LER410 Labor and the European Union
LER 410 - Labor and the European Union - Spring 2012
Details, details, details...
Above the doors to the Main Library are inscribed the words, "The Hope of Democracy Depends Upon the Diffusion of Information and Knowledge." This accurately sums up the attitude of the founding fathers of our federal states. The basic tenets of our form of government require free and easy access to information concerning the workings of our government. It is very important to understand that this belief is not a universal one. Despite the democratic forms of government of and in the European Union, the information cultures from which these governments are formed do not universally subscribe to the same beliefs about freedom of access. This is reflected in the access and use policies that surround European Union publications. Here we will emphasize materials that might be of use while you are exploring the issues of unions, public sector work and immigration within the European Union.
Resources from the European Union
Europa - Homepage and massive website for the European Union. This links you to everything from basic information on what the European Union is to the ways laws are made. When you get tired of doing serious work, go to Europago, a site targeted to younger EU citizens that provides some challenging games.
EuroBarometer - Public Opinion Analysis sector of the European Commission. Surveys and studies address major topics concerning European citizenship: enlargement, social situation, health, culture, information technology, environment, the Euro, defense, etc. - Reports from 1973 to date
Eurostats - According to the site, "Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union situated in Luxembourg. Its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions". The site includes a lot of good information on how it can be used.
EIROnline- A publication dedicated to monitoring European industrial relations.
Work and Pensions in the EU - Information on a variety of topics related to labor and employment in the EU.
Official Documents - Here you can access the documents and law of the EU. The Official Journal is similar to our own Federal Register providing access to laws, regulations, and other documents.
EU Bookshop - Access EU publications that have been digitized and are free to download going back to 1952. Look under the Themes for "Economy - Finance" and you will find items like the European Job Mobility Bulletin.
EURODOCS - Primarily historical in nature, zccording to the website "These links connect to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. They shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history. The order of documents is chronological wherever possible.These open access sources are readily available to all -- without fees or subscriptions."
Archive of European Integration - From the web site - "The AEI is an electronic repository and archive for research materials on the topic of European integration and unification. The AEI collects two types of materials: certain types of independently-produced research materials and official European Community/European Union documents."
Useful Databases
- ABI/Inform - Indexes journals and other writings in business, finance and economics. Several distinct databases are available, but the key to success here is cross-searching several at the same time.
- Business Source Complete - Identifies business, management, and finance articles from scholarly journals, books, and newspapers. Additional subjects covered include some EIU Country Reports, economics, accounting, and international business.
- EconLit - Identifies articles, books, dissertations, and working papers in economics. The database covers the literature in accounting, capital markets, econometrics, economic forecasting, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, urban economics and more.
- Economists Online/Nereus - A very new database of economic literature by the faculty of the London School of Economics, Tilburg University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Maastricht University, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, and Kiel Institute for World Economics.
- EIU Country Intelligence - Provides quarterly analysis and forecasts of the political, economic and business environment for nearly 200 countries. Quarterly and annual statistics of at least 150 data points. Country Intelligence contains country reports and profiles, risk ratings, licensing and trading information for the new economies, plus G-8 and regional forecasts. An online newsletter, Business Middle East, is also included.
- Historical Abstracts - A useful database for the identification of articles and books written since 1450 that emphasizes non-US resources. Use the subject search to identify general terms and the keyword search to target your search.
- Hein Online - Identifies law reviews and journal articles prior to the dates traditionally covered by Lexis and Westlaw. Provides full text search capabilities. Also includes full text of treatises and agreements, as well as U.S. Supreme Court reports since 1754 and Federal Register documents since 1936 and a specific search of international law titles. Provides full text search capabilities.
- International Labor Organization (EU Office) - The ILO is the UN agency in charge of setting and overseeing labor standards.
- International Political Science Abstracts - This indexing and abstracting service has been produced by the International Political Science Association since 1951 in paper. The search engine is a little less intuitive than many others. Tip: Use "EU" for descriptor searching, not "European Union" for greatest sucess.
- PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) - An easy to search, fairly comprehensive tool for accessing articles in the fields of policy studies, international relations, government documents, dissertations, and other items that may be of interest in the study of the European Union. Although not as robust in access to the full-text of articles, it covers a wide range of material.
- Sociological Abstracts - Abstracts and indexes international literature in the social and behavioral sciences including culture and social structure, demography, and many other areas. Some full-text links and a good thesaurus are offered through this database.
- SourceOECD - Identifies statistics, papers and reports published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- Uniworld - A directory of multinational corporations providing ownership and contact information for firms in over 200 countries.
- Web of Knowledge-The Social Science Citation Index piece of this website provides the ability to search for topical articles, authors, and can provide, in its cited reference search, an ability to determine the most frequently cited authors in the field. It is, perhaps because of the inate power of the searching, somewhat difficult to use.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts - This database is a combination of ABC Pol-Sci and Political Science Abstracts brought to us via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. Subjects include political science, international relations, law, public administration policy, and political economy among others. There is some linking to full-text, as well as a useful thesaurus.
Other Useful Sites
Learn to Use the Library - A great place to go for information about library orientation, research assistance, the Library video network, FAQs, and tutorials
RefWorks - All the information you need to start using the RefWorks bibliographic citation software.
Easy Search
Search for books and articles related to your subject in a group of general resources.
Find Articles, Books, Journals and Web Pages
