The Agricultural Library of the Future: Points from the Rome discussion

During the recent ShareFair held at FAO in Rome (January 20-22); there was a session dedicated to 'The Agricultural Library of the Future.'

Johannes Keizer (FAO), Margaret Zito (FAO Library), Hugo Besemer (Wageningen UR), and Andreas Psoroulas (WFP) started the discussion by outlining what they thought the future roles/responsibilities of an agricultural library could be.

Johannes outlined five main roles that information managers should be working towards:

• Open access – Information managers have a vital role in assisting their organisation in disseminating the global public goods they produce. Information managers need to ensure that their organisation’s research outputs are available and accessible by all, particularly those in developing countries. 
  
• Catalyze and facilitate knowledge exchange – Traditionally information managers have been in the best position in knowing “who does what” within an organisation (be it their own or their partners), due to the very nature of our jobs. Now that organisations use various tools to exchange knowledge, the time is ripe for information managers to step in and help different communities link to each other where appropriate, and to assist them to move forward with their research or development agendas. 
  
• Help to create integrated information and knowledge management platforms. - More often than not, only the IT specialists are consulted when deciding on a software or platform to be adopted; however we have learnt over the years that technology more often than not is not the issue at hand. Information managers are in the best position to ensure that “whole picture” is taken into consideration and that a full integration of organizational information needs and workflows are catered for.
  
• Deliver targeted expert services – with limited budgets and staffing it is necessary that information managers develop and deliver highly specialized services for their users. 
  
• Change your skill sets – information managers need to update and expand their skill base so that they can bring a complementary mix of skills to their job. 
  

Margaret Zito outlined her ideas of the future role of an agricultural library. Libraries can be seen as the following key elements:

• Place - The library is just not a process; the library is a place to explore, and follow through on information needs. The library is a place of neutrality/ security, of trusted and quality resources.
  
• Process – whereby a latent piece of information is made available for resource discovery through the skills of the information manager. Technology now provides the information manager the possibility of using many different tools and methods to describe and push the information out to users (both within their organisation and to the external world)
  
• Products – new technologies provide us with opportunities for customizing, developing and delivering information and knowledge in many different ways. Information managers are the best people to do this.
  
• People – Information managers have very specialised expertise, they are part of an information chain/pathway and they provide the added value to research projects, research outputs and information management within an organization.
  

The discussion was then opened to the other participants. Here are some of the main points that came up from the discussion:

• Are libraries providing the new expected services or just “old classics”?
  
• New generation is expecting instant answers to their queries – library services must target this
  
• Library users are now becoming library collaborators
  
• Library of the future should work more with people rather than for people
  
• As there is a risk that libraries may disappear, libraries must become more aggressive in marketing themselves and the services they offer
  
• Physical libraries are elitist – accessible only to those physically present. Digital content is essential in current world
  
• Role for library is in the service of filtering, synthesizing and packaging the information? Quality and trusted information provided.
  
• Information managers/Librarians need to take their skills outside the four walls of the library and make management aware of the added value that they provide to the organisation. They need to be more part of the core business of the organization. 
  
• Information managers need to build a successful business case for their libraries.
  
• Information managers need to provide services in new ways, through new technologies. 
  
• Perspective of developing countries – how to provide information and knowledge there? Different types of skills and approach needed? Role required in developing countries more like extensionist?
  

Report by Maria Garrucio, Bioversity International

See other stories and comments at: http://iaald.blogspot.com/search/label/sharefair09

Keywords from the 'future of libraries' session in Rome

At the January ShareFair session on future agricultural libraries, some 30 people gathered to reflect on the roles and added value - the 'business cases' as one participant described it - of agricultural libraries. Colleagues at FAO, IFAD, WFP and Wageningen UR started us off, then we had general discussion.

Johannes Keizer blogged his main points; Hugo Besemer explored a future without bricks and mortar ... and Bioversity's Maria Garrucio has worked up her notes for us all to share.

In the meantime, here are some of the key words and phrases jotted down on the flip chart:

• open access; disseminate global goods; catalyze knowledge sharing; integrated platforms for information annd knowledge management; targeted services; skills mix;

• brick and mortar still in use, by some; organizing access to outputs so they travel; providing archival access;

• much diversity among libraries and legacies; multiple roles need bringing together; beyond the walls;

• strengthen e-availability; digitize old information;
  

• Places to exchange and interact; Processes of organizing and sharing and collaborating; Products to share and use; People with "very special expertise."
  

Much food for thought to add to the rich set of comments from around the world. Add yours to this posting or join the others...

At the very end of the session, we asked three people with an interest in agricultural libraries to share some learning points:

Roxy Samii of IFAD was particularly struck by the importance of place, and low a library's location is significant. She saw Minus Two at IFAD as something of a challenge.

Petr Kosina from CIMMYT suggested we need more work on alternative value-adding 'business cases' for libraries; he looked forward to library services to be 'faster than Google'!

Enrica Porcari of the CGIAR reflected on the special sharefair sandwich bar that facilitated knowledge sharing in the FAO atrium, she wondered if future libraries can take on some of the open welcoming nourishing features of such a bar...

Aginfo systems for research country case studies

In late 2007, participants in the 2nd Expert Consultation on International Information Systems for Agricultural Science and Technology (IISAST) heard a series of country case studies documenting experiences in developing information systems and institutional networks for agriculture.

This IISAST process has now evolved into CIARD - the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development initiative.

The country case studies have recently been published examining concrete expereinces of the following aginfo initiatives:

• Thai AGRIS Centre
  
• PhilAgriNet
  
• AGRORED Peru
  
• Lao Agriculture Database
  
• Kenya Agricultural Information Network
  
• Ghana GAINS
  
• Egypt National Agricultural Research Information Management System. 
  

XV RIBDA: Innovation in open access to agricultural information

In October (27-29), the XV RIBDA will be held in Lima, Peru. RIBDA is the Inter-American Meeting of Librarians, Documentalists and Specialists on Agricultural Information.

The goals of XV RIBDA are:

1. To debate the technological innovations currently in the area of Open Access (OA) including their implications for improved transmission of knowledge, exchange of experiences, and agricultural and natural resources usage and planning.
   
2. To present to the American community the advances of the OA movement for the free transference and diffusion of knowledge in agricultural and related areas.
   
3. To propose actions, applicable to the conditions and realities of the countries of AIBDA members, that will benefit professional practices and Latin American society.

The conference is open to researchers, academics, information brokers and specialists in agricultural and environmental information. It will be of interest to computer scientists, librarians, documentalists, archivists, economists, agricultural engineers, environmental planners, professional associations of information and college students, among others.

The organisers have issued a call for presentations. More information (in Spanish)

Acceso abierto a la información agrícola

La Asociación Interamericana de Bibliotecarios, Documentalistas y Especialistas en Información Agrícola, tiene el agrado de convocar a los Bibliotecarios y Documentalistas Agrícolas, así como a profesionales vinculados a la producción y gestión de información agrícola y de medio mbiente, a participar de la Décimo Quinta edición de la Reunión Interamericana de Bibliotecariosy Documentalistas Agrícolas – RIBDA 2009 ‐, que tendrá lugar en la Biblioteca Nacional de Perú, Lima del 27, 28 al 29 de Octubre de 2009.

En calidad de país anfitrión, AIBDA Perú organiza la RIBDA 2009, por lo cual anima a la Comunidad Bibliotecológica y Documentalista Interamericana y de otras regiones, que desarrolla Investigación y Análisis, a presentar a debate Trabajos en materia de Innovación Tecnológica y Contenidos en el acceso Abierto a la Información Agrícola bajo el modelo Open Access (OA) para libre transferencia y difusión del conocimiento agrícola y medio ambiental. En la temática central se incluyen Lineamientos y Políticas de Acción, Estudios Comparativos, Impacto Económico, Seguimiento Estadístico y Rescate de Experiencias y Redes según las condiciones y realidades de los países conformantes de las Américas. El Movimiento del Acceso Abierto (OA), es la respuesta para canalizar la producción, disponibilidad, acceso y uso de la información y conocimiento científico, dando a los autores el derecho a la cita y al reconocimiento de su obra. Se orienta a reducir y superar las tradicionales barreras de acceso a la información y, por tanto, al conocimiento de las personas.

Presentación de trabajos ...

Research library of the future ...

At last month's ShareFair session on future agricultural libraries, FAO's Johannes Keizer shared 5 directions for libraries:

• Disseminate the Global Public Goods of your institution!
  
• Catalyze and facilitate knowledge exchange!
  
• Help to create integrated information and knowledge management platforms!
  
• Deliver targeted expert services!
  
• Change your skill sets!

He further elaborates these notions in his background note for a meeting discussing the "Global Research Library 2020."

Knowledge sharing is ...

At the recent 'sharefair' in Rome, participants recorded short video responses to the question: "What's the added value of knowledge sharing to your work and your organization?"

The responses show that knowledge sharing is seen to be:

• nothing but an added value
  
• gets research results out
  
• helps cross fertilization among dispersed centers
  
• is determined by the culture of an organisation
  
• helps delivering on poverty reduction strategies
  
• is key to create links across different sectoral issues
  
• to come up with innovative solutions
  
• to do business in a different way
  
• helps us to get the story from the field
  
• makes organisations more efficient
  
• is necessary to do complex work in a complex world
  
• has multiplier effects
  
• brings in new experiences
  
• enhances cooperation among organisations
  
• is the most effective way to learn new things
  
• is power!
  
• connects people that work on the same problems
  
• reaches the part of your body that other sort of work doesn't
  
• to change the way FAO does business and contribute to the development process
  
• creates and sustains the value of research
  
• is part of our life!
  
• is a social process
  
• is essential to develop projects that do work
  
• is a process

FAO's Stephen Rudgard argues that by sharing properly, we can achieve results that otherwise would take much longer to achieve:

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