Web 2.0 and agriculture libraries

Web 2.0 and Agricultural Libraries in

New Collaborative Era

By

Harish TripathiSanjiv Saraf

Vivekanand Jain

• Social networking and collaboration are useful to provide effective and best possible information services to the users.

• The main drivers of collaboration in agricultural libraries are agricultural networks, resource sharing networks, conferences, seminars, online resources and consortia.

• Perfection in services of agricultural libraries can be achieved, using collaboration with other libraries at local, national and international level, through collaborating drivers.

• Cooperation: When two or more libraries decide to share their resources for mutual benefits, it is called cooperation in library context, however collaboration has its sense little bit deeper. It is more than sharing their resources and mutual benefits.

• Collaboration may be defined as an activity, which is done by two or more libraries decide to work together, to achieve their common goals, on specific subject.

• Coordination may be defined as an activity of two or more libraries, to achieve their goals or when librarians or other library resources are brought together, in keeping the view of common quest/goal, it can be coordination.

• Communication: when any information or message is conveyed to individual or individual group or all persons, by using various communication channels is called communication.

Web 2.0

• When Web2.0 technologies are applied in library, its name can be given library collaboration 2.0. Web technology web 2.0 and other collaborative technologies can also be applied to get its motto, as to collaboration. Collaboration requires the following thing to make it effectiveness.

Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 technologies can be focused on all Cs- collaboration, coordination, cooperation, and communication. Web 2.0 includes social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.

• Web 2.0 is associated with web applications in library, which facilitates library for information sharing, collaboration, user centered design etc.

Barriers in collaboration

• Social obstacle: it includes lack of communications between librarians and scientist/other users.

• Technical obstacle: Lack of computer and Internet skills.

• Financial obstacle: In-adequate funding to libraries.

Common Collaborating tools:

• Institutional Repositories: an effective institutional repository represents collaboration among libraries and librarians, in order to fulfill the end user’s need. Nowadays, many libraries keeps to preserve their publications and old publications for long term policies.

Library Consortium

Library consortia are very helpful to their member libraries in collaborating

process. Library consortia play very vital role in libraries, with special reference to

acquisition of electronic resources, on negotiate prices, in order to make avail

maximum information. CeRA (Consortium for e-Resources in

Agriculture

Resource Sharing Networks:

Resource sharing network are the solutions of advancement of librarianship. To

make collaboration success, it is very necessary that sharing networks should

be operated successfully and in effective way, to achieve their full potential.

Video Conferencing1. In ICAR, videoconferencing facilities were provided amongst 40

nodal stations /universities under NATP (National Agricultural Technology project), Agriclinics and Agri-business Schemes, in

order to conduct vivid interviews/ online tests/ placement interviews; training and consultancy to other institutions.

2. Through Mobile V-SAT Video conferencing facilities, the conversation can also be having between farmers and agricultural

scientists. Some organizations like NIRD (National Institute of Rural Development),

3. ICRISAT (International Crop Research Institute for semi Arid Tropics), NAARM (National Agricultural Academy for Research

and Management), CRIDA (Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture), DRR (Directorate of Rice Research),

DOR(Directorate of Oilseed Research), University of Hyderabad, KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and vivid NGOs are sharing their information resources and new agricultural technologies to each

other by using this technology.

World Wide Web and WAIS (Wide Area Information Server)

WWW has been popularized medium among collaborators to share their

resources in various formats like html, pdf, txt and so on. The combined

implementation of WWW and WAIS, are used as collaborating tool for making

accessible collaborating documents in cost effective and convenient manner.

Google documents and Wikies

For getting information online, users are using Wikipedia and Google in general,

and Google scholar for specific information.

Blogs

• By using Blogs, library professionals can share/communicate their innovative ideas/ thoughts or knowledge without having the knowledge of HTML or

web authoring tools.

• Libraries can also adopt Blogs as online collaborating tool, which can be used for sharing the data,

information and knowledge among librarians and knowledge managers concerning to their disciplines.

Messages posted on blogs by the librarian must increase the readers trust and perform for knowledge

sharing.

• Collaborating tools in Agricultural Libraries

In addition to the general collaborating tools, the most significant collaborations are found in the activities of the Agricultural Network Information Centre and in the preserving and archiving of agricultural materials.

AGNIC (Agricultural Network Information Center)

• AGNIC is Distributed Network which is a joint effort of National Agricultural Library, land grant universities and organizations which are committed to facilitate public access to agriculture and its related allied subjects.

• It facilitates to access the information pertaining to agriculture, in electronic format over the web. AGNIC provides very popular database like AgDB, AGRICOLA, AgCAL, AgEXP, PDA, OnRef, CB-Pest, DirAgIAR.

AGRIS / CARIS:

• AGRIS and CARIS is the most important services in the field of Agriculture. AGRIS, developed in 1974 by FAO, facilitates information exchange and identify world literature pertaining to each and every aspect of agriculture.

• AGRIS has 3,000,000 references on Agriculture and its allied subjects. AGRIS provides bibliographic information of the publication pertaining to Agriculture and its allied subjects, but nowadays, nature of publication has been changed to the great extent,

ARIS (Agricultural Research Information System)

• ARIS, the project of ICAR, has four information modules namely Agricultural Research Personnel Information System (ARPIS); Agricultural Research Financial Information System (ARFIS); Agricultural Research Library Information System (ARLIS) and Agricultural Research Management Information System (ARMIS). ARLIS modules of ARIS, plays a vital role to modernize the agricultural libraries and put the library information on ARIS network.

• All libraries may be connected to IARI Library. The objective of ARIS, is to facilitate LAN Server, three/four PC workstations and LAN cabling, software for networking, computer equipments for automation, to SAUs (State Agricultural Universities), ICAR’s Instiututes, Project Directorates, National Research Centres.

ARIC (Agricultural Research Information Centre)

• ARIC (ICAR), is the national input centre for AGRIS and CARIS agricultural database of FAO and national focal point for the SAIC (SAARC Agricultural Information Centre).

AGRICOLA

• Largest database in agriculture, offers information pertaining to Agriculture and its allied subjects, including animal science, plant science, crop science, forestry, fisheries. Numbers of open access journals are also listed in AGRICOLA. It contains over 3.7 million citations to journal articles, monographs, theses, patents, software, audio-visual materials, and technical reports related to agriculture.

Benefits of collaboration• Save the money of parent body. By reducing costs, less

investment and less risks.• Enhancement/ performance in in-house keeping and users

oriented services in library due to sharing with other libraries’ activities.

• Increase the quality of results.• Participating libraries members can achieve their goal, which is

impossible if they work independently.• Information or information resources availability for wider

community.• User’s satisfaction of common interest by making avail exact

required information to user.• Solve complex problems.• Access to number of information resources and services.

Suggestions for Collaboration among Agricultural Libraries

• There should not be financial barrier in transferring the less used materials to other libraries, if both libraries confined to government funded libraries or funded by GOI directly or indirectly.

• Any enhancement or improvements to the digitized contents should be shared with other libraries on frequently basis.

• Amongst libraries especially, at local level, Books and digitized collection must be shared, even library should have rules and regulation, in this regard, which leads to save the money of parent body as well as GOI.

• Libraries can have efforts to formulate the collaboration among libraries.

Suggestions for Collaboration among Agricultural Libraries

• There should be made a common effort to have/develop common database by two or more libraries pertaining to the same discipline.

• Before cancellation/starting the journals, there should be informed/intimated to library, its collaborative libraries

• Libraries and funding agency should not prepare the plan and projects to implement in the library, without sufficient knowledge of hardware and software

• All collaborative libraries should have discussion on all issues pertaining to library whether the matter would be in-house operations or services provided to users in the library.

Conclusion

• Social networking and collaboration has been tool for enhancing innovation in knowledge sharing among agricultural libraries. Library professionals must collaborate themselves and encourage implementing the components of collaboration for effective information services to the users.

• Library professionals should boost up their own image by promoting collaboration among libraries and exchange their ideas in conferences, seminars and meetings.