Factual description

Agriculture-related information in Ukraine is upheld by some 255 agricultural libraries and information centers of institutions that are part of the system of the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. There are also some other libraries and information centers outside of this systems that also keep collections of significant interest. Agricultural research nowadays faces many complex problems. Productivity concerns are now complemented by food security, equity, and sustainability issues. Addressing these concerns in the traditional framework of commodity research programs is practically impossible. New organizational models are needed to stabilize and develop human resources in Ukrainian agricultural information system.

National agricultural scientific information center

National science and information center of agricultural management has been created with respect to the National Program of Development of Agro-Industrial Manufacture and Rural Revival. The Program has been planned for the period of 1996-2005. It will improve the system of extension services, and help disseminate scientific and technical advances amongst agricultural producers and rural population. National fund of agricultural scientific and technical information is also in the process of creation.

The center will coordinate activities of the program, such as exchange of experiences and data between state agricultural libraries and other information institutions, agricultural enterprises, and also private farms. Databases will be created and new information products and services will be organized in order to advance professional qualifications of agricultural information specialists.

These and other tasks have been so far carried out by the Division of Informatization of the Institute of Agrarian Economics of the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Its specialists have, amongst many other documents, prepared the "Program of Informatization of Agro-Industrial Manufacture in the period of 1996-2000". An agricultural telecommunication system has also been created within the frame of these activities.

Register of national experts and consultants

Register of national experts and consultants in agriculture was created as a consequence of the Ukrainian meeting on agro-industrial policy (1995), and the Plan of urgent measures on realization of rules and propositions presented at the Ukrainian meeting on problems of development in sciences (1996). The register includes such data as personal names, institutions, postal addresses, telephone numbers and type of service provided by each consultant. Consultation fee is agreed upon by a contract.

All-Ukrainian union of agricultural information specialists

The All-Ukrainian Union of Agricultural Information Specialists was created with the aim of meeting needs of Ukrainian agricultural producers by improving and facilitating access to scientific, technical, market, legal, business, analytical and other types of agriculture-related information. The union is another attempt to stabilize and develop human resources in Ukrainian agricultural information system.

More than 170 participants attended the conference on Information Resources and the Use in Agro-Industrial Manufacture of Ukraine, in October 1998 in Kyiv. The Union's structure and purposes are similar to those of the IAALD what permits a close cooperation. At the conference it was observed that the acute crisis in agricultural economy resulted in closing of many libraries and loss of qualified staff. This is partially also due to the fact that researchers and managers in the field of agriculture pay too little attention to the services rendered by information specialists.

The existing information system in Ukraine today is not satisfactory. This is an opinion of information workers as well as end-users of agricultural technological and market information. Some information specialists are having doubts and have even become apathetic as to the possibilities of significant improvement in the future. Traditional views on the role of information still prevail in some circles. To cope with such problems they have first to be identified. Some are conditioned by insufficient financing or by the dispirited state of the society in general, some other, however, are to be attributed to information specialists and librarians themselves. The problems in libraries and other information establishments were to a large degree brought about by inadequate management of information processes, obstructions in the library departments, and by insufficient coordination or cooperation. Information specialists are not ready to be operational under market conditions.

Information specialists of Agro-Industrial Complex can no longer rely solely on comfortable support of Ministry of Agro-Industrial Complex of Ukraine and Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences but have to look for new ways and opportunities in order to survive. This is indispensable if they wish to promote agricultural information in Ukraine.

The main tasks of the Union are therefore to promote efficiency of information establishments, coordinate their activity including fulfillment of the programs of informatization, and to promote the use of new information technologies and exchange experiences related to this use. The Union also seeks to protect interests of its members in relation to international or national organizations.

Principal organizational and research goals of the Union:

• participation in setting up of national agriculture information policy
• development of new approaches, rules, scientific and methodical recommendations with the view of linking information establishments and experts, directed at supplying Ukrainian agricultural producers with high quality information service ·
• development of communication systems in order to exchange agricultural information, intensive use of new information and computer technologies, and national and international data bases
• dissemination of printed scientific publications, periodicals, methodology materials and other documents
• participation in organizing of education or training of information experts
• distribution of domestic and global experiences into agro-industrial production
• promotion of activities of international, national, regional and other centers
• · promotion of research activity in agricultural information by awarding diplomas
• organization and participation at scientific and technical symposia in connection with agricultural information
• cooperation with foreign firms and institutions
• aiding information specialists in decision making related to problems in the conditions of market economy

The Union will have individual and collective membership, based on voluntary participation. It will link individuals or institutions, which are professionally involved in informatization of agriculture, including collecting, processing, storage and distribution of information, and will be open to others who will show interest in participation. Participants will have to heed principles of democracy and equality of all members.

Union can associate with international, and other public (nongovernmental) institutions, and can also organize such international unions or associations. It can maintain direct international contacts and connections, and sign appropriate agreements.

Membership in this organization will bring information support for agricultural activity, and enable participation at exhibitions and conferences. Members will receive publications free of charge. Some will be obtainable on the reduced-price level.

Conclusions

It is rather difficult to predict the future of information systems in the age of the Internet. Changes are swift and today's prophecy might prove tomorrow's fallacy. That is why progress in the area of data transfer and informatization of agriculture is indispensably linked with stabilization and development of human resources as well. Scientists and researchers have come to recognize the value of information not only in research activity, but have accepted their own role as information gatekeepers, advisors, guides, and workshop coordinators. New technologies and services, like the Internet, have started cutting into the roles of library and information professionals and centers. Searchers have learned to use these services on their own and their dependency on library and information centers is gradually decreasing. Therefore, as information providers, it will be necessary for information specialists to redefine their services, activities and products. Working in complex technological environment, librarians and other information specialists today face many challenges. Among these are an unrelenting information explosion, shrinking budgets, unpredictable sources of long-term funding, and many others. But although limited in many ways, all the attempts, and especially those of the All-Ukrainian Union of Agricultural Information Specialists can serve as the foundation of a new model for the stabilization and development of human resources in Ukrainian agricultural information system.