What is "sidalc"

The Agricultural Information and Documentation Service of the Americas (SIDALC) is an international agricultural, livestock, forestry and environmental information service in which institutions in 23 countries of the Americas share information and services on line. Created in 1999, today it is one of the most important sources of knowledge and information in LAC{what is that?}.

It provides access to information generated throughout the hemisphere and stored in libraries and other related information centers. It contains some two million reference materials including books, magazines and journals, graduate theses, reports, audiovisual materials, maps and photographs.

At present, the SIDALC information system is open to the public at www.sidalc.net (no subscription required), which also permits on-line searches of available digital collections, including full texts, audiovisual materials, photographs, etc. Furthermore, SIDALC is linked to other information systems in a number of countries of the Americas, which provide stakeholders in agriculture and rural territories with access to relevant information and knowledge.

SIDALC's provides access to the intellectual capital of at least 166 national institutions. It is the result of earlier initiatives aimed at management of knowledge and information, all promoted by IICA, such as the Orton Commemorative Library (founded in 1943); the Scientific Exchange Service (SIC), created in 1958; the Inter-American Association of Agricultural Librarians, Documentalists and Information Specialists (AIBDA), founded in 1965; and the Inter-American Agricultural Information System (AGRINTER), created in 1972.