African Centre for Crop Improvement
Resources and Services
With its rich collections in agriculture, the life sciences, human development, nutrition, and many other subject areas, Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University is proud to extend its reference and information services to two plant breeding Ph.D. programs located in Africa. The African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg; and the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI), located at the University of Ghana, Accra. Mann Library services supplement the University libraries' existing resources and help students when they are in the field conducting research. Click on the links below to learn more or download either the ACCI brochure or the WACCI brochure (69K PDF).
Reference | Interlibrary Loan | TEEAL and AGORA for Field Research | Contact Us
Reference Services
Mann Library provides the following types of reference service:
- Answers via e-mail to short factual inquiries and assistance with in-depth research questions and literature reviews
- Updates on the latest research via regularly e-mailed database search results (SDI alerts)
For example, we can find the definition of chemigation, send a list of articles on the effects of intercropping on crop yield for sorghum in Africa, e-mail regular updates of new articles on a topic from the CAB Abstracts database, or tell you how to cite the articles in APA style in your bibliography.
How Reference Works
Send an e-mail to mann_ref@cornell.edu. Identify yourself as an ACCI student and tell us what you need in as much detail as possible (Do you want a quick answer or in-depth research on a particular question? Ongoing SDI alerts? Have you searched elsewhere? Are you using particular scientific terms?). We will send you answers via e-mail (or if too lengthy for easy download, via airmail).
Interlibrary Loan Services
Mann Library also provides copies of journal articles to ACCI/WACCI students. Articles can be sent either via email as PDF files or as printouts via airmail. ACCI/WACCI students may request whichever option is best for them based on their access to a reliable Internet connection.
Mann Library will now be able to provide free document delivery from the print collections of Cornell University Library as a whole, not just Mann, Bailey Horticulture, Entomology, and the Library Annex.
If none of the Cornell University libraries own the item, Mann Library will also be able to provide up to 10 articles per year to each scholar through Interlibrary Loan.
How Interlibrary Loan Works
In order to implement the expansion of services, the procedure will change completely. Requests will no longer be filled through the old lending website. Please follow the new procedure to receive the best and most expedited service.
The website:
Both ACCI and WACCI scholars will need to use a new website. It is designed in different colors (blue and white) to give a different appearance from the lending website.
The URL is: http://cornell.hosts.atlas-sys.com/nonetid/logon.html. Kindly update your bookmarks to the new location.
Registration Process:
1. One time registration is required for this site. Click on the Register button at the logon page.
2. Review the copyright policy and click on “Continue with registration” at the bottom of the page.
3. Fill out the entire Registration form with special attention to the following fields:
- a. Enter Cornell ID: 000111111 (three “zeros” followed by six “ones”)
- b. Choose Status: “O – Mann Distance.”
- c. Choose Interlibrary Loan Processing Unit: Mann Library
- d. Choose a username and password of your choice. Once you have registered successfully, you will be able to submit requests immediately.
Making Requests:
1. Login at the site with your chosen username and password
2. Click on Make a MyDocumentDelivery Request on the main menu
3. Click on MyDocumentDelivery: Article from a Journal.
4. Fill out citation information for the article and click on Yes, Submit
Request Reviewing Requests:
It is also possible to check the status of your requests and keep track of your finished requests.
Mann ILS will not turn down e-mailed requests, but they will take much longer to fulfill than if submitted through the website.
For any questions regarding electronic delivery, please contact mann_ill@cornell.edu.
TEEAL and AGORA
Students who are away from the resources available at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and University of Ghana at Accra doing their field research may find that accessing resources either from the university or from the field organization is difficult, because of distance and lack of Internet connectivity. In these cases, check to see if the field organization is eligible for two other agricultural information projects for developing countries that Mann Library is involved with: TEEAL and AGORA.
TEEAL (The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library) is a low-cost full-text and bibliographic library of over 100 of the world's most important scientific journals in the field of agriculture made available to institutions in 100 low-income countries on CDs (TEEAL) or via local area network (LanTEEAL). If your field site has computers but unreliable Internet connectivity (or none at all), TEEAL or LanTEEAL can be used to get access to journal literature. More information is available at http://www.teeal.org/ and you can check your country's eligibility at http://www.teeal.org/eligibility-prices.html.
AGORA (Access to Global Online Literature in Agriculture), TEEAL's sister project, provides free or low-cost access via the Internet to hundreds of journals from major scientific publishers in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA is available to students and researchers in qualifying not-for-profit institutions in eligible developing countries. Unlike TEEAL, AGORA utilizes the Internet to deliver access for those who have good Internet connectivity. More information is available at http://www.aginternetwork.org/ and you can check your country's eligibility at http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/el.php.
For more information on your field organization's access to TEEAL or AGORA, please contact Mann at teeal@cornell.edu or ITOCA (Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa; formerly TEEAL Africa ) at itoca@cyberplexafrica.com and identify yourself as an ACCI/WACCI student.
Contact Us!
We want to know how we can better serve you! For questions, comments or problems, please contact us at:
Reference
mann_ref@cornell.edu
607-255-5406
Interlibrary Loan
mann_ill@cornell.edu
607-255-7754
TEEAL and AGORA at Mann Library
teeal@cornell.edu
607-255-7317
TEEAL and AGORA at ITOCA ( Zimbabwe )
itoca@cyberplexafrica.com
+263-4-744611.
