The CGIAR Virtual Library

Enhancing Access to Global Agricultural Research Information:

the Case of the CGIAR Virtual Library Project[1]

Luz Marina Alvaré[2], Peter Shelton[3] Mila M. Ramos[4], Cecilia Ferreyra[5] and Nancy Walczak[6]

Abstract: Improving access to information and the creation and sharing of knowledge are necessary conditions for developing countries to reach international benchmarks, such as the Millennium Development Goals. As part of the global information society, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is dedicated to bridging the digital divide and removing information barriers in the developing world. In 2003, CGIAR information management professionals and technology specialists, in collaboration with the ICT-KM Program, proposed creating a virtual library to provide integrated and expanded access to global agricultural research information. The CGIAR Virtual Library (CGVlibrary) allows users to search across the online library collections of all 15 CGIAR centers, plus over160 leading information databases and more than 4,000 electronic journal holdings, from a single portal. This paper traces the activities of the CGVlibrary team and outlines some of the ongoing issues and strategies for enhancing impact in developing countries.

Introduction: Catalysts for the Creation of the CGIAR Virtual Library (CGVlibrary)

NOW MORE THAN EVER, having access to the latest, high-quality research can spell the difference between gaining ground and falling behind in the rapidly changing world of digital information. The launching of global information networks, electronic publishing and subject-specific web sites and database systems has made it possible to link users with information faster and more effectively than ever before. Information providers are using these new tools and services to usher in what many are now calling the “digital revolution.”

The deluge of digital information also carries significant drawbacks, particularly among researchers expecting to locate and retrieve up-to-date research information in timely and effective fashion. This is due not only to increasing volumes of digital information, but also the number and diversity of database systems in which information is being stored and made available over the Internet. In the case of agricultural research, this means that references found in Agricola may be unavailable through AGRIS (and vice versa), and records from CAB Direct may not be found in either of the other two systems. Electronic journal articles, meanwhile, are increasingly stored in and disseminated through commercial database systems that remain closed to external search engines such as Google. Hence, in order to access these resources, researchers must search these databases individually, often through disjointed and varied user interfaces.

With the above situation, researchers become frustrated over having to spend more and more of their time sifting through voluminous, oftentimes irrelevant hits generated by non-specialized search engines on the Internet. They now demand faster response times and more relevant search results that are easier to manage. Alternatively, “information overload” occurs when search results are too numerous or general to be managed effectively by users, thereby blocking them from accessing the desired information. Clearly, this can have a significant impact on how much time they can spend conducting their own research and, hence, on the overall quality of this research.

The ultimate impact of these developments is felt far beyond high-speed Internet connections enjoyed by researchers in the developed world. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003 warned that advances in communications and information technology could widen the “digital divide” if not carefully managed so as to provide equitable access to all audiences. Similar concerns were voiced during an Agricultural Information Workshop funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), where participants cited the absence of a common reference point as a serious barrier for accessing information resources in the developing world (Besemer, Addison and Ferguson, 2003).

Librarians and information specialists have attempted to face these challenges by conceiving and developing new tools and approaches for providing integrated access to a wide variety of resources. These efforts have been supported by a growing body of associated software and services, along with fledgling communities of practice and significant amounts of user feedback. The end result is a new model of library and information services, Library 2.0 (Chad, 2005), which represents a quantum leap for providing comprehensive, effective, and easily accessible electronic information. Virtual libraries are striving toward so-called Library 2.0 status by sharing digital information with end-users regardless of format, time or geographical location.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and Growth of Information and Knowledge Sharing Initiatives

The CGIAR is a strategic alliance of public and private donors supporting 15 autonomous agricultural research centers, located throughout the world (Figure 1). Established in 1971, the mission of the CGIAR is “to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through scientific research and research-related activities in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, policy, and environment” (CGIAR, 2006). Presently, more than 8,500 CGIAR scientists and staff are working in over 100 countries, addressing all of the major components of the agricultural sector and rural development. Collectively, the CGIAR (CG) Centers generate an enormous volume of research that is classified as global public goods, and thus freely available to all.

Figure 1. The CGIAR International Agricultural Research Centers

The primary role of information managers (IMs) and technology specialists within the CGIAR is to ensure not only that researchers have access to the latest, high-quality research information, but also that CGIAR research outputs are disseminated freely to partners throughout the world. For much of the existence of the CGIAR, these tasks were carried out by individual centers (in collaboration with local and regional partners), as collaboration across the various CG Centers took place in largely informal fashion. Yet as budget expenditures for information and knowledge management activities has continued to decline in recent years, information professionals from across the CGIAR have begun to develop and implement more formal collaborative initiatives. Such was the basis for the CGIAR Library and Information Services Consortium (CG-LISC), which was formed in 2002 and, the following year, the formal launch of the

CGIAR’s ICT-KM Program (Information and Communications- Knowledge Management). Both initiatives aim to share resources, knowledge and best practices while improving information management and promoting the CGIAR’s research to the ICT-KM program specifically aimed to improve access to materials produced by the CG Centers as well as content needed by the centers to conduct their own research. The Content for Development (C4D) thrust, as it came to be known, consisted of four interlinked activities including electronic publishing (e-publishing), creating an e-learning repository, implementing metadata standards for the CGIAR and creating a “virtual library.” (Davies, unpublished)

Creating the CGIAR Virtual Library (CGVLIBRARY)

In 2003, some CGIAR information management professionals, as well as some members of the ICT-KM Program first conceived the idea of creating a virtual library for the CGIAR, though this request was not made official until the following year. In the years leading up to the proposal, researchers often complained of the difficulty in locating relevant, timely information across the 15 CG Centers. Overcoming this difficulty had been the original basis for the InfoFinder project (http://infofinder.cgiar.org/), which featured a tool allowing users to search across the electronic resource collections of the CGIAR and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The virtual library project, however, would take this technology to an entirely new level of sophistication by implementing standards-based cross-searching of the 15 CG Centers’ Library Catalogs, along with a large number of external database systems and electronic journals.

The decision to create a virtual library marked a significant step forward in collaboration across the CGIAR, though it was based largely on prior collaborative efforts among information managers (IMs) and technology specialists (ITs) from the 15 centers. These included a joint subscription to 86 electronic journals as well as the decision to make each center’s library catalog available online. Furthermore, the increasing adoption of InMagic software throughout the CGIAR resulted in 12 of the 15 centers having access to a common software platform, which significantly aided the prospects for creating a single, unified virtual library system.

With the project proposal’s approval, a Virtual Library Service (VLS) was established under the umbrella of the ICT-KM Program’s Content for Development (C4D) Project. The metamorphosis of VLS (later to be called CGVlibrary) largely took place in a virtual environment, with the final product resulting from the time and effort of a number people who rarely (if ever) met face-to-face. This, however, was not the case for Luz Marina Alvaré, the VLS Coordinator, and Nancy Walczak, the Technical Advisor, who both work at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. In contrast, the two worked intensively with Ron Davies, an information management consultant based in Brussels, for nearly a year before meeting in person.

One of the biggest challenges faced by members of the VLS Team involved the decision of whether to host separate institutional and library portals or combine them into a single portal. Those arguing in favor of integrating the library portal with an institutional portal were understandably cautious over not wanting to duplicate efforts, waste resources or present users with separate and potentially confusing interfaces. The CGVlibrary’s proposed goal of providing a “one-stop shop” to information resources also seemed to call for a single tool. Other members of the VLS Team, however, argued that the two services were complimentary, viewing the library portal as a “deep, narrowly focused service quite different from the broader but ‘thinner’ integration supported by an enterprise portal” (Davies, unpublished).

Selecting the software for the CGVlibrary was yet another exercise in virtual collaboration. This time, however, it involved an electronic Request for Proposal, e-mail discussions, web-based product demonstrations and telephone conferences with participants on three different continents (ICT-KM, 2005). Ultimately, the group decided to purchase a pre-packaged library portal software from ExLibris: Metalib, the Knowledge Base (for resource directory and cross-database search), and SFX (for OpenURL link resolution). This is an award-winning product and it has a strong track record among libraries and major information networks in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East (SFX, 2007). This decision allowed services to be implemented quickly and at a much lower risk than custom developing and maintaining virtual library services from within an institutional portal (Davies, unpublished).

Figure 2. The flow of Global Public Good between the CGIAR
and End-Users Via the CGVlibrary

The next step in the development process involved selecting information resources such as electronic journals and databases for inclusion in the CGVlibrary. This was carried out by a team of CG Information Managers who largely worked behind-the-scenes, though they maintained regular communication. Mila Ramos (IRRI) worked with the team to identify library catalogs and bibliographic databases from the CGIAR, which would eventually form the core resources for the CGVlibrary. Additionally, it was decided to grant users access to the following resources:

· restricted information resources, such as the full text articles of a core collection of agricultural and social science journals;

· several commercial abstracting and indexing resources;

· several free information resources such as Agricola and AGRIS; and

· major university or research catalogs such as the Dutch agricultural union catalog hosted at Wageningen University.

S. Srinivas (ICRISAT) compiled resource lists from the various IMs while Elinor Dumont and Indira Yerramareddy (IFPRI) developed subject specific categories based on group feedback. Carlos Saa (CIAT), Jean Pierre Carre (CIP), and Aamir Qureshi (IFPRI) were responsible for the technical configuration of electronic resources while Mulugeta Bayeh (IFPRI) adapted the overall “look and feel” of the CGVlibrary user interface.

Figure 3. The CGVlibrary QuickSearch platform

Success Stories of the CGVlibrary

The CGVlibrary became fully operational after months of beta-testing and implementing revisions. The following are some of the VLS Team’s major accomplishments from the first two-plus years of existence (Alvaré, 2006; ICT-KM, 2005; Davies, unpublished):

· Integrated all CGIAR electronic resources into a single system, thereby allowing the online library holdings of all 15 CG Center Libraries plus the CGIAR Secretariat to be searched simultaneously from a common user interface;

· Established new precedent for collaboration among researchers, and information management and technology staff from across the CGIAR;

· New technologies and approaches have transformed how CGIAR works are produced, preserved and made available to wider global audience while solidifying the CGIAR’s position as a leading knowledge broker for global agricultural research information;

· Improved access to and visibility of CGIAR research outputs, allowing CG staff and partners to stay current on agricultural research information;

· Implemented dynamic linking protocols to facilitate access to resources held in CG Libraries as well as commercially available electronic journals and database systems using the OpenURL standard;

· Adapted CGVlibrary web site from CGXchange, a design template for providing consistent “look and feel” across C4D projects and giving users the sense of using a single resource;

· Created of a fully-functional demonstration site (with limited available resources) in less than a year, which was presented at the CGIAR Annual General Meeting in December 2005;

· Publicly launched the CGVlibrary web site (http://vlibrary.cgiar.org) on June 1, 2006;

· Delivered presentations on the CGVLIBRARY at national and international conferences with more than 700 persons in attendance as well as multiple on-line seminars (“webinars”) to partners in 10 Latin American countries; and

· Garnered the Science Award “Outstanding Scientific Support Team” at the CGIAR’s 2006 Annual General Meeting

Lessons Learned

Slightly more than a year after its public launch, the CGVlibrary has significantly raised the CGIAR’s profile as a global leader in providing high quality, up-to-date research information in the agricultural sciences. The task of integrating all of the information resources from across the CGIAR posed a significant challenge, but

the experiences of the VLS Team demonstrated the immeasurable value of having a strong, mature community of practice in place prior to beginning a given project.

As previously mentioned, the activities of the CG-LISC were well in place more than three years prior to development of the CGVlibrary. Alvaré and Allmand (2003) estimate that the consortium realized a cost savings of nearly $1,130,000 from 2001 to 2003, which have continued to increase as more collaborative projects have been undertaken by group members. Yet for the purposes of the VLS Team, perhaps the greatest benefit resulting from these efforts was a strengthening of trust and a collaborative spirit among IMs, which undoubtedly contributed greatly to members being able to work together closely despite their geographic isolation from one another.