More Collaborative Initiatives Among CGIAR IMs

The information management professionals (IMs) of the CGIAR system have been in constant collaboration through the CGIAR Libraries and Information Services Consortium (CGIARLISC) since 2003, when all center DGs signed a MOA for its operation. Since then most centers have enjoyed the benefits of savings and better delivery of services through the joint journal subscriptions, exchange of technical expertise, capacity building, document delivery, and creating wider awareness of CGIAR global public goods through the CGIAR Virtual Library.

Another aspect added to the existing benefits is support in collection development. There have been many instances when the IRRI Library sought the help of CGIAR Librarians in procuring information resources from other countries:

• Ms. Prasanna Sambandamurthy of IWMI facilitated the purchase of a rice book published in Sri Lanka, which could have cost more if purchased from the Philippines
• Ms. Danielle Lucca of the CGIAR Secretariat , and the late Mr. S. Srinivas of ICRISAT, ably assisted in the free procurement of World Bank and ICRISAT publications
• Ms. Luz Marina Alvare and Ms. Amanda Segovia of IFPRI purchased a map from the National Geographic Society and recently, e-books from Amazon for the IRRI Library. It was not possible for IRRI to purchase these from the Philippines as the NGS would not deliver maps to the Philippines, while Amazon’s service for the recent e-books on rice is limited to institutions with billing address in the US only.

All other centers like Bioversity, CIAT, CIP, CIMMYT, CIFOR, ICARDA, ICRAF, ILRI, WorldFish, are also very active in sharing their resources as well. All these cooperative activities are boosted by the untiring efforts of IMs in the CGIAR system in doing more with less resources. Sustained collaboration is the goal of the CGIARLISC. This will continue for as long as the IMs are committed to share and deliver information without hesitation.