International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) The Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information: An Integrated Response to Needs Roger Stringer

This presentation covers:  INASP  Background  Overview of activities  PERI  Background/overview  A 4-component programme  Delivering Information  Disseminating Local Research  Enhancing ICT Skills  Strengthening Local Publishing  Features and Benefits  General  To librarians  To users

INASP: background  The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) is a programme of the International Council for Science (founded 1930), INASP established in 1992  a co-operative network of over 3000 partners Aim: to improve world-wide access to information and knowledge through a commitment to capacity building in developing and transitional countries

INASP: overview of activities Core Activities  advisory and liaison services  links & resources Access to Information INASP-Health Links  publications INASP Newsletter handbooks manuals

INASP: overview of activities (cont’d) Programme Activities  INASP-Health  INASP-Rural Development  Library Support Initiatives support to professional associations access to information & knowledge for the public  Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI)  Delivering information  Disseminating local research  Enhancing ICT Skills  Strengthening local publishing

PERI – background (1)  range of ICT connectivity programmes, e.g. NATO science, InfoDev, Leyland Initiative, WiderNet  numerous small ad hoc activities providing access to content e.g. Individual publishers (IOPP), research projects but …  … access to international research remained limited; access to national and regional research very limited within LDCs  ‘Internet’ provides a surplus of information of dubious authority – growing need for quality control to help determine what is authoritative, useful information

PERI – background (2)  1999 ENRECA (Danish funded) research projects in 31 developing countries led to the development of PERI with INASP  2000 IAUP - Supply of Academic Publications (SAP) OSI – eIFL (initially EBSCO databases in NIS and now Africa)  2001 WHO – HINARI (medical/biomedical information)  2002 Food & Agriculture Organisation (concentrating on agricultural information)

PERI: overview Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information Aim: to support capacity building in the research sector in developing and transitional countries through strengthening the production and dissemination of, and access to, information & knowledge utilising new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Key Words: Affordability, Sustainability, Capacity Building

PERI: A four component programme 1.Delivering Information facilitates the acquisition of international information and knowledge 2.Disseminating National & Regional Research strengthens and develops access to national and regional journals as a medium for the dissemination of local information and knowledge 3.Enhancing ICT Skills provides awareness or training in the use and/or evaluation of ICTs 4.Strengthening Local Publishing enhances skills in the preparation, production and management of journals

PERI Component 1: Delivering information  content and resources are demand driven – consultation with librarians and researchers and network organisations (e.g the CGIAR) in-country  training requirements are also assessed at this time  INASP promotes awareness of available resources  country coordinators plan & facilitate locally (with full time support from INASP staff in the UK)  INASP negotiates provision of as many required resources as possible with content owners/publishers  continued communication to monitor and review awareness, uptake, usage, trouble-shooting

PERI Component 1: Delivering Information  acquisition of resources ( ) current awareness resources on-line full-text journals document delivery  negotiation with publishers:  initially project by project, leading to institutional level, leading to country-wide access licences  90% -100% discount  3-year licensing period from publishers  beginning to move towards country collaborative purchase or ‘consortia’ building

Current Awareness Resources Examples include:  African Journals OnLine (AJOL)  British Library - Inside Web - indexes the ToCs of 20,000+ research journals  CAB International - CAB Abstracts, CAB HEALTH  EBSCO Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, Health Source Plus, ERIC, Medline  SciELO journals (Latin American bio-medical journals)  SilverPlatter abstracting & indexing databases:  FRANCIS  Pascal Biomed  Pascal SciTech  MEDLINE+

Full Text Journal Resources Examples include:  Academic Press - I-CLIC journals  Blackwell Publishers journals in Science, Technology, Medicine, Social Sciences & Humanities  The Cochrane Library – medicine and health databases and reviews  EBSCO Publishing 5,500+ journals in science, technology, medicine, agriculture, social sciences and humanities + CD ROMs; content from 200+ leading publishers  Soon to go live: The Royal Society & Oxford University Press (September 2002)  other information providers joining through 2002/03

Document Delivery Resources Examples include:  British Library Document Supply Centre – provides access to articles from over 20,000 research journals and 100,000 conference proceedings  SciELO – online journals from Latin America  African Journals Online (AJOL) In all cases, PERI has negotiated free or highly discounted fees for hard copy articles

PERI Component 2: Disseminating National & Regional Research Aims and Objectives  to enable the results of research undertaken and published to become more widely known and accessible  to raise awareness of scholarly publications both nationally and internationally  to strengthen the scholarly publishing sector by providing income both through encouraging print and/or electronic subscriptions and, in some regions, through the purchase of single articles  to assess the impact of using the Internet to promote awareness and use of journals

Disseminating Local Research: Example African Journals Online (AJOL) provides a web presence for online Tables of Content and Abstracts links to full text where electronic full text is available cross-title searching now includes over 100 journals in: agricultural sciences arts, culture and literature health and medicine science and technology social sciences INASP has recently been invited to undertake feasibility surveys for similar projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan & Ukraine

AJOL usage HitsJanuary ,000 March 2002: 48,295 April: 51,885 May: 53,567 Registrations: Sep June 2002: 3,454 Between 100 and 150 new registrations each month Most from USA, Africa (half from SA) and Europe

PERI Component 3: Enhancing ICT Skills Aim of this component:  To enhance awareness and training for researchers and information staff  ‘travelling’ training materials and ‘cascading’ methodology  local facilitation and in-country delivery  Africa, South East Asia, Central and South America, NIS (former Soviet Union)  library & research sectors focus on information access and management related issues

Internet Training: Workshop 1 ‘Using the Internet’ Content includes: Introduction to the Internet Browsers and browsing the Web Search engines and searching the Web Information gateways Resources for teaching, learning and research Evaluating quality of Internet information Web page design, usability and evaluation Free and low cost software available on the Web Copyright and IPR as a communication tool Costing the use of the Internet Internet training for library users and developing a training plan

Internet Training: Workshop 2 'Electronic Journals and ICT Library Management' Content includes: overview supply models searching downloading document delivery archiving software copyright and licensing managing access purchasing

Internet Training: Workshop 3 'Web Page Design and Authoring, leading to Network & Library Web Pages’ Content includes: HTML web page design content creation web publishing providing access to electronic resources result: a library and/or institutional web site as a gateway or portal to the resources available

Internet Training: Workshop 4 ‘ICT Troubleshooting for Librarians’ Content includes : logging in/out managing memory deleting unwanted files viruses common problems with easy solutions when to call a technician

PERI Component 4: Strengthening Local Publishing Aim of this component: To assist publishers to improve their publishing skills Publishing management workshops Online Journal Publishing Projects Study visits & ‘mentorships’ through partnership e.g. African Crop Science Journal & Journal of Animal Sciences with CABI Journal of Applied Science and Technology – Inst. of Civil Engineers Journal of Science and Technology (Zambia) – IMechE Journal of Social Development in Africa - RIAI National Science & Technology Development Agency, Thailand - Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Handbooks, manuals and resource packs

PERI: General Benefits  well-informed teams in-country working with INASP to support and enhance local capacity (and capabilities)  INASP’s own staff is highly experienced in relevant areas: librarianship, development work, publishing; many have extensive in-country experience  comprehensive and collaborative training; cascading ensures local empowerment  improves local resources in developing and transitional countries meaning universities are less dependant upon journal donations (which can be erratic, random and/or parochial)

PERI Resources: Features and Benefits to Librarians  availability of significant new resources for patrons encourages use of library services  high potential for professional development through exposure to new products and experiences  excellent opportunity to learn more about ICTs and online capabilities the above all help to strengthen the librarian’s role as a key facilitator in information resource assessment, access, use, management and development

PERI Resources: Features and Benefits to Library Users/ researchers (1)  use of national licenses means authorised users can log on from any library work station, campus or home-based PC; radically improves access and usage options  24x7 access to a growing library of well-funded, high impact research – published internationally and nationally - enhances accessibility and opportunity  access to high quality results from the Europe, US, Africa, Asia and Latin America informs local research  access to the latest information means researchers are exposed to, and can adopt, the latest methodologies, techniques, thinking and results  exposure to web-based information enhances skills in browsing, searching, retrieval and navigation

PERI Resources: Features and Benefits to Library Users/ researchers (2)  cross-disciplinary searching for results ranging across related fields (e.g. medicine and bio-materials or organic chemistry and molecular biology)  access to high Impact Factor publications enables researchers to gauge their own research efforts  access to back files facilitates wider literature searching for more comprehensive results  online journal platforms now carry major reference works and databases providing access to a broader range of content  linking technology delivers connectivity to related resources such as cited articles, datasets, tables and free software, which can inform and enhance research

Challenges Projects like PERI are beginning to make a real impact and address many of the issues, but access is only the first step :  Infrastructural development and enhancement – urgent need for hardware, cabling and network infrastructure  Training – real need for extensive, hands-on, high quality and effective training  Development of Programme: - potential to develop country portals for ease of access to multiple resources - adoption of common statistical reporting (project COUNTER) - continued in-country collaboration to ensure local empowerment - more resources at affordable prices  ‘Consortia’ formation, where practical, for future sustainability

Your contacts at INASP/PERI: Director of INASP - Carol Priestley, Delivering Information - Sarah Durrant, Disseminating National & Regional Research - Diana Rosenberg, Enhancing ICT Skills - Martin Belcher & Sara Gwynn - Strengthening Local Publishing - Pippa Smart, International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP)