Consortium of Plantation Crops Research Libraries For Resource Sharing – A Proposal Issues and Facts

Abstract

nformation explosion resulted from the rapid advances in all scientific fields has made it vital for all scientists to have rapid, easy access to scientific information. However, scientists in developing countries are hampered by the high cost of subscriptions to various journals. Since air-mail delivery is prohibitively expensive, the journals that are received come six to eight months after the publication date, hampering the work of scientists even further. Fortunately, the Internet has come to the rescue. Online journals are available immediately after publication anywhere in the world, with a few clicks of a mouse. Electronic subscriptions are normally cheaper than print subscriptions. Nevertheless, the costs to institutions are still extremely high, particularly in view of the fact that any institution has to subscribe to many journals to meet the varied needs of its scientists. In view of this urgent need, it is proposed that all institutions dedicated to research on plantation crops come together to form a consortium to subscribe to a core group of international journals, available online, that would benefit all members. This would follow the pattern of other consortia such as INDEST, INFONET and INFLIBNET. Experience gained in an initial experiment are focused.