The facilitation of effective information retrieval: an AGROVOC Use Case

A use case by Anil Kumar Jha, ICIMOD

Founded in 1983, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre working on behalf of the people of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). The HKH is one of the greatest mountain systems in the world, covering 4.2 million sq. km across eight countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is the source of 10 major river basins and provides ecosystem services (including water, food, and energy) that directly sustain the livelihoods of 240 million people in the mountain and hills of the HKH and some 1.65 billion people in the river basins downstream (ICIMOD, 2019a, p2).

However, this global asset is threatened by climate and other changes, threatening the wellbeing of millions. ICIMOD works to improve the lives and livelihoods of men, women, and children of the HKH and protect mountain environments and cultures. It serves its eight regional member countries and the global mountain community through activities that range from hands-on research and piloting of solutions to policy formulation with governments, and mountain advocacy on the global stage. The knowledge that ICIMOD creates and shares helps the people of the HKH become more resilient, make the most of new opportunities, and prepare for change. ICIMOD’s work also strengthens regional cooperation for conservation and sustainable mountain development, especially in transboundary landscapes (ICIMOD, 2021a).

Anil Kumar Jha, Senior Information Resource Centre Associate, ICIMOD:

AGROVOC has been with us throughout this journey, from a library catalogue to ICIMOD’s central document repository and the online digital library, HimalDoc. 

ICIMOD serves as an open house for knowledge initiatives on sustainable mountain development and its information and knowledge are communicated through publications, databases, multimedia, and web content, all of which are available globally online. The Knowledge Management and Communication (KMC) unit is the central unit of ICIMOD’s knowledge delivery mission. The Information Resource Centre (former library) manages information resource access for the Centre and HimalDoc system is a crucial node of the KMC unit (ICIMOD, 2021b). The HimalDoc system collects, preserves, organizes and shares mountain-relevant knowledge through an online publication repository serving as an online knowledge base for the HKH region. It is the main channel through which ICIMOD delivers comprehensive open-access publications to users all over the world. 

The history of information resources management at the Centre extends from traditional card catalogues, bibliographic databases within a single-user CDS-ISIS system, to the modern integrated library management system. During this three and half decade long history, ICIMOD has used AGROVOC as the main tool for a controlled vocabulary, assigning keywords and subject headings to its collection since the very beginning. 

In 1984, the library started with its print collection and card cataloguing, however,  a computer-based electronic cataloguing system using CDS-ISIS software was introduced soon after. AGROVOC was introduced at the very beginning of library management at ICIMOD. 

ICIMOD and FAO have also maintained a collaboration  in knowledge management. ICIMOD has been sending references for AGRIS since its early years. ICIMOD  has also been receiving the AGRIS database, through CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs. Initially, the ICIMOD library had a bound volume of the AGROVOC. We also developed a computer file for the same and used it to assign subject headings and keywords to a document catalogue until we moved to the HimalDoc system using Invenio, in 2011.

The HimalDoc system contains over 27 000 records. The content of HimalDoc has been developed from harvesting multiple document systems at ICIMOD – previous publication repository was named as ICIMOD’s books-online (ICIMOD, 2008a), Mountain Forum Online Library, and our library catalogue database. It is updated with relevant ICIMOD and non-ICIMOD publications regularly. AGROVOC has been with us throughout this journey, from a library catalogue to ICIMOD’s central document repository and the online digital library, HimalDoc. HimalDoc is a platform to preserve, use, promote and distribute the ICIMOD’s knowledge products and a unique online library collection focused on sustainable mountain development in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region which aims to enable and enhance research and development.

In the process of our current system revamping, we are facing challenges related to subject headings, the complexity of which impacts sorting and displaying results by subject area. We are in the process of developing an updated list of subject headings, for which we are using AGROVOC as the main guide. AGROVOC is very well updated and close to ICIMOD's subject areas. It provides well-defined subject headings and suggests entry terms. AGROVOC is also multilingual, containing at least two of our regional languages – Chinese and Hindi. It is very helpful to know the meanings of key terms in these regional languages. The thesaurus is another major tool for information and knowledge management. I use AGROVOC and whenever someone asks me to recommend a thesaurus, I instantly recommend them to go through AGROVOC online.

Overall, AGROVOC is a very helpful tool for HimalDoc. We started using AGROVOC online , which is very fast, easy to use and completely free. We have not found any other easily available and up-to-date tool to match our thematic areas and knowledge management requirements. 

References

ICIMOD 2008a. Books Online [online]. [Cited 31 August 2021]. https://lib.icimod.org/record/26402 

ICIMOD 2019b. Summary of the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report [online]. [Cited 31 August 2021]. https://lib.icimod.org/record/34450

ICIMOD 2021a, July 25 Who we are?. [Cited 31 August 2021]. https://www.icimod.org/who-we-are/

ICIMOD 2021b, July 26 Knowledge Management and Communication unit [online]. [Cited 31 August 2021]. https://www.icimod.org/who-we-are/staff/knowledge-management-communication/