by Taye Babaleye, Nigeria, November, 1997
THEME = MEDIA
The library of the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan,
Nigeria
reputed to be the most modern agricultural library in sub-Saharan
Africa,
will soon be accessible on the Internet. For the library, it is
part of a
comprehensive computerization program which started in 1984, and
for IITA,
it is an extension of the Institute's home page on the World Wide
Web,
which can be reached through the CGNET computer in California:
www.cgiar.org/iita
"The connection of the library to the Internet is in progress and will be completed very soon", says Mr.Yakubu Adedigba, Head of Library and Documentation Services. The library is normally on a local network (Intranet) which enables IITA scientists and other staff, to access it from their laboratories and offices, even when the library is closed for work. The presentation of the library on the Internet will, therefore, make all its bibliographic information available to a global audience.
Even before it hits the information super highway, IITA library, by any standards, is a well-appointed academic facility. It has an in- house database complemented by CD-ROM databases. Bibliographic information about the publications in the library is stored in these data bases, and access can be made to them for retrieval of information through personal computers within the institute.
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), is a product of modern information technology, in which data or information is put on a compact disc, instead of being printed. The CD-ROM facilities are available in English and French. In fact, since the inception of the library, it has maintained a large collection of agricultural literature in French, to cater for the Francophone users. Some of the French collections include publications (some in microfiche) of the colonial French and Belgian agricultural research institutes in sub-Sahara Africa. In addition, the library subscribers to key French language agricultural journals and SESAME, a CD-ROM database for agricultural literature in the French language.
The library fills a gap in tropical African agricultural research, because, without a well-stocked library, researchers will be unfamiliar with available professional literature, which can help them in the identification of problems of major importance to farming in sub-Saharan Africa. It thus provides ample opportunity for scientists and researchers to apply appropriate methodologies, to solve problems facing agricultural research in the continent.
One effective method of proffering solutions to the problems, is through training and manpower development. Over the years, the IITA library has engaged in manpower development and capacity-building of African national management, as well as in library automation. To-date, more than 200 staff of various African agricultural research libraries, have received practical training at the library. The trainees came from Benin Republic, Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda.
IITA scientists and other professionals, also benefit from the various training programmes offered by the library. Individual and group training sessions on database-searching and library-use, are periodically organised for researchers and post graduates agricultural students, to enable them make better use of the library and its information resources. In 1996 for instance, 11 scientists and 22 other library-users were trained on the library's On-line Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). "In addition, we identify the Institute's new staff regularly, give them library orientation, and acquaint them with the library's services", says Adedigba. The library also keeps track of group training courses organised by the Institute's Training Unit, and does retrospective search for French publications, to build up reading lists for IITA bilingual courses.
In 1993, IITA library became a distribution and training centre for UNESCO's micro CDS-ISIS, a computer software for information management, used largely for transmitting information to other libraries. This software is distributed to various national agricultural research institutes (NARI ) and their libraries and information services in sub-Saharan Africa, while their personnel are trained on it, by the IITA Library.
In all, the tremendous rate of growth of the library in the last 28 years, and the invaluable roles played by it over the years, especially in the face of increasing budgetary constraints, has undoubtedly met the goals for which is was established. "There is a sort of information famine among agricultural scientists in sub-Saharan Africa", says Adedigba, as he summarises the contributions of the library. "The IITA library and Information Centre is, therefore, a major source of comprehensive and up-to-date information to scientists and researchers in sub-Saharan Africa. We are planning to have all the records of the library's in-house database on compact discs. The discs could then be distributed to IITA stations and African national agricultural research institutes", says Adedigba, adding, "just as we have a list of all IITA publications produced and printed by our library, we will put them on discs for distribution, instead of having them in book form. Furthermore, when the library goes on the Internet, scientists the world over can access our entire lists of publications".
END
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement