us on Twitter (@PurdueLibraries).

If you would like us to promote your favorite database, send an email to mdugan@purdue.edu.