A return to local agricultural libraries

The books and journals in most ACP information and documentation centres tend to be old and out-of-date. This is the result of several factors: lack of funds; the high cost of imported scientific books; lack of information on recent titles; shortage of trained library staff; and convertible currency to purchase library books and subscriptions. Although some development agencies do help in the purchase of publications, this is not sufficient. This sort of support is often sporadic, and, in the case of book donations, not always appropriate to the needs of the recipients. To overcome this, CTA launched a project to help ACP agricultural information and documentation centres. The project is known as DORA (distribution of reference books on agriculture). Through this project CTA supplies a maximum of 500 reference works to 20 ACP centres each year. The target is that by 1995 all the ACP countries will have been served. The publications to be supplied are selected by the beneficiary centres themselves, which is a distinguising feature of the project. The centres are encouraged to consult the users in selecting the publications and to read not just the lists sent by CTA, but bibliographies and catalogues from publishers and specialized institutions. The choice of beneficiary centres is made using a number of criteria: whether a centre has requested assistance; how well it is likely to handle and manage the books it receives and promote their use; whether there is another centre within the same country which is already receiving help from CTA or a similar source. In 1991 20 centres from 19 ACP countries benefited from the DORA project. In 1992 the following countries will have received help: Angola, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Sierra Leone, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Swaziland and Tonga. CTA hopes that the project will help those concerned with development to use local libraries, which DORA has stocked, in their search for solutions tailored to the problems they encounter.CTA launched a project to help ACP agricultural information and documentation centres. The project is known as DORA (distribution of reference books on agriculture