OdinPubAfrica The African e-Repository ( Status and perspectives OdinPubAfrica The African e-Repository ( Status and perspectives Cheikh Ibrahima SAKHO Regional Coordinator 32nd annual conference, Portland, October 6-11, 2006

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Background Odinafrica and IOC (UNESCO) project Odinafrica and IOC (UNESCO) project Founded by the Flemish Government of Belgium Founded by the Flemish Government of Belgium Started in 2005 Started in 2005

32nd annual conference, Portland, October I. STATUS Active participation of 15 African countries : Egypt ; Ghana ;Madagascar ; Mauritius ; Mauritania ; Morocco ; Mozambique ; Namibia; Nigeria ; Kenya ; Senegal; Seychelles ; Tanzania ; Togo ; Tunisia.

32nd annual conference, Portland, October of submitted documents Composition of submitted documents 1110 documents submitted most of them are typed as : Journal Articles PhD Theisis and Master Reports Technical Reports Conference Paper Books Other (PP documents, institutional newsletters, …)

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Human resources  15 information managers are trained ;  2 regional coordinators are appointed, and take now in hand the management of the repository (creating collections, helpdesk, granting access right, etc.) ;

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Several posters are made, and a great awareness campaign through s, conference communications in direction of the institute managers and others users ; Articles about the African repository are published in several international journal The collections in the repository are growing ;

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Constraints By Lack of Internet connexion lot of countries can not participate as active member of the project ; For want of basic infrastructure (scanner) some institutes have difficulties to submit their collections ; The scepticism of scientists to submit their publication in the repository The repository is not yet integrated in the library activities (cataloguing, ASFA input, African Ocean Portal,…) ;

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Defining standards Lack of a standard for rich metadata for repositories in aquatic and marine science ; E.g Metadata Fields: OdinPubAfrica already uses ASFA keywords. Are other taxonomy fields necessary?

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Lack of a more refined metadata exchange standard than Dublin Core; Possibilities are: MODS – AGRIS AP Can IAMSLIC help in defining standards for repositories in the aquatic and marine science?

32nd annual conference, Portland, October II. Perspectives The repository get a new name “Oceandocs” Various scientific publications are available in paper or electronic format and can be prepared and submitted to the repository; Initializing a regional centres for scanning and submission of documents in the repository ;

32nd annual conference, Portland, October  Creation of the project « Aquatic Common Initiative » By the cooperation with other organizations (systems), find more flexible data exchange system; By the cooperation with other organizations (systems), find more flexible data exchange system;  More and more African research institutions ask to be admitted in the repository project ;

32nd annual conference, Portland, October The African marine science repository is now a reality but OdinPubAfrica project need :   Intensive efforts for the enhancement of the metadata system ;   Development of the collections   More participation of African marine research institutes Conclusion

32nd annual conference, Portland, October Thank you for your attention