Report on
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AGRIS/CARIS IN THE 21ST CENTURYREPORT ON THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL CONSULTATION4 - 6 NOVEMBER 1996BOGOR, INDONESIA |
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[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7]
[Appendix 1] |
PAKISTAN NATIONAL AGRIS/CARIS CENTREFORESTRY INFORMATION SERVICESShahnaz Zuberi Directorate of Scientific Information, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan The total forest area of Pakistan is estimated at 4.20 million hectares or 4.8% of the total land area of the country. The forest sector contributed about 0.2% of the GDP during 1995-96. The reported forest cover does not meet the country's wood requirement. The government is trying to increase the forest area, especially by social forestry programmes with attractive incentives in the form of subsidised supply of planting stock, partial payment of planting cost, free protection of planted areas for a limited period of time and fair return to the farmers. FORESTRY SECTOR The Pakistan forestry sector is administratively controlled by six government departments. At the federal level is the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, with a Forest Division. There are forestry departments in all four provinces of the country and AJ&K. There are eight major research and development organisations in the forestry sector and other organisations which indirectly deal with forestry. Some NGOs, as well as international organisations like FAO, IUCN and WWF, are also active in the forestry sector in Pakistan. FORESTRY INFORMATION SERVICES The concept of establishing specialised information centres in specific areas like forestry is not yet established in Pakistan. At present there is no single agency acting as a national centre for the collection and dissemination of information on forestry. Forestry information is dispersed among various organisations and departments and there are no formal links among them, hence there is no systematic and regular information location, collection, processing and dissemination service. In fact there are many agencies in Pakistan maintaining the data on forestry or, to be more specific, a product of their own research and development work, but these organisations do not have co-ordination with each other, especially for information exchange. Almost all forestry research and development organisations maintain libraries but their services are restricted mostly to their own employees. Resource sharing and inter-library co-operation does not occur in forestry libraries. The biggest forestry library in Pakistan is located at the Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar, with more than 30 000 books/documents and 150 periodical titles. The Pakistan Journal of Forestry is a quarterly publication from the Pakistan Forest Institute. More than fifty other journals/magazines on agriculture and biological sciences contain articles on forestry. Research and development organisations also publish research reports, monographs, proceedings of seminars/workshops/training courses, etc. About 50 theses are annually released by the Pakistan Forest Institute, and Department of Range Management and Forestry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. FORESTRY INFORMATION AND NATIONAL AGRIS/CARIS CENTRE There is no single agency in Pakistan that devotes its energies towards the collection and dissemination of forestry information. There is no effort to co-ordinate information at the national level. The National AGRIS Centre Pakistan attempts to trace, acquire, index and disseminate, at the national level, information on agricultural literature, including forestry, produced locally. However, there is no effort to collect comprehensive information on various aspects of forestry, especially financial, human, physical and natural resources data, problems affecting forestry production, environmental aspects with reference to land, water and ecological quality control and minimising hazards to ecosystems. ORGANISATION The National AGRIS/CARIS Centre is located at the Directorate of Scientific Information (DSI), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad. The sections of the Directorate are: database; documentation; library; public information; microfilming; and photographic. In addition there are Directorates of Audio-visual Communications, Publications, Training and Technology Transfer in the NARC. SERVICES The DSI is a centralised information facility on all aspects of agriculture including forestry, fisheries and livestock for the use of researchers, extension workers, administrators, students, faculty members and farmers. Major information processing and disseminating services of the Directorate include: Pakistan Agriculture Database The Pakistan Agriculture Database consists of references to documents published in Pakistan or elsewhere in the world about Pakistan's agriculture, and which are input into the AGRIS database. Created in 1988 on INMAGIC software, more than 18 000 records have been entered, with 600 on forestry. During 1995 it was decided to include abstracts. The database helps scientists identify, locate and use literature and obtain specialised bibliographies. Copies are maintained at major agricultural research and academic libraries in Pakistan. Union database of journals in agricultural libraries This is a computerised database of journal holdings of agricultural libraries in Pakistan. It is a menu-driven, user-friendly system that needs minimal training for use and produces a variety of outputs meeting the requirements of the users. Searches may be for a specific library or all libraries and by journal, volume or issue. It contains information from 2794 periodicals with available volumes and issues in 28 agricultural libraries, including the holdings of the biggest forestry library, i.e., Pakistan Forest Institute's Library. National Agricultural Information System of Pakistan (NARISP) The National Agricultural Information System of Pakistan (NARISP) is a designed to provide information to policy makers, research managers, programme leaders and scientists about personnel and projects in various disciplines of agriculture and allied subjects including forestry. Data has been collected from 600 scientists. International database searching facilities To help scientists search world literature, the Centre provides retrospective searching facilities of 23 international databases available on CD-ROMs, including major agriculture and life sciences databases like CAB, AGRIS, AGRICOLA and Biological Abstracts as well as specific databases like TREE-CD, ECONLIT, FASTA, Pest Bank, Tropog & Rural, Aquatic Science and Fisheries Abstracts, etc. About 8-10 search requests are undertaken daily and results supplied as print-outs or computer file(s). National Agricultural Library The Directorate maintains the National Agricultural Library of Pakistan. About 10% of its total holdings are on forestry and related subjects. Document delivery Under this service, the requested documents are searched from within the country as well as procured from abroad for scientists. Foreign requests for the supply of Pakistani literature are also handled under this service. Public information This section contributes articles, briefs and news items related to agriculture for the information of farmers and the general public in the national newspapers, based on the research achievements of the scientists. Microfilming The main function of this Unit is to microfilm non-conventional literature of the major agricultural research and academic institutions, as well as useful old literature present in the National Agricultural Library. Duplicate copies can be made on request. Miscellaneous The staff of the Directorate is involved in testing and introducing the latest information handling techniques like computers, CD-ROM databases, e-mail and Internet. They also conduct training courses, seminars and workshops, as well as write papers on different information technology and related subjects. The Directorate also arranges individual training and provides advice on development of information systems. The Directorate publishes specialised bibliographies, information directories and catalogues. It is also involved in the development of different types of library/documentation software. FACILITIES The Directorate has computers with printers, CD-ROM drives, and modems; scanner; photocopiers; complete microfilming laboratory; scientific and technical photography; slide making/duplication, projection and audio-visual aides. It has the facilities of e-mail, Internet and fax, and is in the process of developing a Local Area Network (LAN) and planning to develop Wide Area Network (WAN) also. CONSTRAINTS There is no specific plan, policy or programme for the development of libraries and information centres in Pakistan. These centres are still in the formative stage of their development, with few standards or uniformity in the operation and management. Management at government departments often fails to appreciate the importance of information in the research and development process, so there is a scarcity of funds for the development of a national information infrastructure. Other problems include a lack of qualified and motivated staff in the field of library and information services. |