Report on
Discussion Forum on Information Services in the Asia-Pacific
and
AGRIS/CARIS in the 21st Century
an Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation

Edited by Michael Ibach and Yvonne Byron

AGRIS/CARIS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

REPORT ON THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL CONSULTATION

4 - 6 NOVEMBER 1996

BOGOR, INDONESIA

List of Acronyms

[Chapter 1]
Recommendation

[Chapter 2]
FAO, WAICENT, AGRIS, CARIS Forestry Information Services for the 21st Century

[Chapter 3]
Activities of the Forestry Department of FAO in Relation to Research and Information

[Chapter 4]
Principles of Abstracting and Indexing as applied by CAB International

[Chapter 5]
Can We See the Forest for the Trees?

[Chapter 6]
Improving Access to Forestry Information: the Experience of FORSPA

[Chapter 7]
IUFRO and Collaboration Possibilities of Enhancing with AGRIS/CARIS

Country Reports:

Bangladesh

China

India

Indonesia

Japan

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Philippines

Phillippines 2

SEAMEO

South Korea

Thailand

Vietnam

Western Samoa

[Appendix 1]
List of Participants

THAI NATIONAL AGRIS/CARIS:

FORESTRY INFORMATION SERVICE

Piboonsin Watanapongse

Kasetsart University Main Library, Bangkok, Thailand

BACKGROUND

The Thai National AGRIS/CARIS Centers were established in 1975 under the responsibility of the Thai National Documentation Center and Kasetsart University Main Library. In 1981 the activities were transferred solely to Kasetsart University Main Library. The main functions have been collecting and managing agricultural and related information from journals, theses, monographs and other publications written on Thailand.

The AGRIS/CARIS databases contain information on forest management, forest biology, forest products, silviculture, forest engineering, conservation, taxonomy, forest economics, plantation technology, and environment impact. The Royal Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and the Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, conduct most forestry research.

RESEARCHERS' ACCESS TO FORESTRY INFORMATION

Forestry researchers usually seek information from their own organisations as their first resource, and specialist libraries and information centers are consulted for research and statistical data. Occasionally information from other sources in Thailand and from abroad are used.

Thai National AGRIS/CARIS Centers as providers of forestry information

Information held by the Thai National AGRIS/CARIS Centers represent the largest resources on agricultural sciences in Thailand and include forestry information. Services include bibliographic references, on-line/CD-ROM database searching, document delivery and inter-library loans. The Centers also co-operate with the Document Service and Library of the Royal Forestry Department when referral service is needed for specialist information not available from the Centers. The Centers also have access to the relevant universities for referral services and inter-library loans. Information can be provided from commercial information services such as the Technical Information Access Center (TIAC) where world-wide information is provided on a fee for service basis. Grey literature and primary sources from non-governmental organisations, such as the national forest parks, are important sources when needed.

Current awareness service for forestry information

The National AGRIS/CARIS Centers introduce the Current Awareness Services through traditional reference services such as bibliographic compilations for users who request information on specific topics, and circulation of contents pages.

The Centers plan to construct an Internet homepage so that information can be accessed by more users, and a wider exchange of information will be possible among the user groups. Current information on ongoing research projects as well as new publications can be disseminated immediately and thus information can be updated efficiently.

The Main Information Resources

• A complete collection of bibliographical references in hard copy and in electronic format are available from the Main Library;
• Journal titles in the field of agriculture and forestry related areas;
• Full-text papers on microfilm for Thai agricultural information sources appearing in the AGRIS database;
• Inter-library co-operation and resource sharing among libraries of universities and government as well as private organisations throughout the country; and
• Using international resources through the Internet, the Main Library has access to the World Wide Web and other commercial information database vendors.

PROBLEMS AND COMMENTS ON THE INFORMATION SERVICE

In Thailand, information users are faced with the problems of scarce information resources, especially full-text documents from foreign publications. With the availability of the Internet, users are more aware of the need for information. Libraries and information services still need to increase their resources in terms of volumes of hard copies, on-line and CD-ROM databases, as well as acquire new technology to enable services to be more effective. Technologies have changed very rapidly and librarians and information specialists have to keep up with the changes. In order to achieve effective library and information services, I believe that more opportunities are needed for professionals from all levels ­ policy to practical ­ to meet and communicate. Access to the Internet as well as the opportunity to learn how to use the facility means a short-cut to increasing our knowledge. Users have become more aware of the information technologies that can produce and disseminate voluminous amounts of information. Users themselves create the information in new fields. We, the information professionals must keep up to date with the developments of technology, as well as with the contents of information, in order to plan for good services to provide information accurately, quickly and at acceptable cost.