ICTs Innovations: Case Studies 6 May 2006, UNEP, Nairobi By Serge Bounda Chief, Sergio Vieira de Mello United Nations Library EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MESA UNIVERSITY PROGRAMME

BACKGROUND U NEP Library created in 1973 T he Library inherited the documentation of the Stockholm Conference L ibrary computerized 1986 S ignificant stocks of scientific journals THE UNITED NATIONS LIBRARY AT NAIROBI

SERVICES AVAILABLE Reference and loan services SDI Online services (including an online catalogue) Training Guided tours UNEP line of products

FACILITIES AVAILABLE Cyberspace Reading room/ meeting room Periodicals room Conference room TV studio Radio studio Videoconference Facilities

1.Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) 2.Environmental Information Centre in Iraq 3.Cyberspace for the local community 4.Training on ICTs – e.g. Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya CASE STUDIES ON ICTs INNOVATIONS

1. WHAT IS OARE? Global public- private partnership to expand access to environmental research in the developing world Environment is a global concern Lack of access to environmental information, especially online resources Success of HINARI and AGORA

PARTNERS IN OARE Yale University A leader in the management of online journals and international library initiatives Played a key role in developing HINARI Involved in a number of the state-of-the-art digital library projects Cornell University Key role in developing the AGORA journal collection, outreach and training

WHO Led the development of HINARI that provides access to research in the medical sciences FAO Liased with Cornell University and WHO to develop AGORA which is focused upon the needs of agriculture/food security community

UNEP Environmental conscience of the United Nations and its environmental advocate to the world Leading agency to implement OARE Mission : to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

SEVERAL LEAD PUBLISHERS Elsevier Blackwell CABI Kluwer

WHY OARE? Build environmental content Help over 900 environmental institutions in developing countries get free access to online journals Build institutional partnerships among environmental institutions in developed and developing countries Develop independent national organizations capable of gathering and disseminating environmental information Reinforce publisher partnership for development Narrow the digital divide Contribute to the Millennium Development Goals (esp. Goal no. 7)

WAY FORWARD Pre-testing phase- On-going Partners meeting- July 2006 Launch of OARE- October 2006 On-going as from November 2006: Institutional registration and enrolment Training and capacity building Promotion and publicity Evaluation

2. ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION CENTRE, IRAQ Working closely with PCoB Geneva Set up an Environmental Information Centre in the Ministry of Environment, Baghdad

UNEP donate publications (USD 90,000), furniture (15,000) Training in Nairobi for 4 staff members – October nd Training to be held end May 2006

3. CYBERSPACE Over 25 computers with rapid access to the Internet Access to Online reference sources – dictionaries, encyclopaedias etc

Subscription to online databases – Lexis Nexis, Science Direct, Economist Intelligence Unit etc Selective Dissemination of Information

4. TRAINING OF ICTs Uganda – Mountains of the Moon University Librarian Zimbabwe – ILO/ARLAC Information Officer Kenya – Local librarians, Interns

Contact us: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Library United Office in Nairobi Gigiri Complex Tel: (254 20) Fax: (254 20)

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