Information Development current issue

Editorial: Information is for Development

Parker, S. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

Correction

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

Information Development News

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

CDS/ISIS Information

Hopkinson, A. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

Education for Librarianship and Information Studies: fit for purpose?

Johnson, I. M. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

Accessing, Sharing and Communicating Agricultural Information for Development: emerging trends and issues

Ballantyne, P. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

The recent food crisis has helped to push agriculture and food security back on to national and development agendas. Additional international funds have been mobilized, national and regional initiatives have been strengthened, and a wide range of new and innovative instruments and approaches have been promised. Most of these efforts call for greater investment in knowledge creation, information access, and the wider use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This paper explores what this renewed interest might mean for information and communication specialists working in agriculture. Starting from an ‘innovation systems’ perspective, it looks across the agricultural information for development landscape, highlighting some items on the agenda of information and communication specialists working in this area. Agenda items include: The widening recognition of the value of farmer knowledge, growing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable different agricultural development activities, concerns to ensure that public investments result in public goods whose benefits can travel, related efforts to ensure that agricultural content is open and accessible, the discovery and increasing use of a ‘social’ web, and some emerging new roles for agricultural library and information centers to meet changing demands.

Information as a Development Intervention: reforming the culture of information systems in Guatemala

Perez-Brito, C. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:29 PST

In Guatemala, where statistics and information systems do not yet play a central role in planning and decision-making processes, a USAID-funded project was initiated in 2007 to systematically collect data and information for the education component of the social sector. The project utilizes up-to-date business intelligence tools and software for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data. The primary outcome of the intervention has been the development of the National Integrated Information System, an online accessible platform that includes all information from the social sector (i.e. education, health, finance and population). The paper will discuss four primary factors that are considered crucial in successfully carrying out the management of information as a development intervention.

Journal Reading and Publishing Patterns of Cuban Health Researchers

Sanchez-Tarrago, N., Fernandez-Molina, J. C. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:30 PST

Studies about the patterns of use and diffusion of scientific information by researchers have been numerous in recent years, but very few of them have focused on developing countries. The objective of this study is to determine the patterns of use of scientific journals and the publication-related practices of Cuban researchers in the biomedical sector, clearly the best developed field in the country. To this end a survey was directed at researchers of the national health institutes of Cuba. The results point to patterns of use involving journals and publication practices similar to those of researchers from other world regions (predominating use of online journals, but a preference for the printed format, associations between the preference of format and different age brackets and scientific qualifications). At the same time, most researchers in Cuba believe that they have access to very few or only a part of the articles they consider necessary, which can be explained not only by the financial limitations of the country but also by the limited informational abilities and scarce familiarization with open access publications.

National Bibliographic Control in Mauritius: issues and challenges

Ramjaun, I. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:30 PST

After defining the concept of bibliographic control, and briefly explaining its importance, an attempt is made to trace the history and evolution of the legal deposit system in Mauritius. The first national bibliography compiled by the Archives Department, which appeared in 1956, is then compared with the new version published by the National Library since 2001. Next, the challenges facing bibliographic control in Mauritius are discussed, and finally some tentative recommendations are formulated to ensure a more effective bibliographic control.

Library Automation in Developing Countries: the last 25 years

Hopkinson, A. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:30 PST

Library automation has developed in the industrialized world over the last 25 years and progress in developing countries cannot be separated from trends worldwide. However there are different criteria for success in developing countries which are brought out in this review. Open Source has been hailed as a solution to the economic problems but there are still organizational problems to be surmounted. There is also the possibility to develop one’s own system. Nigeria, Thailand and India are taken as case studies, illustrating different kinds of solutions that are available and various pitfalls. Predictions into the future are difficult. Internet bandwidth will improve in developing countries and open source may prove useful but economics may not improve and power supply problems are likely to remain.

Current Abstracts

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:30 PST

Forthcoming Events

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:30 PST

Stray Thoughts: Left Holding the Baby

Msafiri, — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:30 PST