Two years ago, a number of people came together with a shared vision of a more unified, effective and borderless CGIAR. As a result of their cooperative efforts, they forged a new precedent for information sharing and effective communication across the CGIAR System. Then in December 2006, at the CGIAR’s Annual General Meeting in Washington, their collective contribution was recognized when they received a CGIAR Science Award.

The 2006 Outstanding Scientific Support Award went to the team responsible for the CGIAR Virtual Library, one of the ICT-KM Program’s most ambitious projects to date. The award was given to the team as a result of its cooperative effort, high standards of excellence in performance, and outstanding contribution to research efforts in the CGIAR system.
Luz Marina Alvaré, IFPRI’s Library and Knowledge Management Head, spearheaded the CGVlibrary project and was part of a dynamic and committed team of information managers, IT professionals, and researchers from across the CGIAR System. Team members worked together on the project for 18 months while holding down fulltime jobs in the CGIAR. Strict deadlines saw many members sacrificing time with family and friends in order to meet the Library’s launch date last June.

Since its debut on the web, this internet gateway has enabled researchers to search the catalogs of all the CGIAR Centers, 160 external databases (including those of the World Bank, the Library of Congress, AGRIS, and Global Online Research in Agriculture) and over 4,000 e-journals.

During its first month online, the CGVlibrary was searched more than 500 times. User activity did not stop there, however, but rose dramatically, and the site averaged 29,000 searches a month for September, October and November. Moreover, usage figures indicate that more than 80% of CGVlibrary visits in November and December were made by users from the developing world.

Usage data, combined with the fact that the vast majority of CGVlibrary searches have targeted CGIAR materials, suggests that the Library has aided the CGIAR mission by providing research to professionals in the developing world.

Visit the CGVlibrary or contact CGVlibrary@cgiar.org for further information.