Academic Assembly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, November
12th, 2003-Clark Hall Auditorium 700
I. Introductions and
Announcements:
Sarah Thomas opened the meeting by introducing and
welcoming Thomas Mills, as the new Reference Librarian in the Law
Library. Thomas received his MLS and JD from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. Thomas also holds a Master of International Affairs from
Columbia University. Thomas was most recently employed as Interim Director
of the Office of Graduate and International Studies at the University of
Illinois, College of Law.
She also congratulated Oliver Habicht
on being elected co-chair of the Cornell Computing Directors. This group,
comprised of information technology managers from across campus, provides
leadership to the university community on information technology issues through
advice, education and advocacy.
II. AGORA: Access to Global Online
Research in Agriculture. Presentation by Mary Ochs (Mann) http://www.aginternetwork.org/
Mary Ochs
provided the audience with an overview of the recently launched AGORA system,
which was developed through a partnership between Mann Library, FAO (Food and
Agriculture Organization) and a number of scientific publishers. AGORA
provides online access to over 400 major agricultural and science journals, to
public institutions in developing countries. She began by introducing the
members of the AGORA team who were present in the audience: Nicole Joos, the
TEEAL/AGORA Project Manager, Olivia Vent, the TEEAL/AGORA Outreach Coordinator,
and John Udall and John Fereira, who provided programming, design and technical
development.
During her presentation Mary discussed issues with
libraries in the developing world, their lack of access to current resources and
technological concerns like "digital divide" and Internet connectivity,
particularly in areas such as Africa. She also stressed the importance of
programs that seek to aid researchers in developing countries, including TEEAL,
The Essential Electronic Agriculture Library, and HINARI, the Health
InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative project of the World Health
Organization.
Mary discussed the evolution and development of AGORA and
its relationship to the above initiatives. In addition to the investment
of Mann Library, she mentioned the role of others played in assisting with the
project, including Prasanna Samba, the AGORA Information Management Specialist
and Gracian Chimwaza, of TEEAL/AGORA-Africa
As part of their work, the
AGORA team established eligibility requirements for access to AGORA through
negotiations with the Rockefeller Foundation and 9 founding publishers:
Blackwell Publishing; CABI Publishing; Elsevier; Kluwer Academic Publishers;
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; Nature Publishing Group; Oxford University
Press; Springer Verlag; and John Wiley and Sons. In addition to describing
this process, Mary talked about other future concerns for AGORA such as
evaluation, long-term funding and collection development. During the
latter part of her presentation, Mary demonstrated the AGORA database live and
took questions from the Audience.
FAO Press Release: http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/23019-en.html
The
next Academic Assembly meeting will be held on Thursday, December 4th,
2003.
Lee LaFleur, Secretary
For the CUL Academic Assembly
Steering Committee
David Banush
Lee LaFleur
Xin Li
Linda
Miller
Zoe Stewart-Marshall (Chair)