Abstract

Over the past eighteen months, Information and Library Service staff within NSW Agriculture have addressed the issue of developing products and services that are applicable to the very distinct information needs of the extension officers within the organization. This paper outlines the evolution of a database and printed bulletin titled Extension Alert, the creation of an Extension Portal and other services, including information skills training, with extension officers as the “target” clients.

NSW Agriculture is a government department which provides a range of research, extension, education and regulatory services to the State’s commercial farmers, graziers, horticulturalists, agribusiness and other groups. Approximately 30% of the staff of NSW Agriculture is in the advisory/extension field. It has been a concern of the Information and Library Service for some years that the services offered to this group are not always relevant and/or appropriate. After consultation with groups of these clients and discussion within the Library network, it was decided to develop a product in a bid to meet the information needs of these clients. Extension Alert was released in September 2002. The Information and Library Service Marketing Plan 2003-2005 has a commitment to address the needs of extension officers in readily accessible formats and these are also covered in this paper.

This paper is a review of the continuing development of Extension Alert, Extension Portal and other services to NSW Agriculture extension officers, particularly the provision of training in information skills

Media summary

Keywords

Agricultural extension, library services, advisory staff, extension staff, training, information skills, information literacy, lifelong learning

Introduction

The provision of appropriate library and information services to over 400 front-line extension officers has been of concern to the staff of NSW Agriculture Information and Library Service for some time. The client survey of 2000 showed that these extension officers do have information needs. These needs were not necessarily being met by the current services provided by the Library network. The Information and Library Service needed to address the issue of how to provide timely and appropriate services to this group of clients (McCallum and Quinn 2000).

In a paper delivered to the National Forum of the Australasia Pacific Extension Network in 2000, two senior Departmental staff members stated that “…the NSW Government has repeatedly expressed a commitment to continue the provision of free advisory services to NSW agricultural producers and the wider community” (Scott-Orr and Howard 2000). This is evident in an increasing number of extension staff over the past decade, particularly in the environmental area. The Director-General of NSW Agriculture, addressing the concerns of Departmental employees about free extension services being at the expense of the research function made the following statement : “Research is of no value if it is not “extended” to farmers, industries and the community. One cannot exist effectively without the other” (Sheldrake 2002). In May 2003, the Director-General announced a review, both internal and external, of extension and research within the Department with a view to developing ten and five year strategic plans for these functions. The outcomes of this review will be announced in the near future (Sheldrake 2003).

In March 2002, the Library network met and discussed how it could “target” these clients and provide products that met their needs and expectations. Librarians in the network were concerned about the important articles and information appearing in trade and industry journals that were not being indexed by other services and, hence, never appeared in databases. Although some of this literature is useful for only a limited period of time, much of it is vital for extension officers to keep themselves abreast of developments in their particular area of expertise. Much of the literature relevant to the work of extension officers is contained in trade and industry journals. The Information and Library Service appreciate that extension staff spend little time in their office and are increasingly involved with research projects of the department.

The Library Services Manager also approached other government departments with similar extension activities to ascertain what, if any, information and library services were tailored specifically for extension staff. It emerged that few departments had developed entirely satisfactory solutions. Printed contents pages and circulation of journal titles were the most common means of alerting officers to new material.

The Western Australia Department of Agriculture has, for some years, produced a printed bulletin called FarmTi and the list of titles indexed in this publication was assessed in the bid to develop an appropriate list of titles for NSW.

From these discussions, it was decided to develop a database of indexed material from a range of mainly trade, industry and extension titles. The name chosen for the database was Extension Alert. The initial list of titles, which has since been amended, was developed from what experienced librarians had noted were of interest to extension staff over a number of years. The emphasis is on Australian material although appropriate overseas material is also included. Each title indexed into the database is available at one or more of the eight staffed libraries throughout the state so no extra expense is incurred for supplying photocopies of articles. Extra funds were allocated from the network budget to purchase titles deemed suitable for inclusion but not held and for additional copies of some titles. The database, which had nearly 10,000 records by September 2003, is available at clients’ desktops for searching and articles can be electronically requested.

Extension Alert is also produced as a printed bulletin at six weekly intervals and contains a very small selection of the indexed articles. Other inclusions in the printed Extension Alert are new book lists, new Departmental publications, contents pages from relevant conferences and websites of interest to the client group. A printed bulletin can be carried easily by staff to browse when they have the opportunity.

In addition, the Information and Library Service has also developed a web portal for extension officers and made particular efforts to address the training needs of officers with the development of an information skills training program.

Literature review and past experience

The provision of library and information services to agricultural extension officers has not attracted much attention in the extension literature. Twenty years ago, the Director of Scientific and Information Services of the then Department of Agriculture in Victoria claimed it was “…a serious indictment of information services that this group is often poorly served…” (Russell 1983). In past decades, NSW Department of Agriculture did produce a publication to alert clients of recent additions to the collection and assigned subject headings to the entry. No attempt was made to index journal titles in this publication (Anderson 2003a). It was entitled Library Bulletin and changed format over the years of its production, finally ceasing production in the 1980s. In a review and feasibility study conducted in the late 1970’s, it was claimed to be used by “most officers” (Brien 1978). The Western Australian Department of Agriculture Library Service has produced the publication FarmTi for a number of years. This publication indexes material for extension officers using a defined list of subject headings and the journals indexed in this publication were examined in the preparation of the list for Extension Alert.

In a paper in the late 1990s, Radhakrishna and Thomson (1996) examined the question of extension agents’ use of information sources in the United States. Libraries were not mentioned by any of the extension agents surveyed in the study as a source for obtaining the information needed. Seventy-seven per cent did indicate they needed the query answered the same day (Radhakrishna and Thomson 1996). Such urgency is frequently experienced in any information agency serving extension officers and is certainly the case in NSW Agriculture. Other studies by Burns and Anderson (1973) and Shih and Evans (1991) in the United States suggest that fellow extension officers, extension publications and “farm magazines” are the major information sources consulted by extension agents. Experience indicates that this is the case in Australia as well. The accurate identification and “packaging” of that information is the challenge NSW Agriculture Information and Library Service faces in the quest to address the information needs of this portion of the client base.

There has been increasing interest in the topic of “information skills” training and “information literacy” in recent years as the use of information sources becomes more complex. The need to provide the client with the skills to use desktop databases and electronic sources is evident. This has changed the way librarians and others involved in information agencies must work and their relationship with their clients. The Interim National Council for Information Literacy Advocacy has proposed a working definition that encompasses the effective use of information technologies to develop skills for life long learning within the context of the workplace and community :

“An information literate person recognizes when information is needed and can locate, access, evaluate and apply that information. Information literacy :

• Encompasses the effective use of multiple information technologies and formats
• Enables individuals to develop skills for life long learning; and
• Supports skills for workplace enterprise and for community participation” (Mercer and Kiley, 2003)

Staff of the Information and Library Service of NSW Agriculture have addressed the issue of information skills for their clients and formalised many of the training programs they were already offering plus developing new ones. There are plans to work in closer collaboration with the information technology team developing a new intranet and to play a role in introducing clients to the completely revised intranet.

Development of Extension Alert

Early in 2002, the NSW Agriculture Library Service Manager sought input from other departments with similar extension activities about their provision of library services to extension officers. It emerged that very few departments had developed satisfactory services and were, in some cases, still debating the best method/s to address the issue. Information and Library Service made the decision to address the issue in a way that would be useful and acceptable to the clients.

The list of trade and industry journals was developed and expenditure on such titles was increased to ensure rapid document delivery. Once an issue of a title is received, it is indexed within a week. The aim is to include articles containing “significant” information, with particular attention given to topics of current and continuing interest to the department (Anderson 2003b). The science and practice of extension is included. A list of subject headings has evolved over the past eighteen months and keywords are assigned to each article.

Every six weeks, the file of articles is edited and a very small portion appears in the printed Extension Alert.

Figure 1 shows how the records appear in the printed bulletin. In addition, the printed edition of Extension Alert may contain book reviews, lists of new books from each of the Departmental libraries and table of contents from conference proceedings of interest to extension staff. Inclusions vary from issue to issue, depending on the current availability of appropriate material. Each issue has lists of new, revised or reviewed Agfacts and Agnotes. These are the highly recognisable extension publications produced by NSW Agriculture. The electronic Extension Alert database is updated and now has reached 10,000 records. Clients can search the database using keywords and/or subject headings and electronically request copies of articles. Extension Alert, both the electronic database and the printed document, are in continual development and aim to be responsive to the needs of their target clients.

A survey distributed in Issue 5 indicated that some clients wished to receive the printed Extension Alert as an email attachment and this has been introduced. Other findings in the survey indicated a lack of awareness of the Extension Alert database on the intranet pages. Information and Library staff have attempted to address this by active promotion of the product at every opportunity. Clients also offered suggestions for the inclusion of additional titles for indexing and these titles have been added to the list of indexed titles.

An article is assigned one subject heading only but an unlimited number of keywords. The software used for the database is DB/TextWorks® which allows the construction of a list of keywords and of subject headings.

The list of subject headings is consistent from issue to issue with new subjects added as deemed appropriate

Figure 1. A sample page from an issue of Extension Alert

Extension Portal on the intranet

The Extension Portal, developed by the NSW Agriculture librarian at Wagga Agricultural Institute, is designed as a “one stop shop” for many of the resources which experience has indicated extension staff are seeking, such as statistics, map and atlases, sources of market information, legislation and Departmental publications. The Client survey of 2000 was also used as a guide in decisions about what to include in the web portal. The portal was designed for NSW Agriculture staff and is only available internally. At this stage, the Information and Library Service does not have a presence on the Department’s internet pages, although some discussion is underway to change this. Some thought has been given to publishing the library catalogue and placing the Extension Alert database on the internet where they would be of potential value to extension personnel in other government departments and private extension agents.

Table 1 shows the current list of headings in the Extension Portal as at September 2003. The headings and content has changed since the inception of the Portal in a bid to reflect the information needs of extension staff.

Table 1. Current headings in the portal ( as at September, 2003)

Books and Journals

• Library catalogue
• New Books
• New Departmental publications
• Australian Crop Report
• Journal titles for Advisory/Extension staff
• IBIS Industry Reports

Extension Alert (searchable database)

• Library Request Forms

About your library

• Sites and Cites library newsletter
• Contact your Librarian

Useful Information

• Statistics
• Library Alerting publications
• Maps and Atlases
• Information on……
• Sources of market information
• Legislation

Departmental Publications

• NSW Agriculture Bookshop
• Plant Slants
• Animal Activity
• Regional Review

Intranet Links

• Natural Resources and Environment
• Weed news and information
• Drought information
• Resources for DA’s (District Agronomists)
• Farm Product Integrity Program

Information Skills Program (ISP)

The Information Skills Program (ISP) offered by Information and Library Service aims to provide assistance and training to enable clients to develop the skills needed to find, organise and use information in today’s online environment. Formal training courses include the professional officer training course which covers a number of the library services and is offered on a one-to-one basis to clients and ProCite®, a one day training course in this bibliographic reference software package. Although the majority of the clients undertaking ProCite® training are research officers, some extension officers have participated.

Informal one-to-one training or group sessions offered to date include :

• How to cite electronic information
• How to conduct a literature search
• How to search the Winspirs/Webspirs databases
• How to use the library catalogue
• How to access and use the agricultural statistics information available on the intranet pages
• How to search the Internet and which search engine to use
• Copyright issues

Clients are encouraged to contact their librarian to arrange sessions at their locations.

Continuing developments

Both the Extension Portal and Extension Alert are products that are monitored continually to allow them to be responsive and useful to extension staff. As mentioned above, the fifth edition of Extension Alert, released in late March, had a feedback form for clients to comment on the product. Appropriate actions and adjustments were made based on clients suggestions. These have included electronic delivery of the bulletin and the inclusion of additional titles. Clients are reminded about the electronic database at every opportunity and librarians have appreciated the scope it has given them for answering reference queries.

Requests for articles from Extension Alert are noted as statistics although this cannot be regarded as a true measure of how the publication is being used. It is possible clients are noting the details of articles appearing in the printed and electronic version and are not asking for the full article or seeking the full article in their own library without the intervention of library staff. The URL is also given for those articles available electronically and clients can access these at their desktop.

The Information and Library Service Marketing Plan 2003-2005 (Drum, 2003) has identified distinct strategies appropriate for promoting products and services to extension officers. Drum (2003) has recommended that librarians “…target clients with email messages highlighting the benefits of participating in the Information Skills Program, along with intranet headlines, articles in local staff newsletters and notice board flyers.”

Conclusion

Over the past twenty months, the Information and Library Service within NSW Agriculture has developed products and services in a bid to address the information needs of extension staff. An alerting bulletin and database, Extension Alert, and an Extension Portal on the Intranet pages are the results of these endeavours. This paper is an outline of the evolution of these products offered by the Information and Library Service of NSW Agriculture. The Information Skills Program has also been expanded and formalised over the past twelve months in a bid to meet the needs of all officers in the organisation.

The future of Extension Alert, in particular, will depend on client need and response. NSW Agriculture Information and Library Service aims at all times and in all facets of its operation to be proactive and responsive to our clients, the staff of the Department. New opportunities for participation in various aspects of the organisation’s operation are always sought and, at all times, the Service endeavours to be involved.

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the assistance and encouragement of Marilyn Hawkett, Library Services Manager with NSW Agriculture, in the development of Extension Alert. Thanks are also given to Sean Brady, until recently Special Services Librarian, for his assistance and ongoing support with the development of the Extension Alert database and to Marsha Reilly, Librarian at Wagga Agricultural Institute, for developing and maintaining the Extension Portal. The endeavours and assistance of Sharman Lugton, co-editor of Extension Alert, are also noted. Thanks are also extended to all staff of NSW Agriculture Information and Library Service for their ongoing support and cooperation.

References

Anderson S.C. (2003a) Targeting our clients: the development of information and library service products for agricultural extension officers in NSW Agriculture. Proceedings of the 10^th Asia-Pacific Special, Health & Law Librarians’ Conference, 24-27 August, 2003, Adelaide, South Australia

Anderson S.C. (2003b) Extension officers: Development of targeted information and library services.
Proceedings of “The Beef Products Program: Technology – Our Future”, Tocal College, Paterson, May, 2003.

Brien J.P. (1978) Computerized information services for agricultural extension and research. A feasibility study of a system for personnel in country areas. Agricultural extension bulletin No.3 Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Sydney, Sydney

Burns R.W. and Anderson L.W. (1973) The elements of access to agricultural sciences information within Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming. Fort Collins : Colorado State University Libraries

Drum F. (2003) 2^nd Draft Marketing Plan 2003-2005. Tamworth: NSW Agriculture (Internal document)

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Russell H. (1983) Information and library services for extension. Agricultural Information DevelopmentBulletin 5 (1), 8-11.

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Sheldrake R.F.(2003) Reviews and strategic plans for research, development and extension. NSW Agriculture Circular No/03/221 (internal document)

Shih, W.Y. and Evan, J.F .(1991) Where field staff get information – approaching the electronic times. Journal of Extension 29 (3), 16-19 www.joe.org/1991June