The HINARI, AGORA, and OARE (HINAGOA) Africa User Community Forum kicked off with enthusiasm in 2007, and saw users from all over the continent expressing interest to join. The aims of the forum are:
- To network and share information and experiences
- To keep abreast with developments in the field of information and learn about breakthroughs in e-resource access and management through the HINAGOA gateways
- To collectively provide feedback to the HINAGOA programmes and help shape the future of the initiatives
- To learn and update user skills on electronic resources so that they can effectively benefit from the HINAGOA programmes
HINAGOA programmes were developed to answer the need to improve access to up-to-date scientific scholarly literature in biomedical, health sciences, agriculture, environmental sciences and related fields for scientists, researchers and information managers in low income countries.
At the beginning of 2008, a themed approach to the discussions was introduced on the forum. Topical issues were raised on:
- Are you using HINARI-AGORA-OARE resources? If you are, tell us how and what are you using the information you get from the HINAGOA resources for?
- What are the limitations/challenges that you and your users encounter in using the HINARI-AGORA-OARE resources?
- What investments have been made by the institution to promote and facilitate access to HINARI-AGORA-OARE resources?
- What improvements regarding the HINARI-AGORA-OARE programmes would you like to see in order for the HINAGOA resources to make a positive impact in your work?
- Lessons learned/Best practices and Recommendations in order to move the HINARI-AGORA-OARE process forward.
In order to be part of the discussions and have a chance of influencing future developments of the HINARI-AGORA-OARE programmes on the African continent, please join the User Community Forum by going to: HINAGOA Forum
