A new current awareness service, called CAB ACCESS, was launched on diskette and on the Internet in 1995. CAB ACCESS covers the most popular forestry and forests products journals, providing titles and keywords for all papers. Full text is available through a 24-hour turnaround document delivery service called DOCUMENTS NOW.
Through the FORSPA programme, CABI is providing access to and training on the Internet throughout Southeast Asia, enabling forestry research institutions in this region to enter the mainstream of the worldwide telecommunications revolution.
A new concept in forestry information transfer, the Forestry Compendium, has been developed by CAB International in collaboration with the Oxford Forestry Institute, with funding from the UK Overseas Development Administration (ODA). The Compendium, still in a fluid stage of development, consists of text, illustrations, maps, glossaries, abstracts, etc., all interlinked with customized software designed to be run on a personal computer. A demonstration version of the Compendium is available for dissemination, designed to show how support can be provided to forest managers, researchers and field workers in selection of tree species suited to site and to management objectives.
Finally, CABI is in consultation with various collaborating institutions regarding the preparation of full-text CD-ROMs of Third World forestry literature.
Key words: forestry information; information transfer; international cooperation.
Correspondence: Kenneth M. Becker, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UK
Telefax: +44-01491-833508
E-mail: k.becker@cabi.org