Tobacco Documents Online

and the fact that 12 years of enforcement of the ban in Singapore had brought no reduction whatsoever in smoking in that country. The bill was defeated. And now, the fifth and final category of our work. It concerns the library, catalogues and - increas- ingly important - the computerized data base. Following our recent mailing of the first catalogue of audio-visual material, we received a number of requests for films and cassettes. This is one illustration of how useful the cross-communication - the intermeshin - of action and material can be. Imminently you will be receiving an up-dated version of the audio-visual catalogue, as well as a catalogue of printed material available at INFOTAB. We hope, of course, that this will prompt some Associations to produce their own material. With the same objective in mind, we sent you recently the brochure, "Cigarette Smoke and the Non-Smoker", produced by one NMA, with our offer to supply copies either in English or in translation. Sixteen associations took up this offer. A Spanish and an Arab version were produced. Our library now contains 750 books. We subscribe to, and scan, 80 periodicals and between ten and fifteen digests of economic and scientific literature. The computerized information base will fully cover the priority issues we tackle by the middle of next year. * * * * *

I want to close with a glance into the future. First, we expect the flow of requests to continue at least at its present rate, and therefore we place importance on building up our documentation base, since this is often the repository of the raw material we work from. With statistical data in increasing demand and, with the Winnipeg recommendations in mind, we are also examining the possibility of building up a data base on con- sumption and taxation statistics. INFOTOPICS will be restyled into a more fileable format. As far as surveillance of up-coming events is concerned, our present calendar for the coming year lists at least 30 meetings likely to carry smoking or associated topics on their agenda, including meetings in Latin America and Africa announced at Winnipeg. We have written to the Associations of the host countries and very much hope that they will be able to assist in monitoring them. During the•second part of 1984, several members may ask for direct electronic access to the computerized data base. We already know of two such interested parties. Our experience has shown - and most of you know this better than we do - that this process must be carefully prepared. Each person plugging into our data base must be thoroughly familiar with its keyword system and how information is processed.

One of the most difficult parts of our Information Services' work seems to be to be to find a balance between drowning you in a sea of paper and keeping you adequately informed on relevant issues. Have we found this balance? Or are we sending out too much material? Do let us know. To get your views, we have inserted a short questionnaire into your Workshop wallet, which we would like you to fill in and leave at the reception desk, if you have not yet done so. Before I introduce my colleagues to you, let me once more emphasize how important your thinking INFOTAB and communicating with us on developments and industry action is, for us to serve our common purpose. Now, let me introduce my colleagues - you know many of their names, but perhaps not the faces. And, as I said at the outset, our greatest resource is people. (slide sequence of individuals) This is Roland Corradini, an economist by training. He deals with requests related to economic/taxation matters, is in charge of the regular legislative data and up-date and also gives support to project work. Helen Willows is a biochemist and has developed considerable expertise in the advertising and public smoking areas, and usually deals with requests in these fields. and normally leaves us end She, however, ally to the studies. She was a member of the Winnipeg team tackles specific requests. Helen of September, to our greatest regret. assures us that she will remain an industry while taking up medical

Helen is presently training Esther Maquet to take over her job. And Esther, from Hawaii, with an economic background has also worked in health policy research. She is already actively involved in our activities, although she only joined the team mid-August. Catharine Browne is sitting among us. She is the author of INFOTOPICS, INFOGRAM and INFODATE and it is not unusual to find her at her desk buried beneath a stack of documents which she expertly condenses down to a more digestible size for us all. Peter Kettlewell is our documentalist and very much our intermediate computer - if this did not sound so inhuman. His excellent memory has saved many of us hours of search, especially before the information was properly stored. Verna Hartinger is our information analyst. She scans, reads, abstracts, and keywords documents which are selected to go on computer. Her greatest concern is to feed in in such a manner that the people accessing the data base will find the highest possible level of relevance in their search. And these are our secretaries, giving the team efficient, well-organized and reliable assistance. Suzanne Osborne Geraldine Valdez Nicola Fadda Natalie Dommett Nicole van den Mosselaer (missing)

On behalf of the Information Services team you have just seen on the screen, I want to close with a word of admiration to our industry in all parts of the world, as represented by all of you today. You are on the firing line in defending our industry. You are dedicated to building its prosperity and enhancing its role in the economic community of your country or region. We, in Information Services, will do everything we can to provide assistance. Please call on us. Thank you. A. CORTI/SJO/4 September 28, 1983