PLEASE NOTE: IBISCUS CLOSED 2001
IBISCUS is a private, non-profit organisation supervised by the French Ministry of Development Cooperation. Aims to provide information to the policy makers in the financial, governmental and development aid sectors, as well as to researchers and the general public. Maintains a number of bibliographical and directory databases, and is very active in producing cooperative information products (involving some 45 organisations in France and the francophone African countries).
Database comprises both bibliographical and directory elements. Bibliographical database provides abstracts of (primarily) French language materials on development, containing some 130,000 records from 1973 onwards.
Directory database has information on French institutions working in developing countries, French cooperation projects (from 1992), development-related organisations in francophone countries, jobs available in foreign countries, factual economic information.
Also offers databases of daily French press reviews (summaries of articles on development and francophone countries), and development/humanitarian job opportunities in France and overseas.
Information products include:
(a) Online access to databases: via WWW site. Document references can be searched/viewed free of charge. Charge made for viewing abstracts. Users can search the whole of the database, or the collections of specific contributing organisations. Also available via Minitel, PSS.
(b) CD SUD: CDROM version of database, which also includes their directory information, unions serials database, document delivery information.
(c) Sesame CDROM: bibliographical disc on agricultural/rural development to which IBISCUS contributes records (see separate entry)
(d) Bird CDROM: bibliographical disc on children to which IBISCUS contributes records
(e) WWW site: information on Ibiscus and its partner organisations (including publications lists) and sample data from country profiles (data on Benin), press review, list of forthcoming meetings, full text of Ibiscus bulletin du reseau, links to other sites.
(f) Femmes du Sud: WWW version of print product (see separate entry)
(f) Print publications programme: includes bibliographies/directories drawn from its databases, current awareness products, documentation training materials