New database: ASSET4 ESG

Yesterday a new database became available which has infomation on corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The database provides environmental, social and governance (ESG) information based on 250+ key performance indicators (KPIs) and 750+ individual data points along with their original data sources. Asset 4 ESG covers +4500 listed companies including the S&P 500, Russell 1000, MSCI Europe, FTSE 250, ASX 300, the MSCI World Index and the 250 MSCI emerging markets companies. For a more comprehensive overview of the new database you can read the brochure.

Looking up data in ASSET4 ESG can be done using the Datastream software on computers on the Vrije Universiteit campus. The Datastream software support is provided by the Data Center of the university library. Online support is available through the Data Center course in Blackboard.

Data Center courses

The Data Center of the UL provides help and support to students as well as teachers and researchers in finding economic and financial data.

• Basic course databases
  Presentation of the services of the Data Center followed by some exercises using financial databases. This includes the basics of translating a research question into a concrete data need.
  • Thursday 23 January (11:00 - 13:00)
  • Thursday 6 February (13:00 - 15:00)
  • Thursday 24 April (9:30 - 11:30)
  • Thursday 24 April (14:00 - 16:00)
  
  
• Combining databases
  Presentation of the services of the Data Center followed by exercises using the financial databases Compustat and Datastream. This includes basic searches and working with lists. The course teaches you some of the basics using two databases as an example. The focus of the course is on stock information and finding company data in two data bases.
  • Tuesday 10 June (9:30 - 11:30)
  • Tuesday 12 June (9:30 - 12:00)
  
  
• SDC Platinum
  The database is an interface that offers access to databases on Mergers & Acquisitions, Global New Issues, and Venture Capital. The course teaches you how to use the interface to find and retrieve data. (Beginners level; in English).
  • Thursday 16 January (9:30 - 10:30)
  • Wednesday 22 January (10:00 -11:00)
  • Thursday 30 January (10:00 - 11:00)
  • Wednesday 26 February (10:00 - 11:00)
  • Thursday 13 March (10:00 - 11:00)
  • Tuesday 25 March (10:00 - 11:00)
  • Wednesday 14 May (10:00 - 11:00)
  • Thursday 15 May (13:00 - 14:00)
  
  
• Datastream
  Presentation of the basic functions and options for Datastream. Exercises include basic searches, working with lists and Requests Tables. Datastream is a database with financial data from stock exchanges, annual reports as well as economics country data. The course teaches you how to use the Navigator software effectively and efficiently to find and download data. (Beginners level; in English).
  • Wednesday 15 January (10:00 - 12:00)
  • Tuesday 28 January (10:00 - 12:00)
  • Tuesday 11 February (9:30 - 11:30)
  • Thursday 27 February (9:00 - 11:00)
  • Wednesday 12 March (10:00 - 12:00)
  • Thursday 27 March (9:30 - 11:30)
  • Tuesday 6 May (10:00 - 12:00)
  • Thursday 8 May (9:30 - 11:30)
  • Thursday 15 May (9:30 - 11:30)

More information on these courses will become available through the Agenda on the library website. You will be able to sign up for the course(s) through the agenda. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Data Center helpdesk during the holidays

Due to the Holidays the opening hours of the helpdesk for the next few weeks will be as follows:

• 2013 Week 52 (23 - 27 December):
  • Tuesday 24 December: 10 am - 1 pm
  • Wednesday 25 December: closed
  • Friday 27 December: closed

• 2014 Week 1 (30 December - 3 January):
  • Library / Data Center closed

• 2014 Week 2 (6 January - 10 January):
  • Tuesday 7 January: 1 - 4 pm
  • Wednesday 8 January: closed
  • Thursday 9 January: 1 - 4 pm
  • Friday 10 January: closed.

Starting with Week 3 the helpdesk will be open as usual again:

• Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays: 1 - 4 pm.

N.B.: The opening hours of the university library during the holidays are available on the library website.

Fixed: Compustat Global Index constituent bug

For the past month the search option for indexes in the Compustat Global Index Constituents database was suffering from an operational bug. The search option is called Code Lookup and is available at search step 2 through the WRDS search portal. The bug made it impossible to search for the index codes through Code Lookup. The WRDS development team has now reported that they fixed this bug. We have tested this and the bug looks indeed to be gone.

It is therefore possible again to lookup ticker and GVKEYX codes for indexes and sector indexes through Code Lookup.

Datastream software problems

Datastream software is installed at many computers on the VU University campus. The software can be used to download time series data on many financial and economic subjects. The past few months there have been problems with using the Datastream software. The IT software team at the university has been working very hard to fix the problems and is now testing and packaging a new updated version of the software.

We expect that this solution will be implemented at the start of December at the latest. If you need help downloading data in the short term you can contact the Data Center (Tel. 020-59 85166, email: datacentrum.ub@vu.nl).

Opening hours Data Center back to normal !

The opening hours of the Data Center helpdesk temporarily changed during October because of the holidays. Starting next week (from 3 November) the opening hours of the Data Center will be again as they were:

• Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 13:00 and 16:00 pm
  
  
• The Data Center Helpdesk will be closed on Thursdays!

The information and support of financial and socio/economic databases through the Data enter blackboard course is available at all times (except for during maintenance).

Error in code lookup Compustat Global - index constituents

Dear customer,

The search option (code lookup) for indexes (step 2) in the WRDS Global, Index Constituents database is suffering from an operational bug. This make sit impossible to search for indexes. The WRDS development team is currently fixing this.

To help us out, they have provided us with a list of Index GVkey codes, which can be used instead of the search menu. (just fill in, and check the gvkey code box in step 2)

A list of GVkeys codes follows.
GVKkey codes Index name

Thank you for understanding

Data Center developments !

1) Data Center helpdesk The next few weeks the opening hours of the helpdesk will change:

- Next week (week 39) the helpdesk will be closed on Tuesday 24 September. On Wednesday 25 September and Friday 27 September the helpdesk will be open as usual between 1 and 4 pm.

- From 30 September to 1 November the Helpdesk will not be available on Wednesdays and Friday.

The helpdesk opening hours will be as follows:
- Tuesday 1 October & Thursday 3 October: from 1 to 4 pm
- Tuesday 8 October & Thursday 10 October: from 1 to 4 pm
- Tuesday 15 October from 1 to 4 pm & Thursday 17 October: from 2 to 4 pm
- Tuesday 22 October & Thursday 24 October: from 1 to 4 pm
- Tuesday 29 October & Thursday 31 October: from 1 to 4 pm

2) New Course: Data Center and Financial Databases Presentation of the services of the Data Center followed by exercises using the financial databases Compustat and Datastream.
This includes basic searches and working with lists. The course teaches you some of the basics using two databases as an example.
Courses planned: - On 24 October from 9 to 12 am < - link
- On 28 November from 9 to 12 am < - link The location for the course will be the MediaXperience on the 1st floor: room 1A-01J.

You will be able to sign up for this course through the agenda on the library website.

Change opening hours Helpdesk Data Center In order to improve the availability of our services the help desk opening hours will change. As from September 1st 2013, the opening hours of help desk Data Center are: • Tuesday: 13 - 16 hr • Wednesday: 13 - 16 hr • Friday 13-15: hr Location: room 3b-04 (Library 3rd floor, B-wing, main campus building) Verandering openingstijden Helpdesk Datacentrum Om onze klanten nog beter van dienst te kunnen zijn worden de openingstijden van de helpdesk vanaf 1 september 2013 • Dinsdag: 13 – 16 uur • Woensdag: 13- 16 uur • Vrijdag: 13- 16 uur Locatie: kamer 3B-04 (bibliotheek 3e verdieping, hoofdgebouw)

Opening Hours Help Desk Data Center August

Zomer reces helpdesk Datacentrum In verband met het zomerreces is de help desk datacentrum in de periode 12 – 23 augustus alleen op donderdagmiddag 15 en 22 augustus geopend (13 - 16 uur) Dank u wel voor uw begrip Summer schedule helpdesk Data Center (Summer recess) Due to Summer recess openings hours of Data center helpdesk will be limited to Thursday August 15th and 22nd (13-16 hr) Thank you for understanding

Financial Times & LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a database that offers access to news, market research and company information. Online articles are available from the world´s foremost newspapers, newswires, magazines and key information providers. The company information part includes reports with annual report data for many companies worldwide and many additional company information sources.

The publisher of the Financial Times has announced that it will change its policy on updates for LexisNexis on 1 August 2013. This means that newspaper articles will no longer be avialble after 24 hours of publication in the Financial Times. Starting with August 2013 Financial Times newspaper articles will only be available in LexisNexis after an embargo period of 30 days.

The database Factiva.com is a source that offers access to a similar combination of information: news as well as company/market information. Through this database (at the moment) the Financial Times is still available within 24 hours of online/print publication. I expect that this will change in the future and that the embargo of 30 days will also be enforced by the FT. For now, hat is not the case.

New Datastream Navigator in June 2013

The Datastream Navigator is the internet-based browser that allows you to search and select specific time series on all sorts of subjects. These include company annual report data, stock data, futures, commodities, etc. One of the major changes in the Datastream Navigator will involve the first selection step: currently you first need to choose a specific data category before searching for series within the category. In the new version of the Navigator you can search immediately and you can narrow down the search result using the data categories as a filter option on the left side of the menu. It will be similar to current filter options when you search within a data category. An overview of the main changes can be downloaded here.

If you need help or support on using Datastream you can contact the Data Center team of the library or use the Data Center Blackboard course. More information on support for databases is available on the library website.

To use Datastream you will have to use a computer at the VU campus where the software is made available. If you are a student you may use computers in the computer rooms on the university campus: 5B-06, 7B-06, 2B-56 (Initium), Library 3rd floor (3B-01 and 4B-01). If you are a researcher you may have to contact the university IT department to get them to install the software at your place of work (on campus): IT helpdesk (Tel.: 020 - 59 80000, email: ucit-servicedesk@vu.nl).

New additions to the library collection - May 2013

Below you find a short selection of recently acquired literature. Through the library website it is also possible to get a monthly overview of new additions to the library collection.

• Amiryany Araghy, N. (2013). High-technology acquisitions: an inquiry toward the microfoundations of a "grafting capability". Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.
• Borio, C. (2013). The great financial crisis: setting priorities for new statistics. [Basel]: Bank for International Settlements.
• Cornia, G. A. (2012). Development policies and income inequality in selected developing regions, 1980-2010. Geneva: UNCTAD.
• Eijck, K. H. (2012). De corporatie in transitie : maatschappelijke meerwaarde en nieuwe ruimte in tijden van krapte. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit.
• Reihlen, Markus and Werr, Andreas (2012). Handbook of research on entrepreneurship in professional services. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Ho, W. Y. A. (2013). Do economies stall? : the international evidence. [Basel]: Bank for International Settlements.
• Holz, C. A. (2013). Wage and price dynamics in a large emerging economy: the case of China. [Basel]: Bank for International Settlements.
• Kelliher, Clare and Richardson, Julia. (2012) New ways of organizing work : developments, perspectives and experiences. New York, Routledge. Routledge studies in human resource development.
• Ljungqvist, Lars and Sargent, Thomas J. (2012) Recursive macroeconomic theory. Print. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press.
• Missale, A. (2012). Multilateral indexed loans and debt sustainability. Geneva: UNCTAD.
• Muntinga, D. (2013). Catching COBRAs. SWOCC, Amsterdam.
• Rouwendal, J. (2013). Oud goud : economische waardering van cultureel erfgoed. Vrije Universiteit 2013, Amsterdam.
• The SAGE handbook of corporate governance (2012). London: SAGE.
• Sundaram, Rangarajan K. and Das, Sanjiv R. (2011). Derivatives: principles and practice. New York, McGraw-Hill Irwin. The MGraw-Hill/Irwin series in finance, insurance, and real estate.

It is also possible to view all monthly new additions to the collection through the library website. Please submit any queries about the collection or acquisition suggestions to the information specialist for Economics and Business Administration: Mark Bruyneel (m.bruyneel@vu.nl).

Thousands of accountancy publications now online

A large part of the library collection of the Nederlandse Beroepsorganisatie van Accountants (NBA, formerly NIVRA, Koninklijk Nedelands Instituut van Register Accountants) has been digitized by the Library of the Free University. The print and digitized collection are now available through the catalog of the Library.

The digitized Collection consists of more than 300,000 pages and includes:

• all issues of the magazine "the Accountant" since 1895
• about 800 NBA publications
• more than 1,000 books from the technical library of Professor Theodore Limperg Jr
• the "Historical Archive, a collection of important publications on accounting published before 1940.

The digitized publications are available through a search option in the catalog of the Library: combine the text "NIVRA Gedigitaliseerd" with subject keywords and you will find these online publications.

Data Center Helpdesk in week 19

The Data Center helpdesk will be closed on Thursday and Friday in week 19. The opening hours on Wednesday 8 May remain the same. In this week the helpdesk will be available on Monday as well. To summarize:

• Monday 6 May open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
• Wednesday 8 May open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
• Thursday 9 May: closed
• Friday 10 May: closed.

Library Announcements

New no cash policy:

Starting May 1 it will no longer be possible to pay with cash for any of the library services. This policy measure will (in time) also become practice at other service points of the university. From then on you will only be able to pay using your bank card or a prepaid bank card.

Library closed during April/May holidays

VU University Library will be closed during public holidays: 30 April, 9 & 10 May.

• 30 April (Queensday)
• 9-10 May (Ascension)
• 19-20 May (Pentecost)

Note: Friday 10 May the Medical Library (VUmc) will be open 9am - 5 pm.

Data Center helpdesk in week 16

The Data Center helpdesk is closed on Wednesday 17 April. The Opening hours on Thursday 18 April remain the same, but Friday 19 April the helpdesk will be open later than usual. To summarize:

• Wednesday 17 April: closed

• Thursday 18 April: open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

• Friday 19 April: open from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

New additions to the library collection

Below you find a short selection of recently acquired literature. Through the library website it is also possible to get a monthly overview of new additions to the library collection.

• Diebold, F. X. & Rudebusch, G. D. (2013). Yield curve modeling and forecasting : the dynamic Nelson-Siegel approach. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Enders, W. (2010). Applied econometric time series. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
• Geweke, J. (2010). Complete and incomplete econometric models. Princeton, NJ [etc.]: Princeton University Press.
• Kipping, M. & Clark, T. (2012). The Oxford handbook of management consulting. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
• Napier, C. & Haniffa, R. (2011). Islamic accounting. Cheltenham [etc.]: Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Nicolini, D. (2012). Practice theory, work, and organization : an introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Nordberg, D. (2011). Corporate governance : principles and issues. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
• O'Donoghue, R. & Padilla, A. J. (2006). The law and economics of Article 82 EC. Oxford [etc.]: Hart.
• Piunovskiy, A. B. (2013). Examples in Markov decision processes. (vol. 2) London: Imperial College Press.

It is also possible to view all monthly new additions to the collection through the library website. Please submit any queries about the collection or acquisition suggestions to the information specialist for Economics and Business Administration: Mark Bruyneel (m.bruyneel@vu.nl).

Changes in opening hours: week 13 & 14

Week 13 (25 March - 29 March):

• The library will be closed on Friday, March 29th. The library will be open as usual from Monday to Thursday: between 9:00 am and 7:00 pm
• The Data Center helpdesk will also not be open on Friday. The opening hours of the Data Center on Wednesday and Thursday will remain the same: between 1:00 and 4:00 pm.

Week 14 (1 April - 5 April):

• On Easter Monday, April 1st, the library will be closed. The library will be open as usual from Tuesday to Thursday: between 9:00 am and 7:00 pm. On Friday the library is open between 9:00 am an 5:00 pm
• In this week the Data Center helpdesk is open as usual: on Wednesday and Thursday between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. On Friday the helpdesk is open from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.

That’s the Question: new tool for teachers

The university library has developed a new free tool that helps you formulate test questions for exams. As part of a SURF project Silvester Draaijer, advisor on IT and education at the library, has created a tool that helps and supports teachers when they are developing tests or test questions.

The tool is intended to offer suggestions and advise to teachers about formulating clear and precise test questions. Uing the tool you, as a teacher, will be able to create your own list of test questions that can be easily exported to the current test systems. More information is available (in Dutch) at the library website. You can also contact ir. Silvester Draaijer.

New additions to the library collection

Below you find a short selection of recently acquired literature. Through the library website it is also possible to get a monthly overview of new additions to the library collection.

• Alemanno, A., den Butter, F., Nijsen, A., & Torriti, J. (2013). Better Business Regulation in a Risk Society. Springer.
• Biondi, Y. & Zambon, S. (2013). Accounting and business economics : insights from national traditions. Taylor and Francis.
• Botzem, S. (2012). The politics of accounting regulation : organizing transnational standard setting in financial reporting. Cheltenham [etc.]: Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Butter, F. A. G. d. (2012). Managing transaction costs in the era of globalization. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Eriksson, P. & Kovalainen, A. (2008). Qualitative methods in business research. Los Angeles [etc.]: SAGE Publications. (2 print copies)
• Firestone, J. M. & McElroy, M. W. (2003). Key issues in the new knowledge management. Boston, MA [etc.]: Butterworth-Heinemann.
• Reihlen, M. & Werr, A. (2012). Handbook of research on entrepreneurship in professional services. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Takseva, T. & Global, I. G. I. (2013). Social software and the evolution of user expertise: future trends in knowledge creation and dissemination. Information Science Reference.

It is also possible to view all monthly new additions to the collection through the library website. Please submit any queries about the collection or acquisition suggestions to the information specialist for Economics and Business Administration: Mark Bruyneel (m.bruyneel@vu.nl).

Reference management support

The library of the VU supports two software programs that help you manage references when doing research and writing papers. These software programs are Reference Manager and EndNote. Both programs allow you to easily gather citations from literature databases, websites and Google Scholar without too much diffulty.
Using these references from your own database while writing a paper then becomes easy as pie. Find out more about both programs from the library website which also offers manuals. During the course of the year the library also provides workshops. Information on these workshops and the option to register, is available through the Agenda at the library website.

News on financial databases

New blog entries have been made available on different subjects. Most of these deal with financial databases available to the personnel and students at the Vrije Universiteit. Most deal with databases and some of the subjects deal with handling data in Excel. Some of the latest blog entries in February concern: IPO data and quality, Combining searches in SDC Platinum, Accounting standards & Datastream, Using the Excel function Vlookup, Datastream & ratings, Auditor data in databases, Bankruptcy information in databases, and Index constituents in databases.

Library services improved according to students and personnel

The library of the Vrije Universiteit has organized a customer satisfaction questionnaire at the end of 2012 among both students and personnel at the University and the VU Medical Centre. According to the results that are now available, the library has made definite progress compared to an earlier customer satisfaction questionnaire which was held in 2008. In that year the library got a grade of 6.6 overall. In 2012 the VU gave a 7.2 overall grade and the VU Medical Centre a 7.4. If you want more information you can visit the library website and even download the full (Dutch language) report.

Data Center opening hours 8 & 15 February

This week and next week the Data Center help desk will be open on Fridays between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. The opening hours on Wednesday and Thursday remain the same. To summarize:

• Week 6:
  • Wednesday 6 February: open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
  • Thursday 7 February: open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
  • Friday 8 February: open from 2:00 am to 4:00 pm

• Week 7:
  • Wednesday 13 February: open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
  • Thursday 14 February: open from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
  • Friday 15 February: open from 2:00 am to 4:00 pm

The Data Center Team.

Opening hours Data Center helpdesk

The Data Center helpdesk will be open earlier than usual on Friday 25 January: between 10:00 and 12:00 am. The opening hours on Wednesday and Thursday remain the same. To summarize:

• Wednesday 23 January: open from 1:00 pm to 16:00 pm
• Thursday 24 January: open from 1:00 pm to 16:00 pm
• Friday 25 January: open from 10:00 am to 12:00 am.

The data Center team.

Helpdesk Data Center on Wednesday 16 January

Due to the reorganization of the Library and the meeting of the Employees Council (Ondernemingsraad) the helpdesk will start and close earlier this Wednesday. This means that the helpdesk will be open on Wednesday from 12:00 to 14:30 pm.

The Data Center Team

New database: REACH

A new database with Dutch Company data has become available starting this week: REACH (Review and Analysis of Companies in Holland). Using REACH a comparison by industry sector can be made or an overview of the historical developement of a specific Dutch company. Data is available for the last 10 years. The database can be searched using company name, personnel size and sector. Specific sections are available with some basic financial information, information on ownership and the board & directors.

The database is supplied online by Bureau Van Dijk. This is the same company that supplies the databases Amadeus, Zephyr and Bankscope. All of these databases look the same and offer similar search and download options. If you already know one of the last three databases, learning to use REACH should not be a problem. The database is supported by the Data Center Team.

The Data Center Team.

SDC Platinum & Helpdesk Changes

1) SDC Platinum
The last few days there have been problems with the two SDC Platinum computers in the library. These problems have now been solved. Everything should now be working as before. If you need to use the database you can make a reservation by calling the library at: 020-598 5160.

2) Data Center Helpdesk
This week the Data Center helpdesk will be open earlier than usual on Friday: between 10:00 and 12:00 am. The opening hours on Wednesday and Thursday remain the same. To summarize:

• Wednesday 9 January: open from 1:00 pm to 16:00 pm
• Thursday 10 January: open from 1:00 pm to 16:00 pm
• Friday 11 January: open from 10:00 am to 12:00 am.

The data Center team.