UNHCR Donates CD-ROMs to RESPECT Libraries
Last month, the United National High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) donated two copies of Issue 12 of their CD collection Refworld 2004 to RESPECT. RESPECT will be adding the gift to a CD library they are preparing for two computer resource centers RESPECT helped to establish in Northern Uganda and Guinea.
Refworld is a helpful resource that can be found in many of the world's university libraries, research facilities and non-profit organizations promoting human rights. The collection consists of a set of six CDs containing almost 90,000 documents and reports related to refugees and human rights including the International Thesaurus of Refugee Terminology. It also includes background country reports and hundreds of detailed maps. Although the documents are mainly in English, many are also available in other languages including French, German, and Spanish. Although some of these documents can be found on the UNHCR website, many are not.
Refworld is currently available by subscription through the UNHCR website. A new Refworld is expected to be published later this year. The "UNHCR is preparing for a thorough user survey in 2005 as well as an independent evaluation to determine how to further develop the collection," said Oldrich Andrysek, Chief of UNHCR's Protection Information Section. In addition, the UNHCR hopes to release a DVD version of Refworld 2005.