One Stop Information Shopping: The CGIAR Virtual Library

Imagine a single website offering scientists, economists, and other development professionals access to thousands of full-text documents related to agriculture, hunger, poverty, and the environment, drawn from some of the best available sources. Such a scenario is now possible with the new CGIAR Virtual Library (CGVlibrary).

Accessible at http://vlibrary.cgiar.org, the CGVlibrary allows researchers to use a single internet gateway to simultaneously search the online libraries of the CGIAR Centers and the Secretariat, as well as more than 160 outside databases. These external sources include the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Library of Congress, London School of Economics, AGRIS, and Global Online Research in Agriculture.

Researchers have access to over 4,000 e-journals as well as full-text documents, abstracts, and references from pre-selected databases grouped according to information type ("CGIAR Libraries," "Reference Books," "News") and subject matter ("Water," "Forestry," "Genetic Resources"). They can also create their own resource groupings.

CGIAR researchers have the additional option of searching full-text articles from open access periodicals and more than 85 subscription journals. They can also save resource groups for future searches, as well as links to particular journals, documents, or abstracts.

Launched this past June, the CGVlibrary culminates an 18-month collaborative effort by the CGIAR Centers. The project was funded by the CGIAR's Information and Communication Technologies and Knowledge Management program (ICT-KM) and led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

"The virtual library was inspired by the expressed need of CGIAR researchers and collaborators for a one-stop information shop," explains project leader Luz Marina Alvaré, head of IFPRI Library and Knowledge Management. "Now, information that was scattered around the world, across CGIAR libraries and other leading agricultural information providers, has been brought together more easily."

According to Nancy Walczak, head of IFPRI's computer services and the project's technical advisor, "Development of the CGVlibrary has motivated outside organizations to take advantage of this exciting resource." Outside groups may adapt their databases on agriculture and the environment to the CGVlibrary's technology, which would make their sites accessible within the website and eliminate the need for a separate link.

"Integrating their data with the Virtual Library system would streamline the research process: a user could retrieve more full-text documents or references in fewer steps," she notes. "This kind of simplified data and interface should make the CGVlibrary more valuable to researchers, both inside and outside the CGIAR Center network."

For more news about the CGVlibrary, go to http://ictkm.cgiar.org/Newsletter/newsletter-1.html.