Did you know that the IAA Web site gives you access to a Virtual Actuarial Library?
The Virtual Actuarial Library launches a search into a seamless universe comprising over 200,000 documents from over 70 sites of interest to actuaries such as the libraries of actuarial associations, a number of academic libraries and international organisations, etc. As you search only within a selected group of sites, this drastically reduces the number of non relevant answers. You can further narrow the search universe by selecting in or out specific libraries by document type and by year. Within the whole universe or the part you selected, your search proceeds automatically from a single click; you do not need to write down the addresses one by one.

The search tool itself is quite flexible in helping you define your search algorithm through a combination of AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, etc. You can build detailed search queries by using the “Advanced Search” option and get detailed instructions by clicking on “Help”. Of course you can use the automatic translator to insert key words in other languages to widen your search algorithm.

The Virtual Global Actuarial Library has been assembled to facilitate access to our core body of actuarial knowledge and to professional information of interest to actuaries. The search tool is an efficient way of sharing knowledge within the global actuarial profession and of improving the quality of actuarial services around the world. 

If your site is not included in the Virtual Actuarial Library or if you know of other useful sites, please contact Christian Levac with any suggestion or comment on the use of the tool itself.

Online Translation

When you find an interesting document, if you wish to have the document translated select your text or copy the URL, and proceed to the icon labelled "Online Translation", which allows you to translate it into one of the 8 languages supported by our customized translation tool. The languages are Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Do not expect polished translations. We are working on improving the results by adding terms and expressions in a custom actuarial dictionary, but it is still a work in progress. However, it will give you the gist of the document or message and will allow you to decide if you wish to have it professionally translated.