AGRIS user guide now available in Romanian

The Romanian translation of  “AGRIS, the International System for Agricultural Science and Technology” (FAO, 2020) has been published on the FAO Document Repository and also made available on the AGRIS website. 

This user guide has been compiled for both for users of and contributors to AGRIS, providing an introduction to search methodologies and techniques to use the database, fundamentals for joining the AGRIS Network as well as metadata contribution to the database.

Viorica Lupu, the deputy director at the Republican Scientific Agricultural Library of the State Agrarian University of Moldova (UASM), coordinated the translation of the guide in Romanian. UASM is the only higher agricultural education institution in the Republic of Moldova and it has been the National AGRIS Centre since 2004.

How would you describe your role and the role of your organization in AGRIS?

Since 2004, the Republican Scientific Agricultural Library of the State Agrarian University of Moldova has contributed over 4 500 records to AGRIS. It is the official National AGRIS Center in the Republic of Moldova. 

The library submits bibliographic records of journal articles, conference papers, dissertations and other content types related to food and agriculture. We are glad to be  part of such a dynamic and international community. Contributing to the development of the multilingual database AGRIS makes scientific publications on agricultural issues  produced in the Republic of Moldova globally available. As AGRIS Center, the library strives to participate in a joint action of data providers from different countries to contribute to the common effort to reduce the gap in access to scientific literature and digital data in food and agriculture from the Republic of Moldova.

Why did you see the need to translate the guide into Romanian and  what was the purpose of translating the document? 

The translation of the AGRIS guide was determined by the need to extend access to official FAO AGRIS documents to the wider public.  This is to ensure a better understanding of how to use the AGRIS database and how to provide content to AGRIS as data providers. Translation is crucial  to attract more institutions and journal publishers from the Republic of Moldova to become AGRIS data providers. We want this guide to be a useful and practical support for those agricultural institutions who want to join AGRIS.  

What are the benefits foreseen by having this translation done? 

Having the user guide available in the native language is important. It helps users to overcome language barriers that make it  difficult for them to access AGRIS. The guide assists users in the process of searching and discovering information and increases and maximes their capacity to use the AGRIS database. The reciprocity of information from the Romanian and English versions of the AGRIS guide offers the opportunity to translate terminology related to AGRIS from one language to another and facilitates the navigation of the AGRIS platform. 

For AGRIS data providers, the guide makes the process of selecting, presenting and providing information to the AGRIS database easier.

We know that AGRIS users are represented by a very large category of users including government officials, students, librarians, publishers, researchers, etc. Could you give us an idea of which group of  users could benefit from this guide in Romanian the most? 

Librarians are active users of the guide. It helps them to better understand the strategies and methods of information retrieval that can assist students and researchers in identifying relevant information to their research topics.

The guide provides methodological support and instructive material for organizing training to develop students and researchers’ skills in using AGRIS.

Another category interested in using the guide are AGRIS data providers, who will easily understand how to provide information, describe and select appropriate metadata to manage and exchange bibliographic information.

By presenting a wide range of ways to navigate  AGRIS and interact effectively with it, the guide benefits the agricultural community in the Republic of Moldova by increasing access to  the results of scientific research.

What other types of publications would be helpful for AGRIS users and data providers? 

In my opinion the publications can be divided into two main groups:

• Practical guides on: strengthening the capacities of the AGRIS national centres to manage  agricultural data sets;  the criteria for selecting publications for AGRIS database; the unification and quality control of metadata;  and technical methods for transferring data on national publications to the AGRIS coordination centre and others.
• Guides for training or developing user skills on new AGRIS features and services.

I think that brochures, graphic visual representations of AGRIS data, infographics and promotional materials (leaflets) could also represent interesting and helpful means for the promotion of AGRIS.