Summary : To facilitate the exchange of information and bring together the world's literature on all aspects of agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1974 created the international information system for the agricultural sciences and technology (AGRIS). It is a cooperative international information system in which participating countries input references to the literature produced within their boundaries and, in return, draw on the information provided by other participants. More than 200 national, international and intergovernmental centres participate. This CD mirrors the information from FAO Web pages, all AGRIS/CARIS material (software, guidelines, brochures), FAO is working presently on the 1999 edition of AGROVOC - multilingual agricultural thesaurus.