*Not all papers were submitted for publication. Full papers are being published with the proceedings of the Conference in the Quarterly Bulletin (QB) of IAALD, v. 42, no. 2, 1997, edited by Antoinette Paris (Toni) Powell, (Director, Agriculture Library, University of Kentucky). Abstracts are arranged in the order papers were presented at the USAIN conference. For photos of the speakers see those in the conference report on the preceding pages.
A new age is upon us and no one can halt its progress. The new information and communication technologies offer immense opportunitiesto all societies and individuals for alternative, truly universal, and often cheaper ways of accessing and disseminating information. But will those opportunities be offered equally to any society in the world? Less developed countries are in a particularly precarious position. While the importance of the information revolution has been recognized at the highest political levels in many developing countries, a major concern is how to apply information technologies to development effectively so as to reduce, rather than widen and deepen, the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" and worsen inequality across the technological divide. The major problems are posed not by the technologies as such, which can in general be acquired and adapted if appropriate resources are mobilized, but rather by the political,social, organizational, and ethical issues involved. This paper examines the global development dilemma, the potential impact of technology upon development, and the role of information professionals in building bridges between producers and users of information.
In 1996, the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) was privatized. It transferred from the ownership of a UK Government Department and was split into two parts, one a private company owned by a consortium of Universities while the other became part of a University. A history ofthe NRI is provided, along with the rationale behind the decision to remove it from Government ownership. The impact of the privatization process on the Library and Information Services Group and its staff and the support it provided to the Institute is covered along with main points from the legal document that enabled the Library to move into a University. The numerous changes imposed on the Library are described and summarized, and a short section towards the end of the paper gives advice on survival of privatization, for others who may have to go through it. A sense of humor is the most important necessary attribute for the library manager.
Joseph R. Judy, Anton Mangstl, and Fynvola Le Hunte Ward
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy
The specific components which make up the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are described. WAICENT comprises three principal components which are interactive and complementary: FAOSTAT, for the storage and dissemination of statistical information; FAOINFO, which covers hypermedia information; and FAOSIS, which covers very specialized information systems. WAICENT has brought a new strategic information approach related to paper versus electronic distribution and to dissemination versus central storage. Emphasis is given in this paper to the public information initiatives under WAICENT; the specialized information services provided by the various departments of FAO and delivered through WAICENT; and the full-text document storageand retrieval system.
H. Friedrich and J.M. Pohlmann
Zentralstelle f¨r Agrardokumentation und Information, Germany
Agricultural information and documentation (I&D) has to find a new orientation in a changing world entering the global information society. Not only do the processing and searching of bibliographic databases have to be considered, but also that of all the other types of information (e.g.: dates, events, projects, finances, calculationdata, addresses). The end user himself wants to search databases online with the help of simple interfaces. Therefore, the goal of I&D has changed. The aim now is to find the right information source that will contain data relevant to the problem.
I&D centers have at their disposal a large amount of expert knowledge and experience with databases, documentation, and information resulting from their classical subject fields. The transformation of this into the requirements of the new media will result in modern end-user oriented information systems like the German Agricultural Information Network (Deutsches Agrarinformationsnetz, DAINet, http://www.dainet.de). This demonstration shows how the transformation of existing knowledge in combination with modern web and database technology was used to create the world's largest agricultural search catalogue on the web. The classification systems and the contents ofthe metadata formats are explained. The conclusions give a perspective of future developments.
Presently, DAINet links and describes more than 7,500 agriculture-related information sources worldwide and about 800 institutional web sites. Over 150,000 page requests per month from all over the world illustrate the need for the DAINet search catalogue.
Edith Hesse,
CIMMYT Library, Mexico
Jane Johnson,
CIMMYT Library
Fernando Garcia,
CIMMYT Library
Miguel Efron Orozco,
CIMMYT Library, Mexico
Corinne De Gracia, Edith Hesse, Jane Johnson, Fernando Garcia, Miguel Efron Orozco, Estela Amador, Jose Juan Caballero CIMMYT Library, Mexico
This paper describes CIMMYT's migration to a new integrated library software and the impact of that software on various management tasks. A product of INMAGIC, Inc., the software is known as DB/TextWorks (Windows version). Flexibility and user-friendliness are among its outstanding features. These features translate into a better control over the database by library staff, who no longer need to depend on computer programmers to make modifications. Furthermore, improved features in each new version of the software help meet clients' needs more effectively. The paper gives emphasis to the selection process, which, for CIMMYT, was crucial because of budget limitations and the importance of finding an improved system.
S. Srinivas,V. Venkatesan, and S. Prasannalakshmi
ICRISAT, India
The growth and development of the Semi-Arid Tropical Information Services (SATCRIS), its objectives, its products and services, and the promotion of SATCRIS service and products are described The Union Catalogue of Serials in International Agricultural Research Centers has proven a very useful tool in the information sharing process. Its development, how the ILOAN package can facilitate the loan process between the participating libraries, the change from a manual system to an automated SDI service system, and the process of getting feedback from the users of this service are explained. The need for reviewing and improving the SATCRIS products and services, the process of conducting the Impact Study, and plans for implementing the suggestions from the target users are also highlighted.
The deficiency of library professionals knowledgeable in computer applications and the non-availability of a suitable and less expensive library software had been identified as the major constraints faced by library automation in Sri Lanka. With the view of overcoming these difficulties, the Agricultural Library Network of Sri Lanka (AGRINET) developed an integrated information system for library operations, based on the micro CDS/ISIS software. The system, which is named PURNA, handles major library operations such as acquisition, cataloguing, indexing, circulation, serials control, current awareness,SDI. It generates the forms, letters, statements, and reports that are used in these operations. PURNA is suitable for small and medium size libraries with limited financial and personnel resources, looking for a low cost integrated software.
Dr. R.D. Cooke and T. Niang Information and Capacity Development, Centre Technique de Cooperation Agricole et Rurale (CTA), The Netherlands
The population of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries is expected to double in the next 30 years. During this period, all aspects of transition will have to be dealt with simultaneously, including rapid technical, economic, social, cultural, and political change. In this context, information policies and strategies take on added importance. CTA's role is to advance agricultural and rural development in ACP countries by promoting the transfer, exchange and utilization of information. CTA's areas of preoccupation with the impact of information on organizations involved in national agricultural systems are program definition and priority setting; program effectiveness; and efficiency of operations. This paper examines how CTA utilizes partnerships to promote development in ACP countries, particularly through regional information programs. The Lome IV Convention (1995-2000), which placed great emphasis on the need for regionally-based development programs, and partnership between the European Union and ACP countries are also discussed.
The project described explains in panoramic form the principal resources of information on agriculture in Peru. The emphasis is on systematizing the needs and information requirements of those who shape smallholder agriculture in Peru, as well as the difficulties in accessing information despite the efforts displayed by the rural offices of the Ministry of Agriculture. The case study on smallholder agriculture information was done using the farmers of the Huaral Zone (Lima) as a reference group. The paper presents conclusions and recommendations to keep in mind for development of an Information and Communication system aimed at smallholder agriculture in Peru. As anannex, a directory of Information Centers and Information Systems in Peru is included, incorporating both public institutions (Ministries and related agencies) and private ones (universities, research organizations, NGOs, etc.).
In 1995, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded a three-year project,Dissemination of Information on Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Agriculture in Tropical America, to improve access to the regional literature on natural resource management. The ultimate goal of the project is to improve the quality and efficiency of research and decision-making for sustainable agricultural production intropical America. The project objective is to acquire, process, and improve access to relevant regional literature not readily available inconventional sources. The project methodology employs several information technologies to carry out objectives and to reduce problems in communication, restricted access to the literature, and duplication of effort. Information is disseminated via diskette, electronic mail, Internet, and compact disc. The project is also evaluating the effectiveness of the technologies as tools for the exchange and transfer of information across borders. This paper addresses them ethodology, particularly the consortium model of partnership, the progress to date, and the challenges and constraints inherent workingin electronic partnership across political and cultural boundaries. The project is being jointly coordinated by the International Centerfor Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia and the Centro Agronsmico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza (CATIE) in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Currently, there are fifteen participating institutions in eight countries.
Qiaoqiao Zhang, Margot Bellamy and Stephen Rudgard CAB International, United Kingdom
At the beginning of the 1990s, CAB International (CABI) launched its CD-ROM Sponsorship Program, a scheme where by CD-ROMs, and associated equipment and services such as document delivery and training, are paid for or "sponsored" by various donor agencies. To date, CABI has supplied CD-ROM products to 180 institutions and over seven major donors have contributed to this scheme. The implementation of theCD-ROM Sponsorship Program has involved partnership with developing countries, development assistance agencies, and other like-minded organizations.
In 1995, CABI carried out two programs to evaluate the impact of the sesponsored CD-ROM databases on sustainable development in Africa and in China. The recommendations arising from those evaluations address the following issues: (1) achieving sustainability of CD-ROM database usage; (2) supporting library and information services; (3) attracting and stimulating the users; (4) sensitizing the managers; and (5)copyright.
As a result, several new initiatives related to the CD-ROM Sponsorship Program have been undertaken, including the development of (1)Guidelines for CD-ROM Sponsorship Projects; (2) Pricing Policy for the CD-ROM Sponsorship Program; and (3) Rules on Copyright and Fair Use of CABI Data. In addition, CABI has offered post-sponsorship assistance in order to help institutions in developing countries achieve self-sustainability. The whole approach is an integral part of CABI's Information for Development Program (IFD), which was launched in early1996. Under this Program, CABI is committed to assisting developing countries towards sustainability of their information systems through astrategic approach to capacity building. The fulfillment of these goals depends on the development and maintenance of effective partnerships.
Tricia Larner
Tropical Beef Centre, Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO),
Queensland, Australia
Internet usage in Australia is increasing at a rapid pace. As in many rural areas around the world, telephone services to rural and remote areas in Australia have always been under criticism but the recent increase in demand and supply of electronic information has brought this issue into the public arena. This paper arises from a 5-year project which is examining the use of electronic communication and information systems (including the Internet) within the Australian meat industry. The project, nicknamed MECIS, is described, and number of other projects currently under way also aimed at helping to get rural Australians connected to the Internet are briefly mentioned. Significant challenges to achieving connectivity, including the costs of service provision, inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, and education are addressed, and a brief discussion on the future of the Internet and rural Australia is also included.
Previous efforts to improve access to agricultural information have concentrated on the major libraries; little effort has been expended on potential users in the rural areas. A survey of Fiji's Northern Division to assess the availability of information resources confirmed that there was a total lack of information resources of any kind. A proposal for a pilot project has been drawn up to improve access to agricultural information in the Northern Division. Information centers will be developed at eight agricultural stations throughout the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Resources allocated will vary according to need but will be sufficient to support extension and research efforts at the stations, and serve the community. Existing staff at the stations will be trained to manage the information centers. Through dialogue with the users and technical staff, improved promotional materials will be developed. The goal is to create a better environment for agricultural development to take place.
Chris Addison Communique, Ireland and Peter Ballantyne European Center for Development and Policy Management (ECDPM), The Netherlands
The starting points for this paper are the growing trends for information professionals in agriculture and related fields to engage in cooperative activities, and for them to draw on opportunities offered by the Internet. The authors argue that Internet technologies, especially the world wide web, provide opportunities for organizations to collaborate as never before and to create concrete joint information products and services, all through a process that promotes "ownership" among the participating agencies. Aside from there sulting service or product, involvement in these joint efforts can build and strengthen "networks" or "communities" of interest which may, in the longer term, contribute as much to international development cooperation and understanding as the original web sites that spawned them. Using examples from development agencies in Europe, the authors explore the motives and aims of different organizations. They identify four important trends that influence the ways in which organizations cooperate on the Internet increasing decentralization, growing reliance on databases, greater attention to content, and the emergence of thematic "gateways." Finally, they discuss some management lessons and thoughts on the future use of the Internet.
Ctibor Perlin
Ivo Hoch
Jana Skládalová, Ctibor Perlin, and Ivo Hoch Institute of Agricultural and Food Information, Czech Republic
There were 8,853 libraries in the Czech Republic in 1995, seven of which were directly focused on agriculture. Detailed characteristics of all libraries in the Czech Republic and of the seven agricultural libraries are provided in two tables. Library computerization was launched in 1987 with UNESCO system CDS/ISIS. Currently, the Israeli system ALEPH and the English system TINLIB are being used most often, besides some domestic ones. ALEPH became the frame for the Czech and Slovak Library Information Network (CASLIN). CALIN is the proposed Czech Agricultural Library Information Network, yet to be realized. Access to the INTERNET in library areas has been available in the Czech Republic since 1992. Obviously, all of the U.S./Central and Eastern European Agricultural Library Roundtables have positively influenced the agricultural libraries' activities.
AGRIS has been widely used as a bibliographic and information utility by European countries. These have accounted for some 165,000 of 340,000 new records in the database on the CD-ROM for the period of 1993-November 1996. In this period, AGRIS/CARIS has been actively joined by new European countries. AGRIS/CARIS is a constituent of the FAO's WAICENT (World Agricultural Centre) network, which is made up of interactive utilities such as FAOSTAT, FAOINFO and FAOSIS. Development in the field of electronic communications has set new demands, some ofwhich will have to be heeded by AGRIS and other similar information systems. The term "document" will have to be redefined. Some new elements, such as hyperlinks to the full-text of certain documents might be added in the future to the possible Internet version of the database. More than two decades of experiences in vast international cooperation in the AGRIS community should serve as a valuable basis for application of present and future development in the networked information transfer of agricultural information. Local (national) AGRIS centers should more actively assert their present role in the process of transferring national scientific and technical information. This paper details how the Slovenian National AGRIS Centre has succeeded in doing so.
This paper reviews evidence from the literature that indicates the various ways information is valuable in agricultural and scientific research. Coverage includes the contributions information makes in creativity, technology transfer, the diffusion of innovation, paradigm shifts, regular revisions of national guidelines on nutrition and other subjects, and in solving national and regional crises relating to agriculture and food safety. In addition, reference is made to the value of information in reducing duplication of effort and in helping scientists re-direct their research into new areas.
This paper discusses the management of high-tech projects with a focuson one aspect that has not received much attention in the literature ofproject management and yet, the author believes, is at the heart of a significant number of project failures. The solution is straight forward and, in fact, is commonly known and typically included in any textbook on management techniques. The problem stems from a lack of appreciation between lay people and technologists assigned to project teams. At the heart of the problem is an in ability of these two groups, the users of technology and those who create technology, to communicate effectively with each other. The technology itself, with its arcane vocabulary and rapid pace of evolution, makes communication difficult, if not impossible. The author argues that the programmers typically assigned to project teams are not trained in the particular communication skills essential to bridge the gap between themselves and the users. Employing systems analysts, particularly in the early specification stage of the project, is an effective yet often overlooked solution to this problem.
This paper addresses the question of why a Technical Services Department would hire a metadata specialist and whether a "metadata specialist" is really a "cataloger" in meta-sheep clothing. Metadata is loosely defined as data about data. Catalogers have traditionally focused on one type of metadata--the MARC record or the content of the bibliographic record in the library's catalog. Since it is the role of the cataloger to provide intellectual access to the library's materials, catalogers must deal with a variety of questions related to metadata records as the library expands its collection of digital resources. Catalogers need to see themselves as metadata specialists,just as comfortable exploring the FGDC standards for spatial data asthey are navigating the maze of MARC tags. Evidence suggests that cataloging departments recruit and train staff for positions requiring broader computer experience and an awareness of larger metadata issues. This paper also explores whether students are attracted to the sepositions and whether library schools are preparing technical services staff for these challenges.
Steve Mitchell and Charlene M. Baldwin, University of California, Riverside, USA
INFOMINE is a unique hypertext virtual library of scholarly and educational Internet resources developed by a Project Team at the Library of the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Both a Web index and a search engine, INFOMINE provides annotated and indexed links to over 10,000 resources relevant to UCR and increasingly to the entire academic community. INFOMINE has become phenomenally successful. It now records over 100,000 accesses each week from throughout the world, from all web domains, and has over 4,000 other Web pages linking to it. INFOMINE is unique because of several features: its disciplinary focus, its method of selecting resources, its level of annotations and indexing, its sophisticated search techniques, its use of a hypertext database management system, and its high relevance to its identified users. This paper documents these unique features and gives particular emphasis to the strengths of its agricultural resources, indexing, and mission.
The Nutrition Information Center (NIC) at the University of Giessen, Germany, is
working to develop a suitable electronic information system on the WWW Internet platform.
The Web-Site was placed under the Giessen University WWW server. The URL is:
http://www.uni-giessen.de/nutriinfo/.
The site includes: 1) food and nutrition features targeted to advisory services,
journalists (press, television), and the general public, links to full-text resources from
other providers, and links to international Web-Sites; 2) information about current
publications and bibliographic references, including an interactive request form that
gives users the opportunity to order literature searches--processed by NIC--in
bibliographic databases; 3) the NIC Annual Report, stored on the WWW-Server in pdf-format;
and 4) agriculture- and forestry-related information and databases to improve efficiency
and public relations of government agricultural agencies.
Louise Letnes
Patricia Rodkewich and Louise Letnes, University of Minnesota, USA
AgEcon Search is a World Wide Web site developed at the University of Minnesota by the St. Paul Campus Library and the Department of Applied Economics with the cooperation and financial support of the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Economic Research Service of USDA, and the Farm Foundation. It is designed to index and to distribute electronically reports of scholarly research in agricultural economics, which is broadly defined and includes the economics of agriculture, rural communities, natural resources, and the broad policy issues that challenge and affect them. The literature presently being mounted on the site consists of the current working/staff papers of the departments of agricultural economics at universities in the United States and Canada. Each author is asked to submit an abstract of the paper along with the bibliographic information for the paper in ASCII format. This information is put into a searchable file. The full text of the papers is mounted in a read-only format, Adobe Acrobat. The papers may be read online or downloaded/printed by the searcher. AgEcon Search will be expanded to other types of electronic literature in the coming years.
Amy Hartman
Luanna Imgersoll
Angela Jones
Michael A.Somers
Amy Hartman, Luann Ingersoll, Angela Jones, and Michael A. Somers Kansas State University, USA
Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service, Kansas State University Libraries and the National Agricultural Library formed a partnership in 1994 to demonstrate the effective use of the MARC record to enhance access to extension education materials. The demonstration project was slated to run for one year before being evaluated. Now in its third year, the "project" is an integrated and coordinated effort to identify, catalog, and provide access to all of the publications produced by the Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Stations. Two significant changes have occurred since the project's inception that have increased access to these materials--many of the publications are loaded as full-text documents onto the K-State Research and Extension web site and they are "hot linked" from the Libraries' online catalog. The project has improved communication between the partners and their ability to work cooperatively toward common and significant goals.
Patricia S. Wilson
Antoinette Paris Powell and Patricia S. Wilson University of Kentucky, USA
The Agriculture Library at the University of Kentucky has offered library instruction in some form for the past 23 years. The program began in 1974 with the Library Literacy program that offered on demand workshops, an undergraduate for-credit course, graduate workshops, and programs to extension personnel. By 1988 the program had moved into a library literacy program that was proactive, provided individualized presentations, and provided a mix of electronic and paper sources. This program gave way to the information literacy program of 1994 which expanded target groups and collaborated with other areas. A shift inthe teaching emphasis in the College of Agriculture changed the way that library instruction was offered to the undergraduate students. The information literacy program of 1994 emphasized the ability to use the information system in general. Another shift is occurring, and we are now moving into information competency where the goal is for the user to become fully competent in the appropriate system for the appropriate use. To accomplish this the programs must be user driven,flexible, and assessment must be done to measure effectiveness.
The St. Paul Central Library is the largest of six libraries on the University of Minnesota--St. Paul Campus. In 1993, the reference unit was given the opportunity to reorganize into a self-managing team. We have had three years of successes and pitfalls in developing a cohesive team based on the principles of complementary skills, a common purpose and set of goals, and mutual accountability. Three factors inteam development are highlighted: the importance of the facilitator role; the value of consensus as a decision-making tool; and the use of the total quality management process as a model for continuous improvement.
Lutishoor Salisbury and Alberta S. Bailey University of Arkansas, USA
This paper identifies goals of a three-year pilot program, called SuperService, designed for graduate students and faculty. The basic premise of the SuperService model is to provide access to and delivery of information and documents "just-in-time" instead of building and owning a collection of information resources based on the"just-in-case" philosophy. Even though the initial focus of SuperService was on major bibliographic databases within targeted subject areas, it includes current awareness tools such as CARL UnCover Reveal E-Mail Alerting Service, ArticleFirst, and ContentsFirst. This paper also describes the approach taken to introduce the CARL UnCover Reveal E-Mail Alerting Service to faculty and graduate students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. It reports on the results of an E-mail survey to determine the level of user satisfaction, the ease with which profiles are created and updated, the average number of current journals users select for the profiles, the average number ofsearch strategies stored in the profiles, the effectiveness of retrieval, and the overall usefulness of the service.
Librarians have long sought to develop library collections they believe will satisfy the real and perceived needs of users. In recent years, several note worthy projects have extended this approach to the selection of Internet resources. This paper describes an experiment to enhance a Web-based science and technology reference library by the direct participation of users in the selection of subject categories of resources for incorporation within its collection. During September 1996, users were offered an opportunity to convey their preferences for Internet resources in various fields of agriculture by selecting categories from within a hypertext outline of the Library of Congress classification schedule for agriculture (S). Data gathered from server statistical reports for the files associated with these categories were subsequently analyzed and used to identify the subjects preferred mostby project participants. Access data from this project were then used to identify relevant web resources in a systematic review of net sites and also used to guide the selection of specific resources for priority description and classification within this virtual library. The paper discusses the development, implementation, limitations, and benefits of this experiment, and presents an expanded model for virtual cooperative collection development.
Biddanda Ponnappa
Sandra Leach and Biddanda Ponnappa, University of Tennessee,USA
Like libraries everywhere, the University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, are grappling with the serials crisis in academic publishing. We have enlisted the cooperation of faculty to review all of our serials subscriptions as an on going activity, and are using the accessibility of the Internet as a means to communicate regarding serials and to encourage participation. We created a web site, Journals Online News, 1) to inform faculty and other scholars about the crisis in scholarly publishing; 2) to call attention to library services related to obtaining journal articles; 3) to serve as a guide to journals resources available on the Internet; and 4) to provide local information about journal subscriptions and the evaluation process. Journals Online News is a Lynx-friendly site so that it can be used as a text-only resource by those who do not have access to a web browser such as Netscape. The "Journals Review" area of Journals Online News today includes lists of titles canceled for each fund, remaining lower priority titles that will serve as the basis of negotiation for new subscriptions, and lists of new subscriptions if cancellation activity was high enough to allow them. In addition, complete lists of journals attributed to each subject fund are now available. This paper showcases how the librarians at the Agriculture-Veterinary Medicine Library utilized this technology to communicate successfully with their users on cancellations of journal subscriptions.
While distance learning is a hotly debated topic, it is well documented that students do not learn any better at a distance, nor do they learn any less. The implementation of distance education programs provides the opportunity to reach the growing number of adults who are unable to or who will not attend traditional establishments. Yet encouraging adult learning at a distance is an intricate process. Adult learning theory assumes that adults learn from experience, bring experiences to the learning enterprise, like hands-on learning practices, and require a degree of control over learning. These are also factors that complicate the distance education process. Adding diversity makes the process much more complicated. Distance education has the potential to bring different races and nationalities, and various cultural and religious groups together from all over the world. These factors combine to make more diverse clienteles for educators. Learning the best methods of coping with the many diverse issues that they may encounter is impossible for these educators, alone. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is two fold: 1) to present strategies for successful adult distance learning, and 2) to examine diversity issues that may create barriers to effective distance learning.
NOTE: The remaining abstracts are for the Poster Sessions
Michael Haseltine
Carla Long Casler and Michael Haseltine Arid Lands Information Center, USA
As a demonstration project funded by the International Arid Lands Consortium, the Arid Lands Information Center is developing a Web siteto provide scientific and educational information on aridic soils of Israel and the U.S. Aridic soils are fragile and easily damaged. Loss of productivity of the soil exacerbates problems of sustainability in arid regions. This Web site was conceived as a means of making information on aridic soils more widely accessible, thus promoting better management practices. The site includes 1) images of aridic soils types and descriptions of their qualities, 2) inventories of soils surveys done in Israel and in the United States in states containing arid regions, 3) a directory of soil scientists researching aridic soils, 4) maps, and 5) a guide to educational resources on aridic soils. Descriptions and reference information compiled for the project are provided in English and Hebrew.
Tim Cullen, Natural Resources Institute, United Kingdom
and Peter Ballantyne, European Center for Development and Policy Management (ECDPM),
TheNetherlands
In October 1996, the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and Natural Resources Institute (NRI) jointly organized a small consultation to discuss barriers to, and opportunities for, inter-agency cooperation in support of information efforts indeveloping countries. Based on discussions during the meeting, this poster sets out some of the reasons why organizations in Europe are cooperating: because they must, because they can, and to remain competitive. It also explores some of the constraints to collaboration identified by participants and presents a list of action sidentified by participants as possible ways to improve the current situation.
JoAnn DeVries
Katherine Wern and JoAnn DeVries, University of Minnesota, USA
This poster presentation illustrates the Current Awareness Service for Current Contents for faculty on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. Current Contents is a multidisciplinary database that reproduces the table-of-contents pages for the latest issues of the most highly regarded research journals from around the world. One of the goals for service in St. Paul Central Library Reference is to provide access to information in the most efficient and most convenient ways for our patrons. Many faculty find it increasingly difficult to keep abreast of the latest advances in their field because of the amount of information available and competing demands for their time. They no longer have the luxury of time to browse through journals in the reading room, much less read a journal from cover to cover. A personalized profile search of the database, run on a regular basis with results sent to an e-mail address is an easy and time saving service of value to the faculty. We followed the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle model for continuous improvement and effective planning. This systematic planning process included developing a workplan for the search, save, and send document process; targeting faculty who might be interested; writing a profile questionnaire and guides to the database; conducting a pilot test; acting on feedback from the test to refine the process; and as the final step, offering the service to faculty members. The Current Awareness Service for Current Contents is being evaluated and modified to ensure that it becomes an indispensable tool for meeting faculty current awareness needs.
Jeanne Pfander
Mitchel P. McClaran, Michael Haseltine, and Jeanne Pfander, University of Arizona, USA
New technologies are providing unprecedented opportunities to access,use, and share information about range land resources and their management. Vast distances and widely dispersed people, so typical of rangelands, are a less foreboding barrier because text, imagery, sound, and discussion groups can be accessed throughout the world using theWorld Wide Web (WWW).
An interdisciplinary project team composed of members from the University of Arizona
Library and College of Agriculture is developinga range land management web site
http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/range/home.html
that will include text, images, interactive programs, links to other sources, and
opportunities for public discourse. The text files will include summaries of major topics
in the discipline in an abbreviated textbook format, and back-issues of the Journal of
Range Management. Imagery will include photographs and maps of rangeland resource
distribution and abundance. The links to other sources will include land management
agencies and databases describing climate, census, tenure, wildlife, and range sites.
Public discourse will be supported by listings of official public participation notices
and downloadable public documents that are open for public review and comment.
The Rangeland Management web site is Arizona's contribution to the broader effort, coordinated by the National Agricultural Library (NAL), to build an Agricultural Network Information Center (AgNIC) on the Internet's World Wide Web. Institutions currently involved include NAL, the University of Arizona, Iowa State University, the Universityof Nebraska, and Cornell University.
This poster provides searching tips for users of the AGRICOLA database on FirstSearch. It introduces the record and fields concept and identifies how to find field tags used for AGRICOLA using the labels command. It also explains how to use field searching to focus a search and the use of the limit command. It introduces the concept of precision searching using appropriate proximity operators and bound-phrase searching capabilities, presents other ways to search for specific types of information, e.g., reviews, theses, etc., and provides practical examples to illustrate these search features.
Michal Demes
Marcela Chrenekova
Jan Simko, Michal Demes, and Marcela Chrenekova Institute of Scientific and Technical Information for Agriculture(ISTIA), Slovak Republic
This poster session describes the information system within the Slovak agricultural sector. It forms part of the nation-wide State Information System, which has been worked out on the basis of are solution of the Slovak Government. The following points are covered:1) strategic goals of the sector in selected problem areas, 2) characteristics of the sector on the basis of task definitions for its sub-sections, 3) limitations of tasks within the sector in the areas of strategy and integration, and 4) the development of an integrated information system of scientific and technical information as one of the projects in which the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information for Agriculture (ISTIA) is taking part within the State Information System.
Michal Demes
Jan Simko
Marcela Chrenekova, Michal Demes, and Jan Simko Institute of Scientific and Technical Information for Agriculture(ISTIA), Slovak Republic
AgroWebClub (AWC) is an agricultural communication system based on WWW pages, mailing lists, news and distribution services of the Internet. AWC is dedicated to cooperation and information exchange between agricultural libraries, information enterprises, scientific-research institutes, non-profit organizations, educational and governmental structures. Anyone on the Internet can become a member. AWC implementation and coordination is the responsibility of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information for Agriculture (ISTIA) in Nitra, Slovakia.
Nikola Kezic, University of Zagreb, Republic of Croatia
and Jadranaka Stojanovski, Institute Rudjer Boskovic, Republic of Croatia
One of the first implementations of network services in CARNet (Croatian Academic and Research Network) has been in the field of libraries and librarianship. This poster session describes experiences of the pilot project Natural Sciences Information System, which started in 1995. In the project there are fifteen libraries in the field of natural sciences, and they are trying to extend beyond their institutional boundaries to provide all necessary information for their users. The Central Agriculture Library began its participation in the project in the winter of 1997. In this age of changing information, changing users, and changing librarians, the project has developed amodel that could be implemented in different scientific fields.
Among the main goals of the project are to compile union catalogues of monographs, journals, theses, and Croatian full-text bibliography, to make them searchable through the WWW, and to provide online access to local and commercial databases; to organize permanent education of library staff; to coordinate the acquisition of monographs, periodicals, and databases on CD-ROM; to economize limited financing;and to establish a database for all current research projects in Croatia in the field of natural sciences.
As a result of specific needs in the field of agriculture that extend beyond standard bibliographic databases, we began to build databases with different kinds of data related to biodiversity, animal and plant gene banks, etc. Such databases will also be implemented in the national programs for environmental protection.
Project EXAGRI has been conducted at the Library Division of Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz"/Universidade de Sao Paulo (ESALQ/USP), Brazil, with financial support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The purposes of this project are: 1) to make available the agricultural information to be used by extension services and farmers,2) to make accessible the production of specialized literature (bulletins, papers, folders and pamphlets) specially written by ESALQ/USP's faculty and students for small farmers, 3) to socialize agricultural information through farmers' associations, unions, and cooperative societies, and 4) to improve the quality of life and income levels of farmers and rural workers by supplying them with structural and regular bibliographic and non-bibliographic information.