The fisheries and aquaculture periodicals listed below are those currently held by FAO Fisheries Library. An important function of FAO Library is to collect and make available the published work of institutions and organizations in developing countries, within the subject areas of expertise of FAO. This function is encapsulated in the first paragraph of the Constitution of FAO:
“1. The Organization shall collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture. In this Constitution, the term “agriculture” and its derivatives include fisheries, marine products, forestry and primary forestry products.”Many of these periodicals fall within the category “grey literature”, which means that they are not commercially available and often are not easy to obtain. However, the information contained within them is often unique, not available via other means and it is essential that the results of research from African institutions is disseminated to as wide an audience as possible.
FAO ensures that these periodicals are indexed and included in the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) database, thereby reaching the global fisheries community. Some of the most recent issues held are old enough for the periodical normally to be transferred to the non current category. In these particular cases, either we have been informed that funds are being sought in order to publish a current issue or the country publishes almost no other fisheries information and we retain at least one title in the “current” category.
The Internet offers enormous potential for fisheries and aquaculture institutions in Africa to be able to publish and disseminate their information and research results via the World Wide Web. Some recent initiatives to promote access to African literature include the services of the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP). Their African Journals Online (AJOL) at http://www.inasp.org/ajol/index.htm offers the tables of contents and abstracts of articles from up to 50 journals in agricultural sciences, science and technology, health and social sciences, published in Africa. Included are several fisheries and aquaculture journals and many of the more general scientific and agricultural journals cover these subjects.
FAO Fisheries Library will continue to collect, make available and archive this literature and would welcome details of gaps in our collection.
