Global Trends on CD-ROM

Curious about the last 50 years of cigarette production? What about global temperatures from 1880 to 2001? All this and more can be found on Signposts 2002: Envisioning the Future, a CD-ROM featuring information on global trends.

The information was compiled by Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization that has tracked global data on an array of environmental, economic, and social trends for more than two decades. Both librarians and high school students find the CD-ROM accessible, says Lori Brown, Worldwatch's project leader and research librarian. "The writing is not technical; it's meant for the lay person."

Signposts showcases hundreds of international facts. For example, students can study global wars and armed conflicts from 1950 to 2001, while exploring nuclear warhead tests listed by country during the same period.

The CD has full-text search capabilities, as well as hyperlinked footnotes and links to relevant Web sites and online articles. The price for schools is $156.