USAIN 2010: Introducing CIARD

On May 10th, several of the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) Interest Groups (including the International Agricultural Information Interest Group) organized an afternoon of presentations and demonstrations.

The first presenter, Stephen Rudgard, Chief of Knowledge and Capacity for Development of the FAO, gave a virtual presentation entitled "Global Coherence for Truly Accessible Information".

Stephen outlined the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) Initiative including the vision, values and objectives of CIARD to "make public domain agricultural research information and knowledge truly accessible to all." He discussed the CIARD Checklist for developing institutional readiness and increasing the availability, accessibility, and applicability of research outputs.

He encouraged U.S. engagement in the CIARD movement, particularly in registering information sources and services on the "Routemap to Information Nodes and Gateways" (RING) directory http://ring.ciard.net .

He also mentioned an AgriDrupal initiative (http://aims.fao.org/community/group/agridrupal) and a set of Information Management Resource Kits available for capacity building in this area (www.imarkgroup.org).

More information on how to participate is as www.ciard.net

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

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New technologies for information specialists - at lightning speed

This IAALD-organized session aimed to quickly present information on practical tools of use to information specialists.

Eleven participants gave short 5-6 minute presentations covering such topics as bibliographic management software.

Featured in this part was Zotero, Mendeley, and RefShare/RefWorks. The ability to extract metadata from pdfs was featured in Mendeley and Zotero.

Also demonstrated was the new mobile site for the USDA Economic Statistics and Market Information System and a Library Link tool for integrating library content into a Learning Management System.

VIVO, a research focused discovery tool for accessing researcher information and supplementary data, has a multi-institutional version in development.

AgEcon Search has recently added many small journals from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

One presentation illustrated how to monitor, manage, and maintain an online presence, making the most of new opportunities of the web and social media (describing online items to remix and display them in context for the user). In this vein, IAALD’s social networking applications were also featured.

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

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USAIN Preservation Program

May 12th - Joy Paulson, Cornell University, gave an update on the USAIN Preservation Program at the USAIN 2010 Conference. There have been seven phases of the more than $4 million+ NEH-funded USAIN Preservation program since 1996. The projects have involved 29 states so far, most in microfilming historical agricultural literature in the U.S. However, the latest phase included Cornell, the University of Arizona (UA), and Colorado State University (CSU) in the digitization of that early literature.

A preliminary portal is now available for access. Called 'Harvest: Access to Historical U.S. Agriculture Collections', this portal is a single point of access to a portion of the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (CHLA) and the state level collections of CSU and UA.

Created as a fedora repository that harvests metadata from the partner sites, there is a Drupal interface.

The user can browse or search collections individually or together. In the 'About' section, there are extensive state-specific essays on the history of agriculture. Relationships are being developed with Google Books at http://books.google.com/books and the HathiTrust at www.hathitrust.org for additional access.

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

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USAIN 2010: Local Food - Revolution and Reality

Dr. John Ikerd (Prof. Emeritus, Ag Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA) and Matthew Jose (Big City Farms (Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) shared their thoughts and experiences with the traditional industrialized food system and the local food movement in the US.

Ikerd, the author of “Return to Common Sense,” became a proponent of the local food movement when he did just that. After many years of teaching the ‘conventional’ food production system at several universities, he came to realize that is just doesn’t work. Thanks to its reliance on that system, the US has the most over fed and under nourished population in the world. In fact, the children of today are the first generation that has a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Ikerd delivered a passionate plea to information specialists to help make sure that people have access to the information they need to make informed decisions about their food and the food system.

Jose’s interest is in urban farming projects as a means of increasing awareness of farming and exposing people to healthy foods grown locally and with integrity, i.e. in a way that values the land and the economic health of its stewards. He stressed that we must think about the needs of future generations. His goal is ‘to give future generations something delicious to dream about.’

In addition to Big City Farms (www.bigcityfarmsindy.com/), Jose has also formed Growing Places Indy (http://growingplacesindy.org/), a non-profit organization that is committed to developing the “Culture” of agriculture and food in the urban setting of Indianapolis.

Story by Debbie Currie

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Heifer International at USAIN 2010: ‘Not a hand out – a hand up’

James De Vries, Executive VP of Programs for Heifer International, used the Parijat Women’s Group (PWG) of Imadol, Nepal as a shining example of Heifer’s approach to sustainable development. De Vries stressed that the program isn’t about the animals, it’s about empowering people to improve their lives, and to help others to do the same.

In the instance of PWG, the 13 women received either two sheep or two goats and either one ram or one buck after training in the Heifer cornerstones for just and sustainable development and good animal management. Heifer’s assistance had a life transforming impact on the women of Imadol. One women, now PWG’s leader, said that until she joined this group, she had no voice; she only existed through her husband.
Because of Heifer, the women of PWG found their voice.

Empowered by that initial ‘gift’ of livestock, the women of PWG used their income to send their daughters to school and to organize a local savings program and a peer lending group, thus improving the quality of life of their entire village. They have also mentored similar groups in 20 neighboring villages, spreading the ‘wealth’ of the Heifer spirit.

Since it was founded in 1944, it is estimated that Heifer has helped 12 million families around the world. For more information on Heifer International, go to: http://www.heifer.org

Story by Debbie Currie

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USAIN 2010 - The opening sessions

May 10th was the official opening of the USAIN 2010 Conference “Agriculture Without Borders” at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Co-chair Marianne Stowell Bracke welcomed the 115 participants and introduced Dr. Dale Whittaker, Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture at Purdue University who set the stage for the first day events.

Dr. Whittaker noted we are living in a time of particular challenges characterized by an explosion of data and resource constraints, yet a hunger for the knowledge that will mitigate the many serious problems we face. He spoke of a sense of urgency in renewing academic commitment to preparing students to live in this complex environment and to build stronger partnerships between researchers, teachers, and information specialists to transform
information to knowledge.

Dr. Whittaker particularly noted the importance of teaching critical thinking skills to foster the ability to explain issues, identify context, seek credible evidence, identify hypotheses, and understand the implications of those consequences.

Follow-on presentations spoke to urgent worldwide issues of food security and climate change, and to the critical role information sharing and access play on that stage.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Kevin McNamara who provided a detailed description of the work Purdue and its many partners have undertaken in Afghanistan since 2005 as part of the re-development program. The Advancing Afghan Agriculture Alliance (A4) initiative has rebuilt infrastructure at Kabul University (KU) as well as other outlying colleges.

It focuses on strengthening faculty effectiveness in classroom and curriculum, and providing students with applied educational opportunities such as field experiences and lab experiences. He noted there is still little access to information and few working computers outside the Main Library at KU and that they are in the process of training technicians to fill this gap.

Negotiating Local Change in Globalized Agriculture was the theme of a session with three speakers. Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, University of Richmond, spoke on the impact of animal diseases in Southern Africa on the global food system and the different ways that Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa are addressing these issues, including extensive fencing systems. She suggested a need to contextualize global agriculture, recognize that disease control affects people inequitably, and understand the relevance of history and culture to globalized agriculture.

Dr. Corinne Valdivia, University of Missouri, described a climate change and agriculture initiative in the Andes that is looking at the adaptive capacity of rural communities to changes in climate variability and increasing food vulnerability. She noted the importance of incorporating local knowledge and community groups in the development of strategies and in building advocacy coalitions to address uncertainties.

Wrapping up the session, Dr. Keith Moore, Virginia Tech University, reflected on how social and technical knowledge networks operate and stated the need to link local and global context and to involve all stakeholders in information sharing and decision-making on a continuing basis if major issues of the day are to be successfully accomplished.

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

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IAALD wins USAIN Cornhole Tournament

At the 2008 USAIN Congress in Wooster, a team from IAALD won out over a team from CABI to win the inaugural USAIN Cornhole Tournament.

The IAALD team, comprising Barb Hutchinson and Peter Ballantyne, won several tough matches against Oregon State and Ohio State universities to get to the final. Barb Hutchinson proved herself particularly adept, repeatedly scoring 'Corn Bag In-The-Hole.'

IAALD hopes to defend its title at the 2010 USAIN conference to be held at Purdue University.

More on cornhole: wikipedia

NAL Update

At USAIN's 2008 conference, Peter Young and colleagues gave an update on recent developments at the National Agricultural Library.

He introduced 'Blueprint for Success: The National Agricultural Library 2008-2012' - a staff discussion paper that, according to Young explains "what it is that NAL's programmes are about." It responds to the question "what do you [the NAL] need ..." to revitalize and sustain the library and its services into the future. The paper is "meant to stimulate discussion, evoke critical comment and spark debate about NAL’s future."

The starting premise of the team writing the report is that "information consumers, whether USDA staff worldwide or the Nation’s citizens, now expect easy and seamless access to digital content and personalized services. They demand reports, images and news feeds in a variety of formats. They also insist on the ability to customize interfaces, to tailor content to their precise needs and to have that content come to them on their timetable wherever they are." The various chapters set out ways that a national agricultural library and its partners can address these demands, through services, collections, marketing, partnerships, infrastructure and facilities. [Download the report - pdf format]

He also talked about several digital initiatives: AgSpace - a repository with more than 11,000 USDA-authored articles (searchable through AGRICOLA); the NAL Digital Repository (NALDR) - mainly historical USDA publications; and a new 'biofuels and bioenergy' page that will become an information center.

He also talked about 'InfoFarm' - the NAL blog. Young referred to this as "NAL's voice, sassy as it is." He asked readers to feel free to be 'sassy' right back - through comments and feedback.

After the session, we asked Peter about the international dimension of NAL's work, particularly the need for global collaboration:

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Conference: Information Fueling the Future of Agbiosciences

The 2008 USAIN conference will be held in Wooster, OH from April 27 to 30. The theme of the conference is Tradition in Transition: Information Fueling the Future of Agbiosciences.

More information is at: www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/usain/

Tags: agricultural information usa usain