Launch of Search4Dev, a repository for Dutch development information

On December 16th, the Search4Dev portal was officially during a presentation in the library of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

The initiative originated within the Development Policy Review Network (DPRN), a virtual network of development experts, focusing on bringing people together, establishing partnerships, and stimulating informed debate. DPRN seeks to bridge the gap between research, policy, practice and the private sector. In this context, information exchange was seen as essential in achieving these goals and therefor the Global-Connections portal was set up.

The Search4Dev initiative builds on the experiences of DPRN in this area - in particular the concern to make research information relevant for policy and practice - and aims to provide a repository for all publications and documents produced by Dutch development organisations, both academic and non-academic. It fosters open and easy access to information, guarantees that the information remains available in the long term, and allows for harvesting by search engins and other information platforms with a specific focus, such as Euforic.

KIT Information and Library Services manages the project, bringing in its expertise and networks in the areas of information, communication, and research.

For more information contact Ingeborg Nagel, Project Manager Search4Dev.

See also Euforic's newsfeed on information, knowledge and communication

Towards a Repository for Dutch Development Organizations

At yesterday's IAALD/WUR meeting on the accessibility of agricultural information, colleagues from the Royal Tropical Institute introduced their soon to be launched 'Search4Dev' portal.

According to Ingeborg Nagel and Harry Heemskerk, the new site will harvest and make accessible a much wider set of outputs than is normally found in research and academic repositories. The project is a close collaboration with DPRN and their ‘global-connections’ portal. The Dutch national Royal Library will take care of the long term preservation of the repository content.

See their presentation:

KIT portals

During the Euforic/EADI case study workshop ‘Showcasing knowledge and information services’ Wiebe de Boer (KIT) presented the development portals of the Royal Tropical Institute.

They provide access to full-text documents, e-journals, news and events and other free internet sources. Current portals contain broad and specific information about governance, HIV/AIDS, rural innovation systems, culture for development and value chains for development.

See Wiebe de Boer's presentation below:

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Read more stories from the workshop

See the Euforic dossier and the feed on Information, Knowledge and Communication.

See also the newsfeed from KIT

New KIT information portals

Current information and access to relevant and reliable Internet sources. This is the objective of KIT's new series of Web portals for policy makers, researchers and practicioners in international cooperation. The first two are about rural innovation systems and culture for development. More new portals are in the pipeline on HIV/AIDS, gender issues and sustainable production chains.

The portals provide access to full-text documents, newsletters, electronic journals, news and events, discussion groups and other sources. Their search and retrieval facilities are easy to use. The editorial responsibility is with KIT Information & Library Services.

Source: KIT Update, March 2007.

See also the Euforic dossier on information, knowledge, communication.