1. By: Hamidreza Mokhtari A. Mokhber
Iranians’ efforts to design and accredit the first long-term educational program for LIS professionals in agriculture
By: Hamidreza Mokhtari A. Mokhber

2. Importance of agriculture in Iran
Background
Importance of agriculture in Iran

3. Challenges and opportunities
Laws and regulations
Share of agriculture sector in GDP
Share of agriculture in labor force composition;
Wealth of indigenous knowledge
Rural population
Specific needs of agricultural audience
International trends

4. number of agriculture students

5. agriculture share of GDP(%)

6. labor force by occupation

7. Number of Rural ICT offices

8. Agricultural information in Iran
Two ministries for agriculture
Two competing LIS bodies
Many achievements
Merging

9. The need for LIS in agriculture
Paradigm
Language
Communication:
Environment

10. Iranians’ efforts 1989: the ministry of Science
2000: one of the authors
2003: justification report
Rejection
2012: restarting with AIM

11. Skills & Knowledge acquired
Familiarity with agriculture research
Working with agriculture databases like FAO’s
Familiarity with agriculture statistical systems and datasets
General knowledge of agriculture
Knowledge and respect for nature and its products
Working with agriculture -specific terms and concepts
Good command of English for specific purpose in agriculture

12. Reasons for rejection of proposal
negative perception about librarians in agriculture sector;
the present experts can do the job(even if it is not efficient);
the name: “library” is not proper;

13. AIM: a leap frog Context matter as stated by USAID Good example:
Difference between developed and developing countries
Good example:
Kenyan university of Nairobi: Postgraduate Diploma in Agricultural Information and Communication Management (AICM)

14. GDP and labor force in developing and developed countries

15. Post positivism paradigm
Agricultural Information Management
Agriculture Discipline
LIS Discipline
Management Discipline
Participatory/advo cacy paradigm

16. Conclusions & Suggestions
defining human resource needs assessment researches for LIS in agriculture;
notice major audience in agriculture sector and base the agriculture colleges for the development of courses;
providing a momentum through NGOs in the sector is very important for the success;

17. Conclusions & Suggestions
negotiating with major stakeholders and lobbying ;
know the big picture of knowledge and information systems and placing the new discipline in them;
finding the place of indigenous knowledge in the curriculum and relating it to the courses

18. Acknowledgement: National Library of Singapore for awarding a generous grant to me