Virtual Library Service

History

Phase I concluded in 2006, Phase II continued with CGVlibrary

The Virtual Library Service activity was established to facilitate access to library information within and outside the CGIAR through integrated searches of document-type databases using a common user interface, standard protocols, and easy linking to electronic full text. In short, the Virtual Library Service was designed to provide a one-stop center for agricultural information, not by creating a massive new central site, but by linking existing services.

The CGVlibrary (as the Virtual Library Service is now called) became fully operational in June 2006. At the end of 2006, over 160 electronic resources were searchable through the CGVlibrary site, including fifteen CGIAR Center libraries plus the CGIAR Secretariat catalogs, with the possibility to link to more than 4,000 e-journals and other external publications. Staff within the CGIAR and agricultural researchers outside the CG system were using the CGVlibrary on a daily basis. 94,311 sessions were recorded between June 1 and October 15, 2006. Usage for CGIAR catalogs alone increased from 967 searches in June 2006 to 41,470 searches by mid-October 2006.

With the CGVlibrary, as with any ongoing service, further work remained to be done in publicizing the service, training new users, developing more thematic groups of resources, including more information resources, and more tightly integrating some resources into the common search. However, the foundation had been laid for providing access to a wide range of agricultural information more efficiently and to a wider audience than ever before possible.

Although the official reporting period concluded in October 2006, the CGVlibrary Team subsequently received the CGIAR Science Award for Outstanding Scientific Support Team, presented during the CGIAR Annual General Meeting in December 2006 in Washington, DC.

Funding was approved for Phase II of the CGVlibrary project in early 2007.

Lead Administrative Center

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Project Coordinator

Luz Marina Alvare, Head of Library and Knowledge Management Unit (IFPRI)