Purpose: Centralized on the construction of a personalized knowledge environment that can better meet the need of Chinese agricultural researchers, this paper presents the practice conducted by the National Agricultural Library (NAL) of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in the digital research environment. Based on the analysis of information needs of Chinese agricultural researchers, CAAS constructed digital research environments for its researchers at different levels, by means of providing more professional knowledge services for targeted researcher users.

Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of the construction of public service platform— National Agriculture Information System of the Library of CAAS (i.e. NAL), local resources were integrated with public open resources by using key technologies, such as Web 2.0, knowledge navigation, linked data and intelligent retrieval, to construct an institutional personalized digital repository for CAAS researchers.

Findings: By using the construction tool CAASPKE, knowledge environment platforms have been constructed for 10 CAAS institutes, taking roughly 33% of CAAS institutes. In addition, 16 discipline information environment platforms have been set up for CAAS research teams, and 5 professional digital libraries for provincial agricultural academies, which spread in Beijing, Shanxi, Sichuan, and the Xinjiang and Tibet Autonomous Regions.

Research limitations: User's local collections ought to be integrated with IR resources of the CAAS platform constantly. Due to the lack of overall knowledge resources, functions of the platform have not been fully explored, so the effect need be evaluated with the time being.

Practical implications: The construction of research knowledge environment in CAAS has not only contributed to the development of its personalized knowledge service system, but also made the functions of libraries transformed into the information service system. In this case, CAAS libraries are now playing more and more important roles in the innovation process of Chinese agricultural researchers.

Originality/value: The innovative practice is the first endeavor that ever implemented in the agricultural information service area across Mainland China. The construction tool developed for the knowledge environment of personalization could customize resources flexibly according to the need of different CAAS users, and it can organize the knowledge resources of CAAS institutes effectively.

Purpose: Centralized on the construction of a personalized knowledge environment that can better meet the need of Chinese agricultural researchers, this paper presents the practice conducted by the National Agricultural Library (NAL) of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in the digital research environment. Based on the analysis of information needs of Chinese agricultural researchers, CAAS constructed digital research environments for its researchers at different levels, by means of providing more professional knowledge services for targeted researcher users.

Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of the construction of public service platform— National Agriculture Information System of the Library of CAAS (i.e. NAL), local resources were integrated with public open resources by using key technologies, such as Web 2.0, knowledge navigation, linked data and intelligent retrieval, to construct an institutional personalized digital repository for CAAS researchers.

Findings: By using the construction tool CAASPKE, knowledge environment platforms have been constructed for 10 CAAS institutes, taking roughly 33% of CAAS institutes. In addition, 16 discipline information environment platforms have been set up for CAAS research teams, and 5 professional digital libraries for provincial agricultural academies, which spread in Beijing, Shanxi, Sichuan, and the Xinjiang and Tibet Autonomous Regions.

Research limitations: User's local collections ought to be integrated with IR resources of the CAAS platform constantly. Due to the lack of overall knowledge resources, functions of the platform have not been fully explored, so the effect need be evaluated with the time being.

Practical implications: The construction of research knowledge environment in CAAS has not only contributed to the development of its personalized knowledge service system, but also made the functions of libraries transformed into the information service system. In this case, CAAS libraries are now playing more and more important roles in the innovation process of Chinese agricultural researchers.

Originality/value: The innovative practice is the first endeavor that ever implemented in the agricultural information service area across Mainland China. The construction tool developed for the knowledge environment of personalization could customize resources flexibly according to the need of different CAAS users, and it can organize the knowledge resources of CAAS institutes effectively.