Abstract:

The first COAIM (Consultation on Agricultural Information Management), held i- June 2000 recognized that
AGRIS should become "a key enabler and catalyst to establish a new modal of agricultural info-mation
management". Furthermore, it was agreed that FAO [1] should develop AGRIS into a capacity building
initiative as well as an information system. The AGRIS network now has 201 R:-source Centres, which vary
in their resources and level of participation in the network, and oppor_ni des exist to imprcve the
efiectiveness of the initiative through enhanced collaboration.
A proposal for a new metadata standard for AGRIS reference was presented at COAIM 2002. This paper is a
result of the evaluations made during COAIM 2002. It defines a set of high quAry metadata on scient fic and
technical papers, and is directed at improving accessibility -rf materials on tha Web. The standard also
ccriers be necessary metadata for retrieving publications that are available only ir paper format or that have
restricted access.