Development Blogs.com

The NAL blog announced that Peter Young has moved on after 6 years as NAL Director. The comments on the posting show that he will be missed by the US AgInfo community.He will also be missed by his international colleagues - in IAALD and beyond. His lively and light approach to meeting facilitation, as experienced in Kentucky in 2005 and at the Rome e-agriculture meetings in 2007, were particular characteristics we will miss... NAL Deputy Eleanor Frierson - also a long-term internationalist - has been named Acting Director.Peter has re-joined the Library of...

At USAIN's 2008 conference, Peter Young and colleagues gave an update on recent developments at the National Agricultural Library.He introduced 'Blueprint for Success: The National Agricultural Library 2008-2012' - a staff discussion paper that, according to Young explains "what it is that NAL's programmes are about." It responds to the question "what do you [the NAL] need ..." to revitalize and sustain the library and its services into the future. The paper is "meant to stimulate discussion, evoke critical comment and spark debate about NAL’s future."The starting premise of the team writing the report is that "information consumers, whether USDA staff worldwide or the Nation’s citizens, now expect easy and seamless access to digital content and personalized services. They demand...

Many visitors to Wageningen in the Netherlands will recall their visits to the Jan Kopshuis - site of the Wageningen University Library. On 21 February, the new library space was opened with a special congress held in the Forum building.NAL Director Peter Young was keynote speaker at the congress - talking on 'Transforming Knowledge Services for the Digital Age : Redefining the Research Library.' Wageningen library's own blogger Wouter Gerritisma reports on Young's presentation, he also covered the other presentations (in Dutch).Peter Young's conclusion on web 2.0 - that we need to "focus on the library in the user environment rather than the user in the library environment" was picked up by several of the bloggers at the meeting (download Young's powerpoint.Tags: agricultural information...

This seems like old news but is interesting anyway...The National Agricultural Library (NAL) has adopted a new graphic symbol standing for the Library’s role in advancing access to global information for agriculture.The icon is a graphic representation of an opened book, a tree, a flag, or of an agricultural field.I wonder what other logo's have been adopted to signify notions associated with agricultural information, libraries, communication, and knowledge sharing?Tags: agricultural information usa...

Earlier this year the US National Agricultural Library carried out a needs assessment to identify the library’s current and potential customers; to determine those customers’ information needs, sources, and behaviors; and to assess their view of NAL’s existing and potential services. Key findings include: The AGRICOLA database and DigiTop, the Digital Desktop Library for USDA, are NAL's strongest brands While most respondents (81%) rely heavily upon the Web as a source for information, traditional sources are still important with books (63%), academic journals (62%), scientific and technical information (54%), and conference proceedings and papers (50%) rounding out the top five spots for all respondents. When specifically seeking agricultural information, 54 percent find it...