Embassy of the United States Port Louis, Mauritius

The U.S. Embassy Library in Port Louis was founded in 1979. It was rededicated as the "American Resource Center" on May 4, 1995. In November 1998, the center was renamed the U.S. "Information Resource Center" or IRC. The new IRC is intended to meet the needs of Mauritian government policymakers, academics, including graduate students doing research, journalists, and others whose work requires them to have in-depth information about the United States. Individuals in these groups will automatically become IRC contacts with full IRC access rights upon request to the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis. 

Research & Reference

The reference service is the basis of the IRC services. Reference and research covering a full range of themes are provided to target client via telephone, fax, e-mail and through the IRC website. The IRC subscribes to specific databases in order to perform reliable research. A few examples follow:

Lexis-Nexis: provides full-text legal, news and business information from over 3,200 legal and business publications.

GaleNet: covers a wide range of directories and other products, mainly from the Internet, GPO Access, the U.S. Government Printing Office, with access to the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, and Congressional bills, all accessible on the day of publication.

ProQuest Direct: provides immediate access to an extensive collection of newspapers, journals, periodicals and other information sources, and includes citations and/or abstracts from over 1600 periodicals and newspapers, including the New York Times.

Stat-USA: an online resource supported by the U.S. Dept of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, containing crucial and timely business and economic information produced by U.S. Federal agencies.

Factiva.com: provides access to over 6,000 full text periodicals as well as major news sources such as Reuters wires, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. In many regions, Factiva provides strong host country news.

Federal News Service: provides transcripts to testimony, briefings, press conferences and congressional hearings with questions and answers. FNS also produces a daybook which details significant events in Washington as well as cabinet officer schedules.

Leadership Directories: provides online access to directories of the Congress, federal, state and municipal government, law firms, NGOs, judicial, media and associations.

Outreach Activities

Through the Information Resource Center, the Embassy Center is expanding its outreach services and is currently offering three different services to selected patrons: Article Alerts, Electronic Journals, and Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI).

Article Alerts are compilations of abstracts of recent American articles which are produced on a bi-monthly basis. Members who express an interest in this service will receive alerts and may select up to five articles. 

Electronic Journals examine major issues facing the United States and the international community. Issues will be distributed based on stated areas of interest and will be available upon request. 

Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI): The Center is now focusing on a few key subject areas and through this service we will keep you informed of the latest information we receive in your areas of interest.