Are you working on a report or presentation and you need some market data? Do you want to research, analyze, or get some information on insurance? In the Fundación MAPFRE Documentation Center you can find all the information you need!
TEXT ESTHER SILVÁN
The Fundación MAPFRE Documentation Center specializes in insurance, risk management and social protection, although the collection also includes related subjects such as law and economics. Its prime objective is the dissemination of information which, in turn, can be transformed into knowledge.
The service offered by the Documentation Center is aimed at the general public, but MAPFRE employees enjoy value-added services: from their desk (simply by accessing the Documentation Center Catalog via the Global Intranet and clicking on the PEOPLE tab) they can download the available digitized documents directly from there. This is a support tool in the daily work of our Group’s employees, helping them when they need to search for specific information. It is also the platform through which they can keep up to date with all developments related to the insurance industry.
The Catalog currently contains over 145,000 bibliographic items, among which are numerous specialized publications: magazine articles, reports, research studies, rankings, legislative developments, etc. And it facilitates consulting and downloading any Fundación MAPFRE publication, this being a one-stop repository
There is a free mobile application, “FM Library”, for both iOS and Android tablets and smartphones.
This allows you to browse the entire catalog and the latest developments, as well as being able to download freely accessible documents and read them later, without needing an Internet connection.
The Documentation Center works in real time thanks to the alert service targeting all employees within the MAPFRE Group, informing them of the latest bibliographic incorporations. It can be personalized to select a particular field and the update frequency Another service available is the personalized location of information, a feature which includes: information searches in external databases, specialized insurance industry firms, queries, collective catalogs, etc. To provide this service, the Documentation Center relies on the support of documentalists who help users with the search process.
In line with the global strategy of commitment to innovation and digitization, it employs the latest technologies for the storage and retrieval of information, which are key to its development. This preoccupation with enhancing the compatibility, visibility and positioning of the Center is reflected in the projects it is currently undertaking:
• In 2016, together with the Corporate Procurement and Resources Division, it set up a procedure to centralize all the purchases of publications in one place. This is done with two prime objectives:
- 1. The creation of a Global Insurance Digital Library, with the full collection readily available to all MAPFRE employees.
- 2. Maximum rationalization of the resources earmarked for the acquisition of publications, through the creation of a corporate fund available to all employees/ companies and managed by the Documentation Center. All publications acquired by MAPFRE can be found there, thus avoiding the purchase of duplicate titles.
• Together with the Global Intranet, it is working to ensure that all countries where MAPFRE is present have direct access to the Catalog and can enjoy fluid communication when seeking information.
• The implementation of international documentation standards to facilitate compatibility and visibility has enabled it to form part of EUROPEANA, the largest European digital platform offering free access to more than 53 million digital objects. This provides a single, multilingual, multidisciplinary access point to a multitude of digital resources from renowned cultural institutions in the 27 member states of the European Union.
