IFPRI adopts info-outreach strategy for its publications

At the recent CGIAR information managers meeting, Luz Marina Alvare of the International Food Policy Research Institute shared insights into the information dissemination approaches being followed by IFPRI. What are some of the approaches she has tried?

First, one challenge to any research institution is to capture information on the outputs of its research staff. At IFPRI, the biography of each staff member gives a list of their main publications. She has added 'canned searches' from each biography that link to further searches of the library database and Google scholar. If the researcher want his or her listing to be complete and their outputs to be visible, they need to make sure their outputs are provided to the library.

Second, IFPRI is an active publisher of some 200 titles per year. These are all accessible on the IFPRI web site. To enhance dissemination, IFPRI include the full text of its current and archive publications on Google Print - 'positioning' its publications in major search engines that Luz Marina says will help "trap more people" in IFPRI's web and increase awareness of the centre's products.

Third, a food policy RSS feed has been launched to announce new publications, events and presentations of IFPRI staff. People interested in food policy can subscribe to this feed; partner institutions and collaborators can showcase the IFPRI feed on their web sites - adding dynamic content (and from the IFPRI perspective, widening its web of 'entrapment'). Story by Peter Ballantyne.

Tags: agricultural information ifpri cgiar