Avoiding Plagiarism
Learn about Plagiarism and Intellectual Property with this article.

How to Cite References Properly
Learn how to give credit using citations.

Copyrights
What is copyright? This article covers the basics for you.

Copyright FAQ
Some FAQs on the subject of Copyright

Copyright Guide
Suggestions on using materials.

Final Checklist for Coaches
A great list of things that coaches (students can do it too!) can review prior to the final deadline.

Judging the Educational Value of Your Site Before You Post It.
This article helps teams think about the educational value of their work.

Paraphrasing Methods and Credit Notice
What is paraphrasing? This article tells you what it is and how to do it.

With the whole issue of accreditation and requests for senior researchers are starting to familiarize with various concepts documentaries. Concepts such as quality indicators, impact factors or indexing databases are common currency and even in those areas where it sounded like Chinese four days ago.

One of the common questions is whether teachers can make a contribution in press articles, which are already publicly available through online platforms for scientific journals such as Science Direct. These items have already been assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), but still do not have volume or page number or even assigned, so that the various bodies to assess these contributions are not accepting it, ignoring of course the new dynamics of scholarly publishing (and the fact that, an item can be pulled more than a year in press).

But what is a DOI (digital object identifier)?

Many investigators have not heard of this unique identifier of scientific publications, but it would be good if not reviewed all the bibliographic data string associated with a publication and the DOI only record of it. This is an alphanumeric code that identifies an article on the Web and retrieve it even if it is located on a different server that was housed at first. This avoids the typical problem of broken links. The DOI  is the most persistent indicator which is used for electronic scientific articles, complete journals, parts of articles, audios, videos, pictures and Even software. DOI assures us go directly to the object that identifies, facilitates trading and provides a safe and consistent link between users and suppliers of commercial information in most accurate manner.

We use DOI code for:
- Electronic cite scientific papers
- Electronic publishing scientific papers
- Search and locate electronic scientific documents

Examples of numbers DOI:
10.1016/j.ssi.2007.04.002
10.1002/fuce.200400051
10.1016/j.quascirev.2003.12.004

There are several agencies that provide DOI codes and allow us to locate information through codes DOI. For scientific information, the most important being CrossRef , TIB (Technische Informationsbibliothek) , RR Bowker . CrossRef is the one used for academic publications in general

To access any document via the DOI or using the DOI to resolve to have this address: http://dx.DOI.org/
In the window that opens write the code and clicking on the button “GO”

You can go directly, as discussed above, writing in the navigation bar on the chain followed by the corresponding code behind the bar: http://dx.DOI.org/

Other useful tools in conjunction with DOI
- If you want to know the DOI of a document:
http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/
Here we have a form to cover the data

- Both Firefox and Explorer let you add in the navigation bar DOI seekers

More tools and plugins are bridges see: http://www.DOI.org/tools.html

Through DOI Some content will lead to only offer the full text if you are a registered user, you bought the magazine and access to our IP is authorized or have username and password. But many DOI contents will lead to open access and free.

The DOI was created in 1996 by leading scientific publishers of digital content as a unique code for the recognition of intellectual property of electronic resources. A good documentary practice is to link important & enriched articles using the DOI instead of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) – to locate the article, thus ensuring that this will be recoverable in the future. Something similar to but specific ISBN or ISSN for electronic goods. Its creation is due to the need for monitoring of intellectual property rights over the Internet, over the period its uniqueness in terms of uses has been increased. Because the URLs of the articles (links) are not completely reliable, because they can provide access errors, you must have a different code. One persistent source and integrity, similar to Uniform Resource Name (URN) or Persistent Uniform Resource Locator (PURL.) The difference with these is that reflects the essential metadata DOI of the article, magazine etc. with an XML scheme, it has a structure in which each data author, title, publication, pages, parties-are identified with labels.

Unfortunately there are still some scientists who do not use content DOI. Editors should ask for the number of DOI Registration Agencies concerned. Once the number is assigned to an article, journal, image etc.. May be used as a secure link to go directly to the article, to include bibliographic data, to select, mark and share info, etc … Therefore it is essential to cite using the DOI number and not the URL.

The desire of every IT manager should be in the company’s ability to access constantly on the most recent data. However, the systems are not yet ready, as confirmed advisor Wolfgang Zinke, an expert in database management and data warehousing, “This is, however, with today’s database technology is not feasible.” In his opinion, but takes only the integration of operational and analytical processing on a single data base for success.

This eliminates tedious and error-prone processes involved in the archiving and the ETL (extract, transform and load), which still take place between operational and BI systems. In addition, the ubiquitous Redundnaz and waste of resources to be stopped. The results are in favor of timely and reliable BI reports.

So far, there is the core problem, that data in operational systems and BI systems usually adapt to each other. The reason is that they require different data models.
Moreover hindered large-scale Query Processing in operational BI processing. A further complication is that BI systems must often rely on historical data, while operating systems, snapshots of the data and they process and overwrite it.

Abstract
Content management and knowledge management are colliding. The lines between the two are becoming more and more blurry. We are seeing it in the field. The analysts are seeing it. The beleaguered strategic IT executives are seeing it. Should you try to put on the brakes and brace for impact, or should you leverage the momentum to harness the power of the impact?
A blend of content management and knowledge management may provide just the combination your company needs to further its success. But what components are most important? The purpose of this article is to examine the key points of overlap between content management and knowledge management – the points of overlap that can be leveraged to boost your bottom line ROI.

Some Definitions
The Yankee Group defines content management in a standard three-stage content delivery cycle. To effectively manage content, you have to have some means of creating new content, some means of managing your existing content, and some means of presenting your content.
To take on the burden of standardized creation, management and presentation, the content has to be meaningful. Overall, distributing that content must have an impact on revenue. For most organizations, this means that the content must be fit for customer consumption.
Many of the analysts use the Yankee Group’s standard definition of content management. This “content” may include published marketing information, customer training, published white papers and product specification sheets. Herein lie the problems:
What about the vast amount of content within the organization that can affect the bottom line, but is not necessarily intended for customers?
Does the content you provide to internal employees have less of an effect on your bottom line?
Are you avoiding this content because you are afraid of the sheer volume?

Knowledge management is defined in opposite terms. Gartner Group, a Stamford, Conn.-based IT analyst firm has the following clear, concise definition:
“Knowledge management promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, retrieving, sharing, and evaluating an enterprise’s information assets. These information assets may include databases, documents, policies, and procedures, as well as the uncaptured tacit expertise and experience stored in individual workers’ heads.”

Clearly, the industry looks at content management as the content that’s good enough for outside folks and knowledge management as the sharing of knowledge primarily by inside folks. We think the time is ripe for a collision
10 Overlap Points Between Content Management and Knowledge Management
We have constructed a list of points of overlap that should be considered whether you are working on a content management initiative or a knowledge management initiative. These are areas that can affect the bottom line, but are not necessarily information that will be available to customers.
#1 – Content is for Both Internal and External People
Stop thinking that content is for external people only. Your internal people count, too. Stop thinking about content as only that perfectly honed, highly processed information that has managed to make it through your technical publications department. There is other content in your organization that can be just as valuable to your bottom line. What about quick reference cards for entering expenses? If they were easy to find and use, you could save workers time that they could then apply to bringing in that next big client. As another example, what about the internal memo that describes the reasons for each of the steps in your proprietary manufacturing process? If workers are able to better understand the reasons, won’t they be more equipped to suggest improvements to the process? There are hundreds of examples of similar “key” documents in each company. It is time to begin thinking about content as those items that can immediately affect the bottom line, rather than material destined to one-day affect the customer.
The shift towards collaborative engineering, for example, is blurring the lines between customer, employee and vendor. Each group gets involved in creating a product for manufacture, and each needs access to information. One of the reasons that content and knowledge management systems are colliding is because different groups of people are converging and working collaboratively.
Some of our readers may be thinking about the security and control issues of co-mingling internal and external content. We will save that discussion for another article. For now, it is important to know that the technology to support security and control is available and is getting stronger each day.
#2 – Content Conversion
One commonly overlooked piece in a knowledge or content management project is the huge task of converting existing material. You do not really have to make all the styles match in each document in order to have a good system, but you do need to examine each content item and properly fit it into your corporate content structure. It must be easy to find – whether a user is browsing for content in a structure tree or searching for keywords.
Think about a grocery store. You know where to find the canned goods because there is a structure to how the aisles and shelves are organized. Your corporation needs a similar structure – sometimes called a taxonomy – to organize and hold your data. In some cases, you may need to reformat or break down content to make it fit nicely into your corporate structure, but most often, you simply need to classify where each piece of content belongs. If your structure is well defined, the task for each piece of content is simple. It is the volume of content that often causes the most problems: typically, there are thousands of pieces of content to organize.
#3 – Content Capture and Structure
The process for creating content destined for corporate web sites is typically well documented, usually involving edit, review and approval cycles at many levels. However, the process for creating other corporate content – content intended for internal users – is usually undefined.
Generally, an employee creating the content may not even think of it as content. Instead, they may see it as a reminder list of tasks to complete on the first of each month, or a set of instructions for the person who will be doing their job while they are on vacation, or a written report for their boss. One worker may create a “cheat sheet” for a set of procedural steps that they perform on a sporadic basis and may not think that there is any value to sharing the content on a corporate basis. Often, each employee will apply whatever communication method works for them and their co-workers to share the information. They may hold an informal meeting with notes jotted on a slip of paper, or some simply type up a list and tack it to the bulletin board, where other employees can grab it and photocopy it. Sometimes employees use e-mail or PowerPoint to get their message across.
Finding ways to capture key content in the organization and convert it to a format useful to others is a key part of our expanded concept of content management. This does not mean imposing a draining process on the creators of the content. Instead, it means finding a way to efficiently gather the content, converting it to a maximally useful format, and making the content available to others in the organization.
In addition, your corporation needs to use a similar structure – called an enterprise content structure – to organize and hold your data. An enterprise content structure provides a framework for organizing the content objects in an organization in much the same way as the earlier grocery store analogy highlights a common framework for organizing grocery items. The structure should serve to organize content in ways that are familiar to those in the organization. Corporate or industry terminology can then be applied as appropriate.
#4 – eLearning
There is some content in your organization that is already well structured and honed, but usually destined only for employees, not customers. This can be found in your training department. Content there is usually well organized around learning objectives and has been thoroughly reviewed by instructional designers, subject matter experts and students in the field. Many companies are harnessing the power of their intranet by offering eLearning objects. The next step is offering these eLearning objects seamlessly as part of the “knowledge portal.”
For example, if an employee does a search for help on entering credit memos, not only can they find the procedure documents and policies related to credit memos, but they also gain access to a 20-minute eLearning object that demonstrates and explains credit memos and gives them a chance to practice creating one. This information now becomes a powerful tool.
#5 – Graphic Portrayal of Key Performance Indicators
There are some pieces of data that are essential to the organization. These key performance indicators (KPIs) vary by industry and division. For a manufacturer, items produced or inventory levels may be most important. For a distributor of goods, inventory levels and sales volumes may be key. In the services industry, labor costs may be most important. Whatever the key data for the corporation, graphic portrayal of up-to-date versions of the data can give all employees the insight they need to improve the company’s bottom line. Even if the company decides to only let managers have access to this information, providing the data in a way that can be easily understood means that the organization always has a window into the current state of its business.
Data is different than documents. If an employee has access to a large amount of content, there will also come a time when they will need access to data, probably from the corporate ERP system or other business system. If you can apply interfaces to other business systems and allow users to get read-only access to key corporate data along with the unstructured content, there are many positive implications. For example, posting rejection rates by assembly line or unit can create a positive type of competitive energy among line managers. Posting performance against sales quotas or customer service rates can be also be used as a tactic to enhance performance in those areas. Recently, a large equipment manufacturer started publishing metrics around warranty work, such as the number of warranty jobs performed correctly and the number performed within time constraints. This has helped to identify and correct problems at the manufacturer’s dealerships as well as with internal support procedures and the information used to support the dealers.
#6 – Personalized Searching (Content or Expertise)
Clearly, if the definition of content management is expanded to include internal data, the amount of content will increase. There must be an easy-to-use, efficient, search engine to allow users to directly access the information that will help them. But why stop at allowing users to get the right content? Let’s face it, as humans, most of us prefer to get our information directly from another human. Why not allow the search mechanism to find both content as well as other humans who might be able to supply the desired content? A single search can then yield not only existing documents that deal with the topic, but also a list of people who can provide more information and insight about it. Going beyond a list of people, the content can also be filtered to suit the needs of the user, based on job role, department or personal preferences.
#7 – Expertise Profiling
The point builds on personalized searching. Think about the last problem you solved at work. How did you do it? Did you look something up in a search engine? Or did you go ask a colleague? Most likely, you asked a colleague. Expertise profiling allows the entire corporation to gain access to the skills and expertise of others in the organization – even if that person is in another state or country. Possibly the best way to gather expertise profiles is to let them grow organically as users interact with the knowledge or content management system. This is much more efficient than trying to manually maintain a profile of the expertise of each employee. These expertise profiles are essential to supporting the ability to search for experts, as described in the point above.
#8 – Capturing Expertise Interactions
Once you have profiled the expertise of people in the organization and provided a means for one person to ask a question of another, think of the corporate benefit that can be gained if you can then capture the content traded in the exchange. The next time a similar question is asked, instead of consulting the expert directly, the employee can review a log of the interaction. Essentially, the interaction between someone with a question and an expert is captured to become a content nugget, which can, in turn, be managed by the system.
#9 – Change Management and Training
Another commonly overlooked aspect of content management is the impact of the change on the organization. If you want to effectively leverage your investment in content management, a clear transformation and communication plan is needed. This is one area that is typically very weak when a new system is introduced. Many people have the “build it and they will come” attitude toward internal content management systems. Unlike in the movies, this seldom happens. Employees have jobs to do and will gravitate toward using tools they understand and know will help them get the job done. When rolling out a new system, employees must understand the process and how their actions fit into the process. Part of an effective change management effort is the internal marketing used to get employees excited about the benefits of using such a system.
#10 – Monitoring Intranet Usage and Refining the System
With any system, the work does not end with system installation. Content management is no different. By monitoring system usage and tweaking the system in response to that usage, you can achieve maximum payback from it. You need to know what types of content users are accessing the system most frequently and what content is proving less than useful. Only then can you continually hone the system to make it maximally useful to the company and the company’s bottom line ROI.
Summary
The traditional definition of content management focusing only on data meant for external people is narrow-minded, while the traditional definition of knowledge management is too all encompassing to be truly useful. By expanding your thinking to include internal content, a corporate content structure, access to key enterprise data and expertise information, you are leveraging your technology to maximum benefit.
Consider the following example: As a sales manager for high tech manufacturing company, you arrive at work in the morning and log on to your “knowledge portal.”. Your interest areas are determined by your department, your job roles, as well as the types of searches you have done recently and the types of content you have posted recently. You are alerted to a 30-minute eLearning module on a new product, and, while you make a mental note about the new eLearning module, you don’t take it right away. After reviewing performance indicators for the previous day for your area and for the company as a whole, you review the sales indicators by product line and by sales region.
Next, you check your e-mail and notice that one of the topics for discussion at a morning meeting is that new product. You go back and take the 30-minute eLearning module about the new product so you will be prepared for the discussion. Completing the exam for the eLearning module updates your expertise profile. Then you are off to a few morning meetings.
As you arrive back at your office, one of your employees walks in and lets you know that she will need surgery and wants to go on short-term disability for a few weeks. You do a quick search on the “knowledge portal” for the procedures associated with this scenario, print the findings, and go through them with the employee. After the discussion, she still has a few questions, so you use the speakerphone to conference the expert on short-term disability while the employee is there. It was easy to find the expert; he came up on the search along with the procedure documents.
After lunch, you meet with a customer who would like an electronic copy of the marketing material for a particular part you offer. You do a quick search on the “knowledge portal” and pull down the appropriate brochure and e-mail it directly to the customer. The message will be waiting for him when he returns to his company.
While you were meeting with the customer, you are automatically alerted that your web site had seven hits from other potential customers who were reading the content from your Internet site. The examples above have one thing in common: their content is always seamless to you. There are not 12 different systems, even though you know that’s how many there are behind the scenes. To you, it is one system, always ready to supply the content you need – whether it be performance data, policies and procedures, marketing collateral, or quick access to an expert.
Based on scenarios such as the one described above, we predict a continued blending of content management and knowledge management, and even eLearning. Already, we are seeing a proliferation of offerings from software companies as well as business services companies that help address this new trend. Ultimately, how you respond to the collision is up to you. Right now, it is most important to understand the options that are currently available.

Normally, upon hearing such an offer, we think that the economy is possible only in companies with large car number, but in practice it is not so. Benefits from the use of new technology starts at the first fitting of the car.

GPS technology and related opportunities evolving and becoming increasingly commonplace. Their use comes in every day life in many ways. A few years ago a car was expensive monitoring and exclusive service, but now with the GPRS data transmission in the Latvian mobile operator services offered range from the simple security functions has become a daily need for car control.

Easy and convenient use

To implement the scheme, car or other vehicle is equipped with surveillance equipment. This will be done within one day. System works, information from the tracking equipment is being sent to the server and is kept securely stored by the user at any time and place, accessing the Internet can see it. It should be noted that the user sees, not only the reality but the system of user needs for different types of reports – the route, time, fuel consumption, etc.

Ready voucher

Fitting, if only one company car, the driver will be able to assess the planned route and the efficiency of decision-making and productivity at work, but at the end of the month the employee will not have to think about the passage of 20 working days, because the tracking system of all the routes will be registered and set up a report ready for submission accounting.

This article attempts to discuss the concept of library automation, status of library automation in Bangladesh, Dhaka University Library and their Automation Project. The paper also presents the model of Dhaka University Library Automation Project (DULAP). Further, it discusses the online access and internet browsing system and how to use GoPAC. The study also has discussed the features and objectives of DULAP, requisite hardware and software, functions and activities of the program, facilities offered to users and tasks still to be accomplished.

0. INTRODUCTION

In the age of information explosion, libraries and information resource centers have become multimedia centers due to adoption of new technological devices and changing nature of their information storage, retrieval and services. During the last 25 years, the computer and telecommunication technologies began to build up an information society, which has crossed the geographical limitations and has provided facilities to access into global information systems. As a result, nature of modern librarianship has changed considerably with the advent of new technologies. In fact, ‘automation’ is an indispensable part of modern library’s information systems development, organization, management and services. In the present ‘age of information’, automation has been making tremendous impact on different sectors of the libraries and information centers. In view of complex and multi-faceted user requirements, this results in numerous specialization and flow of non-stop information, decreasing comprehensive acquisition
of documents for libraries, growing demands of information, increasing number of users, etc. Automation has been playing a vital role in improving the capabilities of libraries/information centres towards attaining satisfaction of their users (Munshi, 1998).

 1. LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Mechanization of library house keeping operations, predominantly by computerization, is known as library automation. Library automation is the most sophisticated electronic device invented by human being for processing enormous amount of raw data into meaningful and useful form of information with speed, accuracy and reliability. Library automation may be defined as the application of automatic and semi-automatic data processing machines (computers) to perform traditional library house keeping activities such as acquisition, circulation, cataloguing and
reference and serial control (Int. Lib. Rev., 1989). Finally, library automation is the process of performing all information operations/ activities in library with the help of computers and related information technologies.

2. STATUS OF LIBRARY AUTOMATION IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh entered into the computer world in 1964 with the installation of an IBM 1620 machine at the Atomic Energy Centre and IBM 101 Statistical Machine at the Institute of Statistical Research and Training (ISRT) at Dhaka (Ahmed, 1998). The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) Documentation and Information Centre and Agricultural Information Centre (AIC) are the pioneers in creating bibliographic databases on
specialized fields using microcomputers (Khan, 1989). Some other libraries and information centres working with computers and some related technologies are at the initial stage of ‘automation process’ and ‘networking’. Till now, there is not a single library or information centre in Bangladesh which is literally automated except ICDDR, B Library and North South University Library. It is observed that about 55 special libraries and information centres of the
country have either created or are in the process of creating databases by using personal computers. Most of the libraries and information centres use computers as stand alone devices. These libraries have installed microcomputers mainly for creation and maintenance of bibliographic databases and some word processing activities. Few libraries have CD-ROMs facilities, but no initiative has been taken to produce any indigenous information product on CDs. Some libraries have online connection and are providing external resource sharing facilities to a limited scale. Only a few specialized libraries and information centres have started networking and resource sharing or use telecommunication systems for inter-site data transfer (Alam, 1998). It is a fact that there is no formal study on how many libraries and information centres have bought computers for initiation of automation. Approximately 82 (24 public & private university, 2 national, 1 public and 55 special) libraries and information centres (covering research, health, agriculture, science and technology, departmental, ministries, missions, etc.) use
computers in their operations and most of these are concentrated in Dhaka, the capital of the country (Munshi & Ahmed, 2000). The application areas are not so much different than that of other general libraries.

 3. DHAKA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Dhaka University is acquainted by its name and it is the oldest and most famous university in this Sub-continent established in 1921. Dhaka University Library, also established in 1921 with its parent organization, is the largest academic library of the country holding over half a million items of monographs, books, manuscripts, periodicals, microforms, rare books and different types of special collections. This collection is the great achievement of the library; because it reflects our literature, culture, and heritage and world history. Although the library has its own largest collection but the organization, arrangement and services are traditional in nature and the library is not able to provide user services quite satisfactorily.

 4. DHAKA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AUTOMATION PRACTICE

To provide better and faster user services in a convenient way, the Dhaka University Library has decided to automate its operations and services. In 1998, the library started its automation program named as Dhaka University Library Automation Project (DULAP), funded by UNDP and UGC (University Grants Commission). The Dhaka University Library has installed a proven library software GLAS (Graphical Library Automation System) equipped with a network server and a number of PCs distributed in a local area network (LAN) within the different sectors of the library and faculty buildings of the university. The system is being used for creating bibliographic data bases, controlling acquisition, cataloguing and serials, effecting bar-coded circulation, reservation and recall systems, current awareness services (CAS), selective dissemination of information (SDI) services and online literature searches of the national and international data bases through CD-ROMs and also via internet (Alam,1996).

 Dhaka University Library Automation Model

Bangladesh lives in villages. There are about 84,000 villages in Bangladesh.¹ Bangladesh with her predominantly rural population of 84% is characterized by a stagnation in the economy with per capita income stooping as low as US$ 170 per annum. The situation in the rural areas is even worse with unemployment and underemployment widely prevalent at least with 40% of the ruralities.² In the face of such challenges, the prime needs of rural development in Bangladesh have been identified as productive employment and income generating programmes in both farm and non-farm sectors along with appropriate technological information on land based activities and development of basic infrastructures.³In the present day world, information is an essential input to any R&D (Research and Development) activity. Some benefits likely to result from a larger availability of scientific and technical information are:⁴

(a) Improved capability of a country to take advantage of existing knowledge and ‘know-how’ achieved elsewhere.

(b) Rationalization and systematization of a country’s research and development efforts in the light of knowledge already available.

(c) Wider knowledge base for the solution of problems.

(d) New alternatives and approaches to the solution of technical problems, and options for minimizing future ones.

(e) improved effectiveness and efficiency of technical activities in the production and service sectors.

(f) Above all, better decision – making in all sectors and at all levels of responsibility.

There are about 58 organizations (including NGOs) in Bangladesh engaged directly in social sciences research.⁵

In Bangladesh, Rural Development (RD) research is carried out by the following universities and organizations:

1. University of Dhaka;

2. University of Chittagong;

3. Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh;

4. Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka;

5. Rajshahi University (RU);

6 . Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD),Comilla;

7. Rural Development Training Institute (RDTI), Sylhet;

8 . Rural Development Academy (PDA), Bogra;

9. Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), Dhaka;

10. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dhaka;

11. National Institute of Local Government (NILG), Dhaka;

12. Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Dhaka;

13. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Dhaka;

14. Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), Savar, Dhaka;

15. Centre on integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), Dhaka

Almost all of the above organizations/universities and Institutes have functional libraries. But the picture in most of these libraries is not encouraging. There is a paucity of personnel in RD libraries which in turn affects the quality and quantity of services offered. In fact, rural development research in Bangladesh has not been accompanied by the setting up of a national RD information infrastructure and related services.

In Bangladesh this calls for employment of more document lists, librarians and information specialists capable of evaluating information and producing appropriate RD information packages.

The national information policy for development in Bangladesh (either for science and technology or rural development) remains far less well defined . However, efforts have been made to develop/define sectoral policy for development information.

Bangladesh National Scientific and Technical Documentation Centre (BANSDOC) based in Dhaka has submitted a set of guidelines on national information policy for Science and Technology (S&T’).⁶ The recommendations are awaiting follow-up action at the Science and Technology Ministry. However, BANSDOC already houses the National Science Library (NSL) at its premises.

Agricultural Information Centre (AIC) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) prepared a planning paper for a National Agricultural Information System (NAIS) in 1988. The proposal has been accepted by the Governing Council of BARC.⁷

Bangladesh has already established a National Health Library and Documentation Centre (NHLDC). Attempts are being made to develop such national library/documentation centre in other sectors like industries, environment and forestry.8 Similarly, keeping in view of changing scenarios of rural development strategies and growing demands for RD support information both at home and abroad, time has come to re-organize RD support information systems and services with the help of modern techniques.

In the absence of a national information policy for national development it seems a good strategy to formulate and adopt sectoral information policy for rural development, and there is no other suitable organization than BARD which can bear this responsibility keeping in view the national mandate it enjoys for rural development.

The “International Seminar on Rural Development in Bangladesh: Strategies and Experiences” held in 1992 made many recommendations one of which deals with the setting up of a national information system at BARD with necessary facilities.⁹

Another seminar on “Rural Development Strategies in Bangladesh and Role of BARD” held in 1992 recommends that BARD should come forward to play a lead role for establishing a “National Development Support Information and Communication” network by linking up all relevant institutes like Rural Development Academy (PDA), Rural Development Training Institute (RDTI), Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), National Institute of Local Government (NILG), Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Agricultural Information Centre (AIC) and other relevant national, regional and international organizations.¹⁰ Taking into consideration the above recommendations BARD should set up a strong library and information system for RD research, training and action research to be known as “Bangladesh Rural Development Information System (BARDIS).”

In fact, BARD is the national institute for rural development in the country. The Academy is the national link Institute for CIRDAP and also the national focal point for SAARC in the field of rural development. Apart from these, BARD has strong linkages with UNESCO, FAO, UNDP, ILO, WHO, intergovernmental agency like ASEAN, donor agencies like JICA, USAID and DANIDA etc.¹¹ If BARD intends to retain its regional status as a centre of excellence in the field of rural development, it becomes more relevant that BARD library not only becomes the national repository of rural development literature, procured in the country but also plays a pioneer role in the development of a national rural development information and communication service system, which become indispensable for all : policy makers, planners, researchers, academicians, students and extension workers.

Developing the nation’s rural development sector depends not only on the generation of new scientific and research information, but on the timely delivery of that information to the intended users. Considering the enormous amount of research information generated in Bangladesh, the task of information delivery has become exceptionally complex.

When we talk about information system, the word ’system’ applies not only to processing of bibliographic information, but also arrangements for collecting this information from sources around the world and for its dissemination to users the world over.

The objectives of the proposed “BARDIS” will be to :

(i) Monitor and pickup, control and process all local/national rural development information, both conventional and non-conventional.

(ii) Build up a strong collection of rural development literature from within and outside the country to meet the reference needs of rural development researchers, policy makers and extension workers.

(iii) Compile and publish bibliographies, indexes and abstracts.

(iv) Act as a clearing house for exchange of RD information at the national, regional and international level.

(v) Maintain computerized databases to compile subject bibliographies, directory of research projects and directory of social scientists etc.

(vi) Participate in regional and international information systems and services like DEVINSA (Development Information Network for South Asia) and SAIC (SAARC Agricultural Information Centre), Dhaka.

(vii) Provide retrospective search, current awareness service, and Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) service etc.

(viii) Maintain a union list of rural development periodicals available in Bangladesh.

(ix) Establish and maintain a document delivery service.

(x) Collect, preserve and maintain microfilm, microfiches of documents.

(xi) Prepare and publish extension manuals, reports, journals, newsletters etc.

(xii) Prepare low-cost teaching and training aids.

(xiii) Select, plan and production of media package.

(xiv) Establish and maintain a centralized audio-visual materials production ability in support of rural development information dissemination.

(xv) Organize seminar, workshop, training programmes for information, documentation and library personnel.

(xvi) Establish and maintain a Development Support Information and Communication Network, and to

(xvii) Conduct study/research in various facets of library and information science and services.

In order to develop such RD information there is an urgent need of establishing a network of libraries, documentation and information centres dealing with rural development research and its allied subjects at the first instance. There is also a general need of co-ordination between different information systems so that information relevant to IRD (Integrated Rural Development) can be drawn from a wide range of disciplines. A participatory approach to IRD information networking would ensure information sharing and better utilization of financial resources allocated to libraries and documentation centres in Bangladesh.¹²

Thus national network on rural development is urgently required. Besides, it is also necessary to pull information on environment and disaster management through the network approach, both at national and international level, as environment and disaster management are very much related to IRD in Bangladesh.

Library and information network generally means more than two libraries/documentation/information centers interrelated by continuing transactions, often in support of a common operation of service. More broadly, a network is a collection of individuals or institutions with common interest, and the associated mechanisms through which information about those interests are communicated. Simply stated, to network is to share, to commit, to connect information, resources, time as well as efforts with others who have similar goals.¹³ The network system will foster interlibrary co-operation which may lead to co-operative acquisition, bibliographic exchanges and control, centralized processing of materials, better interlibrary lending and photocopying services among the participating libraries and information centres. Apart from information programmes, the participating institutes may also get benefits from the training programmes on rural development conducted by the institutes.

The successful information transfer has been seen to depend upon the following factors.¹⁴

(1) All collaborating parties must understand each other’s perspectives and motivations.

(2) All parties must understand the terms of agreement.

(3) Long-term goals and collaboration (and probable results) should be discussed and problem recognized. The libraries/documentation centres of BIDS, AIC and NILG etc would join the network in the second phase. And regional/international linkage with CIRDAP, SAIC and CABI (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International) etc would be established during the third phase. The proposed system also intends to meet the development support information/communication

The network configuration or organizational hierarchy of network is an important specification because it affects the communication channels and the flow pattern of messages. It is suggested that the BDSIC network will consist of following sister organizations like PDA, BRDB, RDTI and LGRD,C during first phase.

The BARD has already organized and conducted a consultative committee meeting to formulate the outlines of “Bangladesh Development Support Information and Communication (BDSIC) Network” BARD as the focal point of the network.¹⁵

The configuration of the said network will be as follows (Fig.1): needs of NGO and INGOs through the co-operative information network. The ultimate configuration of the network will be both vertical and horizontal, i.e. there will be directed and non-directed network. The third phase of the network will be extended one. The probable configuration of the network is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Extended network.

The National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad, India has also established “Information Network for Rural Development”. The Indian system may serve as a model for BDSIC. The network will be guided by an advisory group or technical committee whose members include head of the institutions. The advisory group will provide the overall policy guidance, as well as priorities the activities of the network.

With the present increase in the number of universities and research institutes in Bangladesh and with the present focus on rural development research, greater demands will be made by scientists on RD libraries and documentation centres in the future. Therefore, proper planning is necessary to harness RD information stored in machine-readable form by different international and regional rural development information systems and databanks.

It is, admittedly, an ambitious undertaking, however, if provided with necessary financial, personnel, technical, and infrastructural facilities for the creation of BARDIS and strengthening BDSIC, Bangladesh will hopefully witness the free flow of RD information across its 84,000 villages.

NOTES

1. Barkat-e-Khuda, Rural Development and Change: A Case Study of a Bangladesh Village (Dhaka University Press, 1988), p. 135.

2. The World Bank, Poverty, World Development Report 1990 (Oxford University Press, 1990).

3. Bangladesh Planning Commission, The Fourth Five Year Plan, 1990-95 (Dhaka, 1990).

4. Pauline Atherton, Handbook for Information systems and Services (UNESCO, Paris, 1977), p. 10.

5. Social Science Research Council, Bangladesh Directory of Social Science Research Organizations (Dhaka, 1991), p. 342.

6. Zakiuddin Ahmed, Highlights of the National Science and Technology Information Policy: Bangladesh, Proceedings of the seminar on impact of national science and technology information policy on the socio-economic development, 23-24 June, 1988 (BANSDOC, Dhaka,1988), pp. 34-41.

7. Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council, Planning Paper for Bangladesh Agricultural Information System (BARC, Dhaka, 1989).

8. S. B. Thakur et at., Re-organization of the bard’s Development Support Information and Communication Service System (BARD/UNDP, Comilla, 1992), p. 46.

9. Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, International Seminar on Rural Development in Bangladesh: Strategies and Experiences, 15-17 January, 1992. Proceedings and Recommendations (BARD, Comilla, 1992).

10. Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, Seminar on Rural Development Strategies in Bangladesh and Role of bard’s, August, 1992: Proceedings and Recommendations (Comilla, BARD, 1992), pp. 32-33.

11. Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, BARD: An Introduction (BARD, Comilla, 1991), p. 48.

12. Thakur et al. op. cit., p. 48.

13. E. D. Gomez and H. Q. Lim, “Networking in Broadcasting”. Agricultural Information Development Bulletin, Vol. 12. No. 4 (1990), p. 7.

14. Minhaj Uddin Ahmad and S. M. Hassan Imam, “A Fisheries Information System for Bangladesh”. NAGA, The ICLARM Quarterly. Vol. 11, No. 2, (1988), p. 12.

15. Minhaj Uddin Ahmad, An Upgraded Documentation Unit at BARD: Actions and Plans (BARD/UNDP, Comilla, 1992), p. 40.

16. Anon. “Information Network for Rural Development”. NIRD Newsletter, No. 69 (August 1993), p. 69.

This article was published in The Dhaka University Studies Vol.51, No. 2 December 1994

Dr. S. M. Mannan

Professor,

Dept. of Information Science & Library Management

University of Dhaka

Minhaj Uddin Ahmad