Conference Report - 5th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (ICAHIS).
4-7 July 2005, University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort.
Erica van der Westhuizen

Participants of 5 ICAHIS – 4 July 2005
With the theme “Running wild, running free: capturing, harnessing and disseminating knowledge flows in support of animal health” this conference brought information specialists from both developed and developing countries together to share knowledge and expertise in the critical animal health information field.
The Fifth ICAHIS, hosted by the Academic Information Service, Service Unit: Veterinary Science (Veterinary Science Library) University of Pretoria, was attended by 65 participants, most of them representing 30 veterinary libraries or institutions from Africa, Europe, Australia and the United States. Since this was the first time this conference was taking place on the African continent (the former ones were held in the UK (at Reading and London), Denmark (Copenhagen) and Hungary (Budapest) participation from other African nations was especially encouraged. Thanks to support from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), Wageningen, The Netherlands, seven information specialists representing Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe were able to attend and deliver papers at the conference.
Vice Principal Prof Andy Mogotlane and the Acting Director of the Academic Information Service, Mr Robert Moropa, as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Prof Nick Kriek welcomed all participants on behalf of the University of Pretoria.

Vukile Siyotula , Prof Mogotlane, Erica v d Westhuizen, Mr Robert Moropa, Dr Adi Paterson
The first day’s keynote speaker, Dr. Adi Paterson, Deputy Director-General, Department of Science and Technology, South Africa addressed the country’s electronic information research agenda. He praised the efforts of the ICAHIS, noting that self-organised groups are much more effective than governmental or institutional bureaucracies for crafting global solutions to problems related to information access and exchange.
During the course of the conference 23 papers were delivered - 7 from other countries in Africa, 7 from South Africa, 1 from Australia, 2 from the UK and 6 from the USA.

Sheila Shrigley(UK), Wanyenda Chilimo(Tanzania), Ernene Verster(RSA), Teodora Oker-Blom(Finland), Sarah Murphy(USA), Zanele Hadebe(Zimbabwe) – speakers at the first Session
The Poster Session consisted of 13 posters on a variety of topics relevant to information and knowledge management (2 from South Africa, 1 from Mozambique, 3 from Scandinavia, 1 from the UK, 2 from the USA and 4 from Italy).

Dr Barbara Alessandrini from
Italy with her poster
Workshop participants in
the computer laboratory

Feedback that has been received from participants shows that the four days of meeting presentations, poster sessions, tours, and the four pre-conference workshop days were very successful.
(As Greg Youngen, Veterinary Librarian, University of Illinois, USA writes:
“Conference organizer Erica Van Der Westhuizen, University of Pretoria, and her magnificent team of AIS colleagues are to be commended for hosting the event. Erica, along with the other members of the conference scientific committee, Trenton Boyd, University of Missouri, Fiona Brown, University of Edinburgh, Vicki Croft, Washington State University, Ruth Lawrence, Dept. of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia, Teodora Oker-Blom, University of Helsinki, David Swanepoel, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, South Africa are all to be congratulated for assembling an informative and entertaining agenda for the advancement of knowledge in the field of animal health information. Bridging the information gaps in animal health, along with establishing enduring contacts between information professionals in service to the profession, were the goals of the conference, and by all levels of expectation, they were met, setting the stage for future ICAHIS endeavors.”)
Some highlights from the conference
Day 1
Sheila Shrigley showed how the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK in 2001 was handled by the Pirbright Library. Her F&M database is a valuable information asset, used worldwide in answering questions, including the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.
Day2
Our keynote speaker for the second day was Mr Roy Page-Shipp, a consultant and leader of the South African Research Information Service (SARIS) project.
He discussed online access with all the positive and negative aspects. An amount of R110 million is spent per annum on online acess but this does not ensure that all researchers have the same level of access to information.
Some are well served, while others are very poorly off. The problem is that the publishers are still striving to make the rules.
Under the Open Access issues he mentioned that there are a few scattered initiatives but up to now it is still more important for a researcher to publish in a subsidised journal than in an OA journal. This means that publishing is limited to a selected group of journals
The first paper on day 2 was by Tandi Lwoga of the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. She looked at the coverage of African animal health on the Internet. 27 databases were selected for the research project. Only 8,28% of websites gave information on African animal health topics. She asked delegates to supply African animal health information on their websites.
The second paper was by Didace Agaba of Makerere University in Uganda. He assessed the utilisation of Makerere University's electronic information resources by the academic staff. It was very interesting to see the reasons why the staff were not using the Internet
Day 3
David Swanepoel, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library, South Africa reported on a research project aimed at reconstructing knowledge about livestock management in southern Africa before colonisation. He described the use of rock-art , oral history , and archaeological findings to develop an understanding of livestock management before written history of the area (~15th century).
Ruth Lawrence, Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia described the efforts to consolidate a number of specialised regional libraries and replace them with virtual collections and services available electronically. Virtual libraries with subject gateways now provide access to a consolidated, central storage facility for the once dispersed collections.
Christel Smith, Academic Information Service, University of Pretoria next presented a paper prepared jointly by 6 staff members of the University of Pretoria, including Amelia Breytenbach of the Veterinary Science Library and Sanet Haupt of TLEI, on capturing and managing tacit knowledge (the digitisation of 40,000 slides at the Faculty of Veterinary Science), a joint undertaking between the Department of Telematic Learning and Education Innovation, the Veterinary Library, and the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Metadata implementation to enhance access to this slide collection is placing increasing focus on the important role of the cataloguer/classifier
Day 4
Thursday morning's Keynote speaker was Prof Bruce Rubidge, Director of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand. He presented a fascinating picture of southern Africa's ancient animal life based on the fossil record.
Speakers from the USA represented the following veterinary schools: Texas A&M, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Washington State University, and Ohio State University. Papers were also delivered by the Librarians of the San Diego Zoo and the Scripps Research Institute in California.

Evening Functions

Dr Gerhard Steenkamp & Erica van der Westhuizen

Presentation of the certificate to Prof Coetzer and Prof Tustin
4 July: Cocktails and braai. EBSCO kindly sponsored the cocktail function where attendees were welcomed by the newly elected President of the South African Veterinary Association, Dr Gerhard Steenkamp.
5 July : The evening was spent at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve with a braai and a night drive to view Africa’s animals, including a rhino with her calf.
6 July : At a function held at the OP Faculty Prof Henk Bertschinger described (and demonstrated!) the latest elephant contraception techniques.
A framed certificate commemorating the new edition of Infectious diseases of livestock by Prof Koos Coetzer and Prof Roy Tustin was presented to the two editors. It was signed by the Scientific Committee members of 5 ICAHIS representing the international veterinary librarian community.
7 July : the conference banquet was held at the National Zoo’s Waterhole Restaurant and we could bid our librarian colleagues from all over the world farewell.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) of The Netherlands for supporting these events by sponsoring 7 participants from Nigeria, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
As shown in their feedback they responded positively and we hope for improved growth in information provision capabilities in Africa.
We also wish to express our gratitude to the other sponsors who helped to make these events a success through exhibiting at the conference and through financial and other donations and by presenting workshops:
CAB International, EBSCO, SWETS, NISC, Sky Information Suppliers, South African Online Information Services, SABINET, Intervet , Virbac and Karan Beef.
The Library of the Veterinary University of Hungary in Budapest donated CDs and books to the 7 veterinary libraries in Africa represented by the CTA-sponsored participants.
We also thank the Head of the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases of the University of Pretoria for donating videos on infectious animal diseases to the abovementioned veterinary libraries.
The University of Pretoria provided excellent support as well in particular the following:

Medical Library (stationery and staff to man our library during the entire conference)
AIS Main Library (logistical support)
Faculty of Veterinary Science (lecture hall and other facilities)
Dept IT (Ruan van Staden, Manager Computer Laboratory Onderstepoort) for technical support
We would like to express a very special thank you to:

The Acting Director of the Academic Information Service, Mr Robert Moropa
The Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Prof Nick Kriek
The Head of Faculty Administration, Mr Francois Nel for all their encouragement and moral support
And finally, I am most grateful to my staff at the Veterinary Library, Academic Information Service, University of Pretoria who played such an important role in ensuring the success of the workshops and the conference – without their support and expertise these events could not have taken place:
Amelia Breytenbach
Tertia Coetsee
Barbara Kellermann
Antoinette Lourens
Johannes Moropotli
Sanah Mphaga
Marguerite Nel
Further information on our Conference and the workshops is available on the conference Blog: www.knowledgeflows.blogspot.com

Conference Report - 5th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists (ICAHIS). 4-7 July 2005, University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort. Erica van der Westhuizen Participants of 5 ICAHIS – 4 July 2005 With the theme “Running wild, running free: capturing, harnessing and disseminating knowledge flows in support of animal health” this conference brought information specialists from both developed and developing countries together to share knowledge and expertise in the critical animal health information field. The Fifth ICAHIS, hosted by the Academic Information Service, Service Unit: Veterinary Science (Veterinary Science Library) University of Pretoria, was attended by 65 participants, most of them representing 30 veterinary libraries or institutions from Africa, Europe, Australia and the United States. Since this was the first time this conference was taking place on the African continent (the former ones were held in the UK (at Reading and London), Denmark (Copenhagen) and Hungary (Budapest) participation from other African nations was especially encouraged. Thanks to support from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), Wageningen, The Netherlands, seven information specialists representing Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe were able to attend and deliver papers at the conference. Vice Principal Prof Andy Mogotlane and the Acting Director of the Academic Information Service, Mr Robert Moropa, as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Prof Nick Kriek welcomed all participants on behalf of the University of Pretoria. Vukile Siyotula , Prof Mogotlane, Erica v d Westhuizen, Mr Robert Moropa, Dr Adi Paterson The first day’s keynote speaker, Dr. Adi Paterson, Deputy Director-General, Department of Science and Technology, South Africa addressed the country’s electronic information research agenda. He praised the efforts of the ICAHIS, noting that self-organised groups are much more effective than governmental or institutional bureaucracies for crafting global solutions to problems related to information access and exchange. During the course of the conference 23 papers were delivered - 7 from other countries in Africa, 7 from South Africa, 1 from Australia, 2 from the UK and 6 from the USA. Sheila Shrigley(UK), Wanyenda Chilimo(Tanzania), Ernene Verster(RSA), Teodora Oker-Blom(Finland), Sarah Murphy(USA), Zanele Hadebe(Zimbabwe) – speakers at the first Session The Poster Session consisted of 13 posters on a variety of topics relevant to information and knowledge management (2 from South Africa, 1 from Mozambique, 3 from Scandinavia, 1 from the UK, 2 from the USA and 4 from Italy).
Dr Barbara Alessandrini from Italy with her poster	Workshop participants in the computer laboratory
Feedback that has been received from participants shows that the four days of meeting presentations, poster sessions, tours, and the four pre-conference workshop days were very successful. (As Greg Youngen, Veterinary Librarian, University of Illinois, USA writes: “Conference organizer Erica Van Der Westhuizen, University of Pretoria, and her magnificent team of AIS colleagues are to be commended for hosting the event. Erica, along with the other members of the conference scientific committee, Trenton Boyd, University of Missouri, Fiona Brown, University of Edinburgh, Vicki Croft, Washington State University, Ruth Lawrence, Dept. of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia, Teodora Oker-Blom, University of Helsinki, David Swanepoel, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, South Africa are all to be congratulated for assembling an informative and entertaining agenda for the advancement of knowledge in the field of animal health information. Bridging the information gaps in animal health, along with establishing enduring contacts between information professionals in service to the profession, were the goals of the conference, and by all levels of expectation, they were met, setting the stage for future ICAHIS endeavors.”) Some highlights from the conference Day 1 Sheila Shrigley showed how the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK in 2001 was handled by the Pirbright Library. Her F&M database is a valuable information asset, used worldwide in answering questions, including the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. Day2 Our keynote speaker for the second day was Mr Roy Page-Shipp, a consultant and leader of the South African Research Information Service (SARIS) project. He discussed online access with all the positive and negative aspects. An amount of R110 million is spent per annum on online acess but this does not ensure that all researchers have the same level of access to information. Some are well served, while others are very poorly off. The problem is that the publishers are still striving to make the rules. Under the Open Access issues he mentioned that there are a few scattered initiatives but up to now it is still more important for a researcher to publish in a subsidised journal than in an OA journal. This means that publishing is limited to a selected group of journals The first paper on day 2 was by Tandi Lwoga of the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. She looked at the coverage of African animal health on the Internet. 27 databases were selected for the research project. Only 8,28% of websites gave information on African animal health topics. She asked delegates to supply African animal health information on their websites. The second paper was by Didace Agaba of Makerere University in Uganda. He assessed the utilisation of Makerere University's electronic information resources by the academic staff. It was very interesting to see the reasons why the staff were not using the Internet Day 3 David Swanepoel, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute Library, South Africa reported on a research project aimed at reconstructing knowledge about livestock management in southern Africa before colonisation. He described the use of rock-art , oral history , and archaeological findings to develop an understanding of livestock management before written history of the area (~15th century). Ruth Lawrence, Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia described the efforts to consolidate a number of specialised regional libraries and replace them with virtual collections and services available electronically. Virtual libraries with subject gateways now provide access to a consolidated, central storage facility for the once dispersed collections. Christel Smith, Academic Information Service, University of Pretoria next presented a paper prepared jointly by 6 staff members of the University of Pretoria, including Amelia Breytenbach of the Veterinary Science Library and Sanet Haupt of TLEI, on capturing and managing tacit knowledge (the digitisation of 40,000 slides at the Faculty of Veterinary Science), a joint undertaking between the Department of Telematic Learning and Education Innovation, the Veterinary Library, and the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Metadata implementation to enhance access to this slide collection is placing increasing focus on the important role of the cataloguer/classifier Day 4 Thursday morning's Keynote speaker was Prof Bruce Rubidge, Director of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand. He presented a fascinating picture of southern Africa's ancient animal life based on the fossil record. Speakers from the USA represented the following veterinary schools: Texas A&M, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Washington State University, and Ohio State University. Papers were also delivered by the Librarians of the San Diego Zoo and the Scripps Research Institute in California.

Evening Functions

Dr Gerhard Steenkamp & Erica van der Westhuizen Presentation of the certificate to Prof Coetzer and Prof Tustin	4 July: Cocktails and braai. EBSCO kindly sponsored the cocktail function where attendees were welcomed by the newly elected President of the South African Veterinary Association, Dr Gerhard Steenkamp. 5 July : The evening was spent at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve with a braai and a night drive to view Africa’s animals, including a rhino with her calf. 6 July : At a function held at the OP Faculty Prof Henk Bertschinger described (and demonstrated!) the latest elephant contraception techniques. A framed certificate commemorating the new edition of Infectious diseases of livestock by Prof Koos Coetzer and Prof Roy Tustin was presented to the two editors. It was signed by the Scientific Committee members of 5 ICAHIS representing the international veterinary librarian community. 7 July : the conference banquet was held at the National Zoo’s Waterhole Restaurant and we could bid our librarian colleagues from all over the world farewell.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) of The Netherlands for supporting these events by sponsoring 7 participants from Nigeria, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia. As shown in their feedback they responded positively and we hope for improved growth in information provision capabilities in Africa. We also wish to express our gratitude to the other sponsors who helped to make these events a success through exhibiting at the conference and through financial and other donations and by presenting workshops: CAB International, EBSCO, SWETS, NISC, Sky Information Suppliers, South African Online Information Services, SABINET, Intervet , Virbac and Karan Beef. The Library of the Veterinary University of Hungary in Budapest donated CDs and books to the 7 veterinary libraries in Africa represented by the CTA-sponsored participants. We also thank the Head of the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases of the University of Pretoria for donating videos on infectious animal diseases to the abovementioned veterinary libraries. The University of Pretoria provided excellent support as well in particular the following: Medical Library (stationery and staff to man our library during the entire conference) AIS Main Library (logistical support) Faculty of Veterinary Science (lecture hall and other facilities) Dept IT (Ruan van Staden, Manager Computer Laboratory Onderstepoort) for technical support We would like to express a very special thank you to: The Acting Director of the Academic Information Service, Mr Robert Moropa The Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Prof Nick Kriek The Head of Faculty Administration, Mr Francois Nel for all their encouragement and moral support And finally, I am most grateful to my staff at the Veterinary Library, Academic Information Service, University of Pretoria who played such an important role in ensuring the success of the workshops and the conference – without their support and expertise these events could not have taken place: Amelia Breytenbach Tertia Coetsee Barbara Kellermann Antoinette Lourens Johannes Moropotli Sanah Mphaga Marguerite Nel Further information on our Conference and the workshops is available on the conference Blog: www.knowledgeflows.blogspot.com