6 p., The Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Instititute (MSIRI) maintains a Library and Scientific Information Service to serve the research staff. Major responsibilities are the acqusition, collection, evaluation and dissemination of information required to support the research and development program. After a brief discussion of the internal lines of communication with the Institute, this paper describes the various communication channels (e.g. talks, meetings, visits, demonstrations, field days, publications) wihich are utilized for the transfer of research results into practice. The creation of Farmers' Service Centers has allowed an improvement of the linkage between MSIRI and small planters.
Keynote address presented at the IAALD Regional Conference; 1988 November 21-24; the Universiti Pertanian, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia, The factors limiting the effective use of agricultural information in developing countries are identified as: lack of knowledge about the users' needs; inadequate access and/or lack of awareness of conventional and unconventional sources of information; lack of attention to the creation of local data sources; lack of knowledge about how to find information and how best to communicate it. The solutions are seen to be: creating an awareness of the value of information; getting governments and agencies to provide the necessary information sources, equipment, staff and training; getting closer cooperation on information initiatives and projects that really are needed. The key issue is seen to be the lack of a global long-term plan that could be used as a guide for individual governments and agencies. (original)
Full Title: Strategic issues in information : with special reference to developing countries - the world is experiencing an information revolution -- a revolution of the same magnitude as the industrial revolution. The librarian's concern has to become the scholar's access to information in an electronic world, See C06526 for original; Keynote address presented at the IAALD Regional Conference; 1988 November 21-24; the Universiti Pertanian, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia, The United States is being revolutionized by the impact of powerful computers and telecommunications. The high technology is producing a society in which information, or knowledge cap[ital is emerging as a key economic resource. The technology imperative is not happening only in the United States: It is also of astonishing economic importance in the Pacific Rim and Northern European countries. Those with control of information will be the power brokers of the future. This has shifted dramatically the nature of the resources necessary for any nation to survive in the global economy. Possession of information capital will be more important than ordinary capital. The strategic issue held in common by the United States and developing countries is the need to possess information capital. The issue is the same, but the strategy is different. The basic strategies in each case are discussed. (original)
