IAALD NEWS 
 Central and Eastern Europe
Roundtable Proposal - Conclusions and Recommendations
Abbakumova Nina, Scientific Secretary, Central Scientific Agricultural Library, Moscow, Russia
Bartol Tomaz, Assistant Professor, Head of the Slovenian National AGRIS Center, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • About the event

    The 7th US/Central and Eastern European Agricultural Library Roundtable was held between May 23 - 28, 1999 in Moscow in the Czech and Slovak Center of Commerce and Technics, Krasnogo Mayaka Street, 19. There were 51participants who had come from 19 countries and several national and international organizations.

    The programme started with welcome and introductory speaches by representatives of the host institutions such as the Central Scientific Agricultural Library in Moscow, and the Ministry of the Agriculture and Food of the Russian Federation, as well as a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture of Slovakia, and were resumed by papers by representatives of national and international organizations such as Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), including the FAO SEUR (Sub-Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe), International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD), United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) and National Agricultural Library (NAL), and CAB International (CABI).

    The programme continued by presentation of reports by national representatives from Central and Eastern European countries. Special attention was placed on stabilization and development of human resources in respective CEE countries.

  • Conclusions and Recommendations

    After the presentation of country reports the participants were asked to form working groups to discuss the problems that were highlighted in the course of the Roundtable. Working in the sections was concluded by a report by each group. The five discussion groups were set up on geographical basis. The section reports were then presented to all the participants. The ensuing discussion served as a basis for drawing of conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions and recommendations can be roughly systematized into two groups. The first applies to the cooperation between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and large international or national organizations outside the scope of the CEE such as FAO, IAALD and USAIN/NAL. The second corpus of conclusions and recommendations is applicable to the activities of organizing of Roundtable events in the future.

    1. Cooperation outside the scope of the CEE countries

      Cooperation with FAO

      Cooperation with the FAO can be not only helpful but is indispensable for implementation of certain tasks in the course of setting up of new information facilities. FAO structures can be very instrumental in providing strategic basis for management of information. Also, FAO may be very helpful in the process of capacity building. The Roundtable participant countries are very much in favor of continuous development and expansion of systems and subsystems such as WAICENT and AgroWeb CEE. These systems represent a very useful platform for the transfer of both research and professional agricultural information to and from the CEE countries. Such systems, in turn, enhance the role of library and information institutions and professionals in respective participant countries and will consequently boost the development of information infrastructure.

      It is desired that professional workshops be increasingly organized in order to train less advanced information professionals in the skills of the above utilities. With regard to these activities the participants express their particular support to the utility of the FAO SEUR.

      Cooperation with IAALD

      Roundtable participants support the idea of a more intensive cooperation with the IAALD. In this scope there exists a necessity for an increase of individual as well as collective IAALD membership in the CEE countries. With the objective of promoting the IAALD activities an selection of national IAALD coordinators was proposed. During the closing session of the 7th Roundtable a IAALD CEE Committee Board was established on the principles of geographical proximity. Respective geographical groups within the CEE countries will be coordinated by the following persons:

      • Nina Abbakumova of Russian Federation,
      • Igor Hitrec of Croatia,
      • Ludmila Kostin of Moldova,
      • Oleg Shatberashvili of Georgia,
      • Jan Simko of Slovakia,
      • Yuri Bagrin of Ukraine,
      • Vladimir Golubev of Belarus,
      • and Laslo Papocsi of Hungary.
      • Michal Demes and Ildiko Pocza will represent FAO's Sub-Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe (FAO SEUR).

      IAALD publishing activities should be expanded by setting up of an electronic newspaper related to the problems of Central and Eastern European countries. An editor should be nominated in view of these activities. There is a proposal on the part of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus for establishing of a special editorial group, based in one of the above three countries, which would carry out the activities related to the possible Russian version of such a newspaper.

      IAALD professionals from the CEE region should step up their activities related to the publishing of the new IAALD World Directory which will appear in the year 2000. The present Directory data are rather incomplete with respect to many CEE countries and therefore need intensive update. This will not be possible without active participation of each country or information establishment in question. It may be possible to discuss a possibility of presenting some selected Directory information also within the frame of AgroWeb CEE.

      Cooperation with USAIN/NAL

      U.S. National Agricultural Library (NAL) has been a promotor of Roundtable events since the very first meeting in Beltsville in 1991. It has provided the CEE library and information professionals with strong incentives in the direction of setting up of modern information services. CEE Roundtable attendees acknowledge a very important role of NAL and its staff in the process of transformation of such services. NAL has also been very helpful in the process of training of selected library and information professionals at NAL and some other related institutions. The scope of cooperation with NAL has recently been also conductive to the cooperation with the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN).

      Roundtable participants therefore favor a continuos and intensive cooperation with the NAL as well as USAIN what can further provide CEE library and information professionals with invaluable professional and personal assistance with respect to the use of modern information services.

    2. The course of the Roundtables in the future
      • The participants agree that it is necessary to continue organizing regular Roundtable meetings in the future. The Roundtables present a very useful platform for an exchange of professional experiences of individual representatives based on practice in their respective countries.

      • In order for the Roundtables to be organized even better it may be advantageous to introduce a biennial Roundtable schedule instead of annual. The organizing countries or institutions will then have more time for preparation.

      • The participants are in accord with the proposition by the Ukrainian colleagues that the 8th Roundtable be held in Kyiv. Ukraine is the second largest country of the CEE community and boasts a complex and influential agricultural research community that is a generator as well as a user of a large quantity of agricultural information. Ukraine was presented in Moscow by a strong delegation of library and information specialists and researchers. The topic of the 8th Roundtable is proposed to be the "Role of agricultural information in the process of European integration".

      • More attention should be placed on work in special topical sections. These sections should be based on the interests of particular Roundtable attendees. One section, e.g., could be dedicated to the marketing of services in agricultural information centers and libraries.

      • The participants should accord more attention to the quality of their presentations. Papers should follow more closely the points presented in the Roundtable Guidelines. They should also be structured accordingly. Each paper should bear full name, professional or academic title, and professional address of the authors, and possibly the citations and references to the previous documents. The papers should also be supplied by an informative abstract.

      • The organizing institution should provide all needed technical assistance and technical equipment such as various projectors, Personal Computers with peripheral equipment and communications devices, video systems etc.

      • A possibility of videoconferencing should be investigated as a possible way of organizing some meetings in the future. These meetings could be based on some limited platforms or broader.

      • It is desired that countries organize training courses by inviting leading international experts in the field of agricultural information and thus enhance information skills and promote professional contacts. Such programs could also involve exchange of specialists. Courses for mastering linguistic skills are also recommended.

      • Along with the forming of the Roundtable Organizational Committee there should be appointment of individuals responsible for the overall course and quality of Roundtable and respective presentations and for technical help.

      • The following three propositions were made by the Russian participants: -the next Roundtable event may consider usage of Russian along with English; the possibilities of simultaneous translation should in such a case be examined -the countries that use Russian as a functional language could prepare their reports both in English and Russian; the reports should be sent to the Organizational Committee at least one-month prior to the beginning of the Roundtable -the existing participant countries of the Central and Eastern Europe represent the Roundtable participant scope which can also be extended by other logical constituents of the former Commonwealth of Independent States

      • With regard to the future Roundtables the participants are of opinion that the term of late spring or early summer, e.g. months of May or June, represents the most suitable period for organizing of such events.

      • The CEE countries should continue as principal organizers and localities of the Roundtable events. However, participation and support on the part of FAO, IAALD and USAIN/NAL will be greatly appreciated.