Abstract:

This study is aimed at designing an improved Information retrieval system (IRS) for the agricultural research sector in Uganda. The improved IRS is based on E-mail. For this reason, a survey was conducted to ascertain the information retrieval facilities available in the libraries of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), Uganda as well as the information needs of the users. The survey was necessary as a basis for developing an improved IRS. The Agricultural sector is the engine of growth of the Ugandan economy. It employs nearly 90% of the country’s population and contributes to over 64% to the government revenue, over 50% of the GDP and over 90% of the total exports. The agricultural research sector, under NARO, has to meet the challenge of modernizing agriculture through development of improved technologies that can be taken to the farmers. Findings of this study show that the existing information facilities / libraries are not adequate for the needs of the research scientists in NARO, let alone other users in the agricultural sector. The majority of information users indicated that the current information facilities could not meet their requirements. In most cases the information needed is not available in the libraries at their institutes and they have to search for it from NADIC, other libraries or use alternative sources of information such as the invisible college. On the other hand, it was established that there were modest information resources at NADIC which could be shared by all research scientists in NARO. For this reason, an Information retrieval system (IRS) that is based on E-mail has been proposed. It will enable the users at remote research institutes to access the information resources that are available at a central facility located at the National Agricultural Documentation and Information Centre (NADIC). The prototype information retrieval system (IRS) comprises of two major components: NADISRV, a bibliographic information server which will facilitate the users at remote institutes to search home-grown databases at NADIC without having to travel from their stations: and an E-mail assisted Selective Dissemination of Information Service. By using the databases that are available at NADIC, the E-mail assisted SDI service, will periodically update all registered users about current information in their fields of interest. These services require as a prerequisite the availability of active and fast growing databases. For this reason, the centralized home-grown databases that are already existing at NADIC, namely AGRIN, CARIN, AGRINF, and ULIST will be used. In addition, two other prototype databases have been established using MicroCDS/ISIS software. The first one is AGREXP, a database of profiles of experts in the broad agricultural field, and the second, is AGRORG, a database of institutions that are closely or remotely related to agriculture. The third component of the Information retrieval System (IRS) is, the NADIC SEARCH INTERFACE, a user-friendly interface which has been developed using the ISIS Pascal interface. This interface will allow both the Information Centre/Library staff and the on-site users to interact with the system in a friendly way, thus making it easy for the users to conduct searches for themselves. Finally, strategies for implementing and managing the proposed prototype information retrieval system, and recommendations for further improvements, are suggested.