Sub-Saharan Africa Gets Easier Access to Agricultural Journals

With $1.8 million grant, Gates Foundation funds 50 percent of cost

Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 8/20/2009

• Gates provides three-year subsidy
• Boosts access from 38 to 115 institutions
• Hard drive, LAN access

Libraries, agricultural researchers, and students in sub-Saharan Africa will have easier access to The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL), thanks to a $1.8 million donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The three-year grant will reduce the cost of TEEAL, which offers access to 140 agricultural journals, by 50 percent.

TEEAL is a project of Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library in cooperation with over 60 major scientific publishers, societies, and index providers. The collections covers specific topics like African crop science and food processing, as well as more general issues such as biochemistry and cell biology, development economics, new seeds, and livestock production.

Offline database
The offline database resides on a separate 500GB hard drive and can be shared on a local area network (LAN). As part of the grant, TEEAL’s staff will assist with installation. Staffers also will train students, librarians, and faculty; act as liaisons with publishers; and promote the program among institutional leaders, librarians, and collaborative organizations. 

"In sub-Sahara Africa... only five percent of people have access to the Internet and of those, only ten percent have broadband," explained Bob Herdt, who was director of agricultural sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation, where TEEAL was pioneered more than ten years ago. 

Currently, only 38 out of approximately 365 eligible universities and agricultural colleges in the region own TEEAL. This grant will increase access to 115 institutions in 14 countries.

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